Night/low light exposure without a light meter

Handheld spot meter is invaluable in night shots so you can average the light or the lack of it. If you are out just snapping I guess your in camera meter can do the work just be careful where you point the camera to meter. ISO400 1/30 at f2 0r 1/15 at f 2-2.8 is common in this kind of situation.
 
Generally, I'm a great advocate of metering, but at night, experience is often more use. Obviously you can't normally meter the shadows -- the meter just won't read -- though a spot reading of a skin tone is often feasible IF you have enough time. An incident light reading under equivalent lighting (same distance from the light source as the subject) may also be useful, depending on how the lighting works.

Often, though, the best starting point is (a) wide open with a fast lens and (b) as long as you can hand-hold, or even a little longer. After that, it's just looking at your pictures and thinking back to how you shot them. There are quite a few low-light shots in Agoraphilia, http://www.rogerandfrances.com/subscription/ps agoraphilia.html

Agoraphilia is the mirror image of a fear of the agora (open space or market place): a love of marketplaces, but I don't think it's made it into the OED yet.

Tashi delek,

R.
 
You may try using the "Jiffy exposure table": it is my best friend when I work with my beloved FSU cameras. I have the PDF file in my PC, Iwill be happy to post it to anybody.
 
Roger Hicks said:
Often, though, the best starting point is (a) wide open with a fast lens and (b) as long as you can hand-hold, or even a little longer.
R.
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I'm with Roger on this. I found that f/2 @ 1/10 sec. was just about perfect for me with Hp5+ under streetlights at night.
I tried this because it was as wide as my lens would open, and just a bit longer than I felt comfortable handholding. (and I had no meter and had to try Something!
So not only did I find an exposure that worked for me, I also found out that I CAN hand hold 1/10 of a sec adequately w/ the M3...

-Brian
 
This is using the in camera meter with the CLE and 40 summicron-c. The lower contrast of the lens have open up the shadows a bit I think I was at 1/15 2.8 thereabouts, handheld leaning on a post.

2n84i8n.jpg
 
f1.8@1/15 is my baseline for chicago streets in the neighborhoods... f2@1/30 downtown on the sidewalks, and a bit less time if near a well lit building.

(edit - all at ISO 800)

Is is possible the blank shots were a fluke (lens cap? dodgy shutter? accidental hit of a soft-release) - just curious.
 
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With print film at night or indoors, you’re not going to overexpose it, just get as much light as you can on the film and hope for the best, it’s almost impossible to take a meaningful reading without spending ages on each shot.
 
Sparrow said:
With print film at night or indoors, you’re not going to overexpose it, just get as much light as you can on the film and hope for the best, it’s almost impossible to take a meaningful reading without spending ages on each shot.
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Sure but how do you know if the longest you can handhold will get enough light on the film?
 
Sparrow said:
With print film at night or indoors, you’re not going to overexpose it,
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Actually, it's very easy to blow out the highlights when doing night shots! Exposure does count. I would say even more so than for everyday daylight photos. Night shots tend to have a very high dynamic range -- very contrasty. If you overexpose, it's blown highlights, if you underexpose, your details go down into the mud!
 
dmr said:
Actually, it's very easy to blow out the highlights when doing night shots! Exposure does count. I would say even more so than for everyday daylight photos. Night shots tend to have a very high dynamic range -- very contrasty. If you overexpose, it's blown highlights, if you underexpose, your details go down into the mud!
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yes but ... if you want the full highlights, and detail in the shadows take pictures in daylight. At night hand held something has to give, and with me it's technical standards

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the wide ones are a 12mm so 1/8 at f5.6, the others are a 35 I think so f2.5 or 2.8 and 1/30, i do have a 50mm f1.5 so i could have used that also at 1/30

none of them would print large without some shake being visible

they would all be Fuji superia x 400
 
chikne said:
Sure but how do you know if the longest you can handhold will get enough light on the film?
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Stewart is right.

Don't know what scenes you are shooting. But I suggest to go out there with >= 800 ASA color negative film and a f1.4 lens and just try as low as you can hand-hold. For example, with RF, 1/8 + 35/1.4, or 1/15 + 50/1.4.

You'll get something. Color negative film has about 4 stops overexposure latitude.

Then you have first results you can define your next experiments with.

These are with 400 ASA and 35/2:

210933222_WTBq3-XL.jpg


(the actual sky was darker)

This was 40/1.4 and 400 ASA, maybe 1/30 or so:

228196593_R7sMU-XL.jpg


This was similarly exposed:

175624117_n9uFW-O.jpg


Etc.

Roland.

Best,

Roland.
 
What's helped me (thought it might be 'cheating'), is to go through my old digital photos before I know I'm going to be using my Leica in a dark environment. I try to find pictures taken at where I'm going, or in a lighting situation similar and use that as a starting point. For example, there's a bar some friends of mine own that I go to often, and I have some pictures taken with my DSLR from when Sean Peyton (head coach of the Saints) showed up to our pub quiz. A lot of the pictures were 1/15 at 2.8 (as fast as my zoom as gets) at iso 1600. I then go through the pictures and get an idea of the range of lighting and exposures and essentially go back with it in my head that at iso 400, and at 1.5, I'll need to shoot at between 1/8th and 1/30th depending on where I'm pointing the camera and what lights I'm looking at.

It also helps that I remember some of the exposures from when I carried my t90 (has a spot meter) to shows with me. So I know if I go to, say, One Eyed Jacks to see a band, that the last time I shot with my 35mm lens, 1/15th or 1/20th, at 2.8, iso 3200 and I got good shots. So, when going to One Eyed Jacks and bringing my Leica, I know I need to shoot at 800 and bring my Summarit.

Tomorrow I'm picking up an old Gossen Luna Pro (I guess they're ok?) for $30 that is supposed to be dead accurate. This should help out with the low light shots, I hope.

Another thing (which has been mentioned) is that negative film has a pretty wide exposure latitude. Sometimes I'll just set the camera to 1/15th, f1.5, and iso 400 (or 800 depending on how dark it is) and shoot away, occasionally lowering the shutter speed or stopping down a stop when there are the occasional bright lights. Since I use a Summarit as my low light lens this works pretty well, since if there happens to be a bright light near my shot I usually try to avoid it as the Summarit will flare like hell because of it.

Anyways, wide open, slowest speed you can handle, and highest iso you're comfortable with (800 should suffice) is what I go with when inside bars/venues.
 
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