problems in darkness

[splash_fr]

hi all,
I tried some low light shots at the night of the museums in basel last week with zeiss ikon, c-sonnar 50 at f/1.5, delta 3200 at 3200 iso at around 1/30s. all the negs are incredibly thin, but the borders with the markings seem ok.

is it possible that it was too dark for the light meter of the camera to work correct or might the 3200 iso setting not work properly? the last shots i did were in broad daylight at 1/1000s and they are thin as well, but not quite as thin.

the time at around 1/30s seem to be ok wen used with TRI-X at 200 to 1600 ISO.

rgds,
gerd.

 

[mcfingon]

High contrast lighting can mislead light meters too, splash_fr. Can you try a similar situation and bracket the exposures to see which ones work out better?

 

[kossi008]

I found the meter of the ZI to be more sensitive to bright spots than some others. So when I do night photography, I really try to pay attention where I'm metering.

Also, Delta 3200 at 3200 is quite a push. Some people claim this film only has a true Iso of 1000/31°, and everything else is already pushing. I feel comfortable exposing it at EI 1600, but at 3200, I've had very mixed results (even in speed-enhancing developers such as Emofin).

So, I think these two factors can explain the thin negatives you describe...

 

[jonmanjiro]

Were you shooting in AE mode? If so, the meter could have been fooled by bright lights in the frame resulting in under exposure.

 

[mfogiel]

Delta 3200 is a ISO 1000 film at best. Also, when you shoot in AE and there are direct light sources in the frame, you will likely underexpose.

 

[splash_fr]

For me D3200 has a native speed of around 1400. i like heavy pushing 🙂

I was shooting in AE +/-0.

So that means that I was shooting around EV0 and my negatives are two or three stops too thin and I'm outside the range of the metar anyway, right? Data sheet says only up to EV0...

So I'll take the handheld with me next time!

Thanks for the input,
Gerd.