Slides in MG-1?

[capitalK]

Has anyone tried shooting slide film in an MG-1 or any other full-time aperture-priority camera?

I had bought 3 rolls of Fuji Sensia 100 for my Olympus 35-SP which was recently stolen, now my only rangefinder left is my MG-1. I have never shot slides before but I understand you have to be pretty much right on to get the exposure right. The fact that it's winter doesn't make me feel much better.

Any help would be appreciated.

 

[leikonic]

Hi,

I've shot slide film with the MG-1 (when it was new in the late "70s/early '80's) successfully above the tree line on snow covered glaciers. One of my favourite photos was taken with this camera on slide film, on a glacier on a cloudy August day. Except for the colour on my climbing partner's shirt it looks like a black and white photo, with bright patches of light across the expanse of the snowfield.


I would guess I used Kodachrome 64 and didn't worry about the precision of the metering but then I didn't differentiate between film types (not that sophisticated!). I MAY have hedged on the ASA setting to ensure slight under-exposure ( I do recall doing that from time to time).

As you are aware the mercury battery originally spec'd is no longer available and I recall the alkaline replacement has slightly higher voltage. I have a "yashicaguy" battery converter installed -it is really a spacer- and I think I recall that the cicuitry on this camera is tolerant of voltage variations -(Can anyone clarify this?).

Why not just try a roll (with a fresh battery) and vary the ASA setting to see what setting yields the best results?


Dave K

 

[capitalK]

Thanks, I have a mercury battery in mine which still works (for now).

Yah I guess I'll try that, waste a roll and record settings (which I don't usually do but probably should)

 

[jmi]

Well, it's pretty much been said... it's only a normal centre-weighted meter after all - just compensate the exposure as you normally would by messing with the ASA dial. I've been doing this with my XA which is also full-time aperture priority.

If it's sunny, you can cheat a bit by "knowing" that the sunny 16 rule will be more accurate than the meter readings in difficult cases.

Note that some chrome films are a good deal easier to expose than others, at least in my experience, i.e. the low-ish contrast "portrait" ones such as Astia, Sensia (since these are almost the same emulsion), E100G/GX, E200. Velvia might be asking for trouble since it's ultra-high-contrast...

 

[capitalK]

Can't use Sunny16 because the camera is full-time aperture-priority... no shutter adjustment.

I also remembered about my Viewmaster camera which is made to take slide film. I can use that too and make some Viewmaster reels!

Thanks everybody!

 

[jmi]

Sorry, yes, I forgot that there are only the under and over lights on this thing and no readout of what it thinks the exposure is. I forget precisely when the red over light comes on, but that might help with guesstimation. If it's 1/500 then in a pinch it might be possible by setting the aperture to f/8 and then adjusting ISO down until one click after it goes off (for 100 chromes).

Shame on me for forgetting - I started out with the same camera but that was quite some time ago!