medium format - fireworks photography -film , lenses

Hi, I am planning to try fireworks photography with medium format - pentax 67ii.

I am thinking of using 45mm lens , 90 -180mm lens .

 

Films - have ektar 100 , portra 400 , fuji 400h , portra 800. any suggestions on the films?

have arca swiss ball head , manfrotto tripod.

 

shutter cable release is also there. no flash. evening / night would be when I shoot. no flash.

mirror lockup needed ?

 

any suggestions

Should work without issues. I use mirror lockup with my NIkon dSLR with fireworks. Lenses etc ... depends on where you stand etc.. I have used a 20mm or a 100mm for the same fireworks here in NZ. It would be good if you have seen the same fireworks the previous year. I would just go with ISO 100 film maybe slides more vibrant and sharp? I just use the cable release and try out diff shutter speeds. Haven't done fireworks with MF yet though for myself.

Ektar 100 would probably be my choice of the ones listed.

 

Bear in mind that regardless of how dark you THINK it is, it's really not that dark and you can get a lot of background illumination during long exposures. The effect can be especially prominent during firework shows as the smoke leaves a lingering haze that will scatter light pretty badly. This is why I tend toward a slower speed film. With that said, you will have to worry some about reciprocity failure. I actually haven't done any testing on Ektar(I haven't shot a lot of it) but the data sheet only says that no correction is required in the 1 second to 1/10,000 range.

 

Aside from that, use this as your trial run and just play with different settings. There's no one magic formula.

 

BTW, while I won't say to NOT use MLU(it can never hurt) it actually doesn't make a difference when exposures times are several seconds. The reason for this is that any mirror vibration will have damped in a relatively short amount of time relative to the amount of time the shutter is open. Generally speaking, advantages from MLU come into play in roughly the 1/30 to 4 second range, although there again you have to test your camera for yourself. I've never handled a Pentax 67, so I don't know what the mirror vibration is like(the RB67 dampens it actually respectably well).

I shot with fireworks with 64 and 100 speed film.

The lens depends on where you are vs. where the fireworks are. The closer you are, the shorter the lens you need.

As long as you are not changing where the camera points, and the zoom, mirror lockup should be fine. Though I never did that with 35mm or digital.

I do not remember the aperture I used, but do NOT use wide open, as you will get too much exposure on the film, and light reflected from the smoke will reduce the image contrast. I think I used about f/8 to 11.

 

Because the events that I shots were one-time events, I bracketed a LOT.

 

If this is a repeating event, you can do a test run, to determine what exposure to use on event #1.

Then go back for event #2, after evaluating the film and determining what exposure to use.

The format size makes no difference to the technique needed.

 

Just search "firework photography" on pnet for existing threads covering it. Or Google it. There's masses of tips and different ways of tackling the subject out there. However, due to the unpredictability of the subject, be prepared to waste a lot of film. Personally, I'd use digital - it's much cheaper to get decent results with, and you can immediately see whether to use a faster or slower shutter speed or whether the overall exposure is correct. Plus you can easily composite frames to get a more spectacular image.

 

All I can add is that you need fairly long shutter speeds and a lot less exposure than you might think - otherwise you'll get washed out colours and a frozen shower of sparks in the sky. Basically, let the fireworks expose themselves.

I developed a basic fireworks technique from trial and error. Here's my recommendation:

 

Don't use mirror lock up. It isn't necessary

Do use a cable release and set your shutter speed to B

Do use a slow speed film. 100 ISO if you can find it. You'll want to shoot in color.

Set your lens to f/8 or so. Please recall, you'll be shooting light and trails of light, so even f/8 will allow for plenty of illumination, but it will also help keep the smoke from being too obvious.

This is important: When do you trip the shutter, you might be wondering? Well, you don't want to trip the shutter when you first see the explosion. Reason is you won't be recording the very moment of the explosion and the result will be a burst with a black empty area in the middle. The solution is to listen. You will hear a dull thump when the pyrotechnic is launched. Shortly after you hear this thump is when you open the shutter. A moment later, you'll see the burst -- you will have captured all of it. Leave the shutter open as long as you feel is necessary to record the burst as it fades away. When you get your images back, one of the things you might notice from recording your fireworks this way, is you'll see a faint glimmering trail leading up to the point where the burst occurs. Congrats, you've captured the pyrotechnic in its ascending phase. I think it adds a cool feature to the overall image of the fireworks burst.

 

Remember: Listen!

Finally, if your camera possesses multi-exposure capability, here's something to consider. Most fireworks shows I've been to have a "grand finale" where they light off a whole bunch of stuff, but not all at once. So, rather than just keep the shutter open for the finale, it's better to take multiple exposures during the event. It does get harder to hear the thumps, though, because of all the ambient noise.

Hi,

thanks for all the useful tips.

1) I mentioned about medium format as the camera is heavier and I was also wondering about the shutter slap for the pentax 67ii

2) why is slow speed film recommended ?

3) I used the time exposure mode, with time exposure switch (not too convenient)

4) how would velvia 50 / velvia 100 be?

5) we did not have aerial fireworks and had a person holding sparkler and moving it.

6) I used f/11 and approximately 7 to 10 seconds exposure

On hindsight, cable release feels more convenient. I was not familiar with it and did not use it.

From memory with a dSLR I used 5sec at F8 with ISO 100. Low ISO for the long exposurs to get the nice long lines in the fireworks. I have shot with 35mm slide film Kodak E200 and also actually Velvia 50 I think I shot at F5.6 to compensate the same same long shutter speed.

 

Holding a sparkler then I don't know. Maybe use a dSLR and try the diff exposures - note the settings and save one sparker for the medium format. There nothing wrong with short exposures I have seen them online, just play around.

Listen works if you are close enough. Otherwise, the sound delay is longer than the time until the burst.

 

It won't take long to figure out, though.

I have been as far away as a good thousand yards from where the fireworks were taking place and I could hear the big fireworks being launched. Sound travels at roughly 1,000 feet per second, so a thousand yards is three seconds. I still had enough time to trip the shutter despite the delay. Also, if you watch closely, you can often see the firework in its ascendant phase. It will be shooting off some sparks from its lit fuse. This can also be used as a way to time one's opening of the shutter.