long exposures

[marc_mcshane]

good day... i've been doing a lot of shooting at night and trying to use long exposures with my 645AFd

but i've been having some issues metering. no matter what i set the shutter speed at it registers as not

being able to expose correctly. now, i do the same shooting with my cannon 35mm and i have no poblems

setting a correct exposure. does anyone have any suggestions? is it an issue with the cameras metering?

should i use an external meter? should i just learn how to use the camera? any idea will help, cheers.

[bueh]

For night cityscape and the like a modern 35mm <abbr title="single-lens reflex camera">SLR</abbr> (especially a digital one with its built-in preview function) is the best way to get a good exposure. But what are exactly shooting and with what aperture and film speed? I'd guess the AFD should be capable of metering even at night, but then again I'm not familiar with its specs. A hand-held ambient light meter won't help much and even spot meters also have difficulties at night since they often are not made for very low light situations.

<br> 

<blockquote><i>should i just learn how to use the camera?</i></blockquote><p>

Why, of course, this is always a great skill for photography.

[Ed_Ingold]

Get the best of both worlds

 

I find a Nikon D2x makes a good light meter under circumstances when I can't get a reading from my 205TCC or Sekonic L-508. Furthermore, I can check the results immediately, with better accuracy than using Polaroid film. One example is a city scape at night. The spot meter reacts poorly to street lights, whereas the Nikon seems to get a good balance. Exposures at ISO 100 are on the order of 15 seconds at f/8.

[justinblack]

May I recommend a hand-held spot meter?

[jimmy_english]

When I did night city scapes many years ago I used an incident meter under a street light and got good results. Of course that wouldn't work for distanct shots.

[brucecahn]

Justin Black has the correct solution

[smeitner300]

And you are aware of reciprocity errors?

[marc_mcshane]

well, when i use my canon elan 7 to shoot at night with a tamron 24mm f/3.5 with, i don't

know, say 800-3200 speed films, i can shoot no problem [with a tripod]. the camera will

meter the shot and spit something out like 15 seconds @ f/3.5... and it will expose well. the

mamiya, however, no matter what it is set to will always flash it's warning at me saying it

won't expose correctly. i know the film is certainly capable of exposing correctly and that

there is some combination of aperture and shutter ti make that happen, but the camera says

otherwise. ideas?

[john_elder1]

Also bracket over and under.

[CosteaM]

You can also use the Ultimate Exposure Computer on Fred Parker's website; link <a href="http://www.fredparker.com/ultexp1.htm">

here<a>.

I find it to be very useful specially on low light conditions, hence no exposure meter required.

[ondebanks]

Marc,

 

I can't get over all these people telling you to buy another meter. Before you go buying anything else, or thinking that your camera has a problem, you just need to find out what the eV range of the 645AFD's meter is. Buying an additional item will not solve the underlying problem - namely not knowing the capabilities of your existing gear in a quantitative way.

 

You say that your Canon can meter 15 seconds @ f/3.5 @ ISO 800-3200. That is an eV value of -3.29 (ISO 800) or -5.29 (ISO 3200). I'm pretty sure that those numbers fall outside the range of the Mamiya's meter.

 

But it's no good just looking at the eV range specifications in the manual, as they are only given for ISO 100. You need to test this yourself, say in a dark room with a dim light at one end. Set your desired high ISO, and widest aperture, and gradually move away from the light, adjusting only the shutter speed, until such time as you just lose the ability to get the "correct" exposure. This tells you how faint you can meter with all the settings maxed out. Then please report back to us with your ISO-aperture-shutter numbers - I'll convert 'em to eV values - let's make this a piece of useful research for other AFD owners.

 

Ray

[q.g._de_bakker]

Go <a href="http://www.hasselbladhistorical.eu/HT/HTCuC.aspx" target="_blank">here</a>.<br>Pick a lens from the menus above - any lens will do.<br>Then concentrate only on the grey bit on the right, below the Zeiss logo.<br><br>Select any aperture-shutterspeed combination you like, and press "Calculate" (yellow, to the left).<br>Ignore all values given as "Corrected", just as you ignore any of the other input/output elements.

[ondebanks]

Q.G. - nice page! But you can't choose the ISO. Does it assume ISO 100? That would scupper its utility to Marc.

[allison_reese2]

i wouldn't trust any meter for exposures longer than 1 sec. just use you brain and bracket.

[q.g._de_bakker]

Ray,<br><br>Thanks.<br><br>ISO is not part of the EV system.<br>A shutterspeed of 1/125 at f/8 is EV 13, no matter what the ISO value of the film you might want to use. All other shutterspeed-aperture combinations that produce the same exposure are EV 13 too.<br><br>Only when you want to know what EV-setting would give the correct exposure, given also the amount of light and the ISO value of the film, does ISO begin to matter.<br>But even then, 1/125 at f/8 will be EV 13, no matter what.<br>;-)