Medium format fireworks

[hopalonghowie]

<p>I am going to be in Seattle New Years Eve and would like to use my Mamiya RB67 Pro SD to get some of the Space Needle fireworks.<br>

What I would like to know is first off, is this something the Mamiya can do? If it can will my f90 K/L lens and 6x4.5 back do the job or do I need more lens and a 6x7 back?<br>

Look forward to your responses.<br>

Regards</p>

[b_christopher]

<p>You do plan on mounting it on a tripod and use a cable release and bulb setting, right? I can't imagine any reason why your setup shouldn't work. </p>

[dan_south]

<p>Howard, is there a chance that you'll be able to see some fireworks in your area BEOFRE you travel to Seattle. It would be good to do a trial run to make sure that your exposure settings are working.</p>

<p>Focus on the building if it's in the frame. Otherwise, focus on some very distant object and leave the lens untouched in this position as you recompose for the sky.</p>

<p>I think you can get a good composition with just about any focal length. The difficult part will be predicting where in the sky the fireworks are going to happen.</p>

<p>Exposure will depend on the film that you're using, but something like f/8 for 10 - 20 seconds would probably be a good starting point for ISO 100 film.</p>

<p>Here's an article with some good tips:</p>

<p>http://www.digital-photography-school.com/how-to-photograph-fireworks</p>

[hopalonghowie]

<p>Dan,<br>

Thank you very much. I'm new to medium format and the information you provided was very useful.<br>

Regards</p>

 

[chris_waller]

<p>I've used an RB67 to photograph fireworks. Set the shutter speed to 'T' and use a cable release. I remommend using the mirror pre-release facility. My rule of thumb is: 100 ASA film, f/16, 1 minute exposure time. That said, I adjust the exposure time according to how many fireworks go off during the exposure, so it might be 30 seconds, it might be 2 minutes.</p>

[steve m smith]

<p>You can always leave the shutter open and cover the lens with something in between firework activity.</p>

<p> </p>

[hopalonghowie]

<p>Chris, thanks for the excellent suggestion since it will be one continuous show that lasts about 12 minutes the mirror pre-release is a good idea I had not even considered.</p>

<p>Steve, cool idea that I'll have to try on the 4th of July (or whatever fireworks show I can get myself to next)</p>

[stinshoff]

<p>If going for both the Space Needle and the fireworks, focus on getting the Space Needle and surrounding city exposed propertly. The fireworks will pretty much take care of themselves exposure wise. A one minute exposure, as Chris Waller said, will get you a lot of fireworks but I suspect the city might be terribly overexposed. The last time I shot fireworks this past July, I pretty much set the camera to F8 and used the bulb setting. Worked perfectly, but I was only going for the fireworks themselves since there wasn't much in the way of an interesting foreground or background. Make sure to take a lot of shot. Fireworks are much like Forrest Gump's line about a box of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get.</p>