Film for Night Photography

Hi everyone, I've just bought a Film based SLR in order to do night

photography (too much noise with digital) and I am now looking for

some recommendations on what film to use.

 

I've done some research and understand that these are favourable:

 

1. KODAK EKTACHROME 64T

2. KODAK EKTACHROME 160T (away from urban areas/light pollution)

3. FUJIFILM SENSIA (with colour correction 80B filter)

 

I'd ideally like to experiment with cheaper film before going for the

pro-grade stuff like Ektachrome. So I was thinking of trying out some

daylight film such as the Fujifilm using a Hoya 80B colour correction

filter. Apparently this is fairly cheap and still gives good results,

any opinions on this?

 

Another question I have which is probably not for this forum, if I'm

taking hour exposures, what can I wrap around my camera to guard

against any un-expected rainfall without causing fogging and condensation?

 

Thanks

Hi!

How about provia 100? This dude uses it for long exposures I believe:

 

http://www.arnaudfrichphoto.com/

 

Alvin

How can you experiement with a film that will likely have different reaction and results to what you really will be using when you are not practicing? I mean, you practice, get it "right" then use a film that will probably be different in it's needs for filtration and exposure times? What would be the point? Film is cheap, especially Sensia 100 (buy some grey market stuff) and with only a roll or two of practice (maybe one roll, if you take good notes) you'll be on your way. Furthermore, there's quite a bit of variation in "night" photography, what kind of subjects and results are you looking for? Some shoot for deep, dark looks, obviously being night, others like to do very long night exposures, so long sometimes that such images look like day. That will also determine which film might be best. This has been discussed a bit on this site, a search might bring up a bit of past threads covering this also.

I don't think many outdoor night photographs are made with tungsten balanced film or filters. The Sensia would be good, or Provia 100F/400F better yet.

I'd start out with 400 speed film (HD 400, available at WalMart), and only switch to lower speed if required. Using 64 speed is going to guarantee that you use a tripod on most every shot you shoot.

 

If you're shooting mixed-lighting scenes, skip the filters. No point in correcting one light if it throws something else off.

You may want to consider B&W. I have no idea what subject, lighting, or conditions you will be shooting under, so I can't exactly give the best advice. However..generally B&W film works out a lot better for night photography. Light at night from artificial sources will exhibit strong color casts, and color films under long exposure often exhibit color shits. This is because the reciprocicy (spelling) is usually different at different layerse of the film. Especially in the long range of hour exposures you are speaking of.

Hi guys, thanks for your suggestions.

 

Being honest I am completely new to film, I was born into photography using a fairly simple digital (& instantly got hooked in) but quickly realised that it wasent going to give me what I wanted at night or in the long run.

 

Your right, there's no real point experimenting with cheap film when its going to give a different result & require different settings than a better roll, its just going to be wasted effort.

 

I thought that tungsten would be good because it compensates for the general brown tungsten lighting you get at night when shooting disused/derilict buildings, car wrecks around street lamps, floodlit buildings etc. It has a nice bluey sort of look to it also (if the digital tungsten is similar to film!).

 

Subject matter would be: urban (buildings, streets, industry etc), sub-urban (star trails? water, castles, old barns etc) pretty much everything most always in full moonlight. I know one film isnt suitable for every scenario, but with a fine grain as 64T would give me great results urban wise with 160T out in the country where there's less light pollution & just moonlight. I dont really want my photos to look like day.

 

Isnt 400 going to be very grainy? and how would reciprocity failure effect this?, I dont mind using a tripod.

 

I do like the idea of b&w, the dark haunting sort of scenes appeals to me, I will give that a try thanks.

 

Thanks for all your replies, they are appreciated

Check out http://www.thenocturnes.com/ and

http://www.designshed.com/lostframe.html for tips on getting started.

 

I use 100 speed and slower reversal film, and am currently experimenting with different types under different lighting.

I've been impressed with one test roll of Sensia under moonlight, and have used 160T in the past, which works quite well if you want a deep blue sky.

You might use a beach umbrella to keep rain off of your camera. I don't shoot in the rain, and otherwise don't find that I need to cover my camera at all.

For night photography, I would start with color negative film because the contrast is usually too high for slide film. Try Kodak ultra color 100, elite color 200, ultra/elite color 400. Use a tripod and avoid high-speed stuff. You may also try C-41 black and white because these films have a low contrast.

 

Remember that with color negative films, underexposing the shadows will result in muddy, grainy, gray images. Make sure the dark parts of the scene get enough exposure. If you use evaluative/matrix/honeycomb metering, I would add 1-2 stops of extra exposure for night scenes.

 

For color slides, try Elite Chrome 100, it is excellent for this application. Forget about tungsten balanced films - they're very grainy.

I forgot to say that with slide film, one needs to expose the highlights (bright parts) of the scene correctly and if you have the chance, bracket your exposures.

Excellent info, thank you.

 

Roger, thanks for the links, I will have a look - websites that I had visited in order to try and gather some info (if your interested) are:

 

http://www.hoursofdarkness.com/

http://www.nightphotographer.com/

http://www.lostamerica.com/

 

These provide some good information,pics & small tutorials - the equipment pages are quite valuable but I guess its pretty obvious what you need aside from film.

 

Ilkka, I will bracket my shots - but with colour negative film it is going to be very hit and miss at first trying to balance exposure across the ranges of bright to shadow, my SLR uses centre weighted averaging metering mode by default in full manual but I will switch to partial metering (spot) to ensure that I am getting correct exposure coverage in shadow etc, its certainly going to be a learning curve.

 

So far I have started by shooting various objects in the house in different levels of low-light, candle light, near darkness etc - I've also had a go at star trails in the back yard, finally I want to try light painting the wall of my house. Of course I am also venturing out, I just wanted to try different subjects to see what works and what doesnt.