Your Formula For Shooting Meterless Indoors

[gb hill]

I loaded my Zorki 2c with some B&W Arista Premium 400 & a 50/3.5 elmar. My son wasn't feeling well so I took him to the hospital emergency room, BTW he will be fine.

I carried my Zorki & fiddled with it while waiting in the nicely lit lobby. I'm familiar with the outdoor sunny 16 rule but was thinking how I would meter a nicely lit indoor scene with this lens & camera. 😕

I began to wonder how you guys & gals who shoot your Barnacks, Russian Rf's, etc. would meter this type of scene? What about at Starbucks or your favorite coffee shop? I realized then I have grown to rely on a meter so much I became confused on how I would set my f stop & shutter speed.

Do you have a formula for this kind of shooting? I'm sure you do because I see so many good shots in the gallery. Please post your favorite photos.

 

[Ong]

I tend to follow the EV chart when in doubt.
http://www.fredparker.com/ultexp1.htm (scroll down to about 2/3's of the way)

Just take sunny 16 as EV15, and go down about 9 stops with your aperture and shutter speed for bright indoors, or more if necessary.

Don't forget, B&W film is pretty forgiving with exposure as long as you're in the ballpark.

 

[dmr]

A number of years ago I had to "wing it" when I found myself with a dead meter battery and no source for a replacement on a Sunday evening. It's kinda complicated but I was able to get a number of acceptable frames just by gut feeling. The story is here:

http://omababe.blogspot.com/2007/10/cross-processing-bean.html

Although I'm very confident doing "sunny 16" exposures outdoors, I've never been able to really get a feel for something similar for night or indoor shots.

 

[FrankS]

Typical home indoor lighting is f2, 1/30sec with iso 400 film. 1/15 sec for dimmer rooms, 1/60 sec for bright kitchens.

Basically, it's wide open with as slow a speed as you can handhold.

 

[BLKRCAT]

exposure would have been 1/15 F3.5. Just go wide open and as slow as you feel comfortable going.

the elmar 3.5 is not by any means an indoor/low light lens.

theres no real easy way of guessing indoor light. Sometimes its possible to guesstimate a bit better when you have a window light source but artificial light can be very difficult.

 

[mike rosenlof]

Wide open and as slow as you dare. At least with negative film.

 

[Bill Clark]

I'd use a meter. You could use a flash with the thristor sensor.

Or if you have a, say, digital camera with built in light meter perhaps that could be used to take your reading.

Or if you have a smartphone there are apps to turn the phone into a light meter.

Most black and white film have good latitude range.

 

[FrankS]

There are published exposure charts for various situations including typical indoor lighting.

 

[Mark C]

Typical home indoor lighting is f2, 1/30sec with iso 400 film. 1/15 sec for dimmer rooms, 1/60 sec for bright kitchens.

Basically, it's wide open with as slow a speed as you can handhold.

That is about my experience too, plus 1/60 @ 4 for fairly bright florescent lit rooms like offices and schools, but open up depending on how the light falls on the actual subject.

And some indoor is just really dark and challenging to shoot.

 

[raid]

Typical home indoor lighting is f2, 1/30sec with iso 400 film. 1/15 sec for dimmer rooms, 1/60 sec for bright kitchens.

Basically, it's wide open with as slow a speed as you can handhold.

Same as my "system". It works well with film.
Else, I use the lens wide open and the speed 1/15 and hope for the best.

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

The short answer is "Don't"

Indoor lighting is highly variable, it doesnt have the consistancy that sunlight does, which allows for the Sunny 16 rule to work.

If you don't want to carry a meter, you might pick up a Black Cat Extended Range Exposure Guide. Its a chart of exposures for unusual lighting conditions, low light, indoors, etc. I just bought one on Ebay.

http://www.blackcatphotoproducts.com/guide.html

That's the manufacturer's website. It's $20 plus $4 shipping. The manufacturer also sells them new on Ebay for less money; that's how I got mine.

 

[Godfrey]

Hunt up a copy of the "Kodak Pocket Photo Guide". It has one of those paper-dial-type calculators in it for "Existing Light". It actually works better in some ways than a meter does because it's scene-based exposure estimation. Pick a scene, pick a film (TX, etc) dial the pointer for the film to the scene number and read the aperture/shutter speed pairs off the dial.

I lived with one of these in my camera bag for 20+ years. I used it so much I just remember the pairs and set them without thinking.

G

 

[Ko.Fe.]

I gave two formulas.
One. IPhone lightmeter. Usually people do have mobile phone in emergency room or Starbucks with them. If battery is out:
Two. Open as wide as possible, choose shutter speed as low as possible.

FED-2 at 1/30 and J-3 wide open is no brainer what to choose and get usable result🙂
2c and 3.5 would be 1/10 to my guess if no light comes from outside.

 

[ForestCap]

I just shoot with lowest speed I can go, and keep aperture at f/2 or f/2.8

I can go 1/30 or 1/20 with zorkis
1/4 or 1/8 with Bessa R and Canon (V)L2
1/2 or 1/5 with Kiev-4a (love Kiev for this)

Then just pray things are not heavily underexposed.

 

[gb hill]

I tend to follow the EV chart when in doubt.
http://www.fredparker.com/ultexp1.htm (scroll down to about 2/3's of the way)

Just take sunny 16 as EV15, and go down about 9 stops with your aperture and shutter speed for bright indoors, or more if necessary.

Don't forget, B&W film is pretty forgiving with exposure as long as you're in the ballpark.

Forgot about Fred Parker. Need to read up,bookmarked...Thanks

 

[gb hill]

A number of years ago I had to "wing it" when I found myself with a dead meter battery and no source for a replacement on a Sunday evening. It's kinda complicated but I was able to get a number of acceptable frames just by gut feeling. The story is here:

http://omababe.blogspot.com/2007/10/cross-processing-bean.html

Although I'm very confident doing "sunny 16" exposures outdoors, I've never been able to really get a feel for something similar for night or indoor shots.

I enjoyed reading your experience, then got lost in reading other parts of your blog. You need to blog more often.😀

 

[gb hill]

I gave two formulas.
One. IPhone lightmeter. Usually people do have mobile phone in emergency room or Starbucks with them. If battery is out:
Two. Open as wide as possible, choose shutter speed as low as possible.

FED-2 at 1/30 and J-3 wide open is no brainer what to choose and get usable result🙂
2c and 3.5 would be 1/10 to my guess if no light comes from outside.

I figured I would be stretching it a bit with the 3.5 elmar. It's amazing how the artificial light can fool the eyes. I have both a J-3 & a J-8 that hasn't been getting any love so might carry the J-8 lens along.

 

[css9450]

Just take sunny 16 as EV15, and go down about 9 stops with your aperture and shutter speed for bright indoors, or more if necessary.

That agrees with what I was using based on my Gossen light meter years ago, in brightly-lit (flourescent) office buildings. Here at home I am sure its darker.

 

[gb hill]

Hunt up a copy of the "Kodak Pocket Photo Guide". It has one of those paper-dial-type calculators in it for "Existing Light". It actually works better in some ways than a meter does because it's scene-based exposure estimation. Pick a scene, pick a film (TX, etc) dial the pointer for the film to the scene number and read the aperture/shutter speed pairs off the dial.

I lived with one of these in my camera bag for 20+ years. I used it so much I just remember the pairs and set them without thinking.

G

I have the Kodak Darkroom Data Guide & will look for the Pocket Photo Guide.

Thank for all the help thus far. I don't feel so bad anymore for feeling like an idiot.😀

 

[dmr]

I enjoyed reading your experience, then got lost in reading other parts of your blog. You need to blog more often.😀

Thanks. 🙂

I really need to shoot more often! The past couple of years I've been taking as much work as I can, kinda spiking the 401k in hopes of retirement within the next few years. I REALLY need to take more time for the things I enjoy.