Car Show Film?

I am going to an indoor car show and would like to shoot some

pictures with slide film. I will be using my F80 with a 28-105

using built in flash.

 

Any input is appreciated. Thanks.

I guess You are likely to bump into light problems of all sorts. Your zoom is probably not very fast (f 3,5 at best?), greatly limiting the working distance of Your built-in flash if you intend to use a nice looking 100/200 slide film (Kodak VS, velvia 100 or something like that for saturated colors) and usually these show-halls have flurescent light, giving a nasty greenish cast if not properly filtered. The FL-day filter helps some but steals some light. I would go for a color-neg film - being much more forgiving to underexposure & easier to filter out the problems with variable light quality. A strong add-on flash would however permit you to use slide film with daylight-quality light - fluorescents in the distance would still give greenish color-cast on picture though.

Lots of chrome, hot spots, wild paint jobs. I'd stick to something milder like Astia/Sensia 100 or Kodak E100G for it's good lattitude at the most extreme.

 

The only thing the more saturated slide films give you is more contrast, which is hardly needed in this situation. Shoot a bright red paint job on a 57' Chevy with Velvia and Astia some time. The only difference in the final slides is the Velvia chrome has more contrast while there is little difference in the actual brightness of the red. Same film dye.

I agree with Tor. You might not come home with the results anticipated if you go with slide. But if you insist, I'd go Provia 100. But i think Reala and a maybe a tripod or mono pod may be your best bet.

Are tripods or monopods allowed in with the general public? I don't think I've ever seen on at the Chicago Auto Show.

er... s/on/one/

Scott has it backwards: High contrast color E6 films (E100VS & Velvia) have more silver in them (hence their higher price), and have more "punch" in the bright colors.

 

 

This is why us pro's shoot E100VS & even Velvia 50 in VERY bright sunlight at the race track. I also know that late last season, everyone was hankering to get their hands on the then-just-announced Velvia 100.

 

 

Which 28-105 lens are you using? How wide can it open up? I ask, because you'll probably need filters of some kind or another, depending on the ambient lighting. Most exhibit halls use metal halide lighting, **not** fluorescent lights. However, oftentimes there are incandescent spotlights used as well, playing havoc with the white balance.

 

 

There are two ways to do this:

 

 

1) Rent a color meter: Typically they go for about $20 for a day's rent. Most professional photo stores have equipment rental -- Mid-City Camera in Philly and FotoCare in Manhattan both have excellent rental departments; other cities YMMV. [You can also rent lenses for your Nikon, so if your 28-105 isn't up to snuff, you can use another lens.]

 

 

2) If you have a digital camera, you can estimate the white point by taking several shots with it, locking the white point at incandescent and daylight & looking at the results in the LCD. If you use a daylight balanced film, you can even lock the camera's white point onto daylight and hold up various filters against the lens: Find the one that has the best appearance in the LCD, then pop that filter onto your Nikon SLR.

 

Hopes this helps!

 

Cheers, Dan

<I>Scott has it backwards: High contrast color E6 films (E100VS & Velvia) have more silver in them </i><p>Actually somebody is visually impaired here, and the 'color' in color slide films is made of dye, not silver. All the silver does is act as a sensitizing agent for the dye couplers, and the dye used in Fuji slide films is primarily the same across lines. {Velvia has more silver....give me a break} <P>The only difference you'll see with Provia vs Velvia with this kind of subject matter is contrast and not total saturation, and under indoor lighting Sensia is a better film than Velvia or Provia. I shot about 50 rolls of 120 slide last summer of car shows and stuck to the lower contrast films because all I got with Velvia was blocked reds and less shooting lattitude. <P>I like the bit about renting a color meter. How about a view camera and drum scanner as well? Van with diffusion panels on top maybe????

http://www.google.com/search?q=%22auto+show%22+site:photo.net

Misinformation from Dan is the kind of thing that disturbs us all.

�High contrast color E6 films (E100VS & Velvia) have more silver in them�

 

�{Velvia has more silver....give me a break}�

 

Time out, you both said the same thing�

Fuji Superia 400 or 800 you can't go wrong.

Did read all... IMO don't use flash !

Oooops ! I definitely read too quickly. You want to shoot slides so Superia is the wrong answer. I've no advice, I would not shoot slides in such conditions.

<I>I like the bit about renting a color meter. How about a view camera and drum scanner as well? </i> <br><br>

 

<b>Actually, I rented a color meter to get the right filtration for Nashville Superspeedway; and since all the IndyCar & NASCAR tracks are lit by Musco using the same bulbs, I use the same film and filter combos throughout dusk and into the night.<br><br>

 

And Yes, when I go to the track I take along my 4x5 Speed Graphic and focus with the ground glass.<br><br>

 

And Yes, I use a ColorGetter II PMT drum scanner (at a DTP shop) I service, with a D(max) - D(min) (dyanmic range) of about 4.4 -- <i>It's the only way to fly.</i>

</b>

Trying to get good shots of cars at an indoor car show is near impossible. The main problem you will have is the reflections of all those indoor lights on the car. You will see a reflection of every one of the overhead lights on the car. If you use a flash the all your slides will look like snap-shots. I wasted a few rolls at the 2004 Philly car show and I was very unhapopy with the results. I shot mostly sensia. The next time I do car shots I am going to do them outside only. Since the paint and everything else is so reflective I plan on using a polarizer filter. If you are in the Philly area there is a weekly event Sundays down in Delware called Kahunaville. Hundreds of people from all over show up with classic and custom cars. They park/ cruise around the Kahuna restaurant. That would be a great place to pratice car shots.