Lesson Learned: Fun with a Fed

[Rob_the_waste]

<p>Last weekend I learned some fun lessons. It started out Saturday morning real early. I met Mihai Costea down at Bluffers Park. We started out to go and shoot the sunrise. I brought my digicam and my Fed 5C. He brought his Hasselblad 500CM and Canon FTB. The first thing that caught my attention was the little piece of paper that Mihai pulled out of his bag with the Hassy. It was a reciprocity failure chart. I didn't know at that time that the film acts so much differently from digital. As has been duly noted, his results which were posted last week were beautiful. I shot a few long exposure shots with the digicam, and they too were quite nice. I also tried some extended shots with the Fed, both before and after reading up on the subject. Needless to say, the first few frames that I tried were underexposed and grainy. Then later after I went home, I followed up on the subject. I have a book that had the same chart in it. I didn't copy it, but I noted the basic set of values. I went back down to Bluffers Park yesterday to finish off the film. The conditions were nowhere close to last Saturday. There was a storm brewing, and the waves crashed into the rocks sending sprays up to maybe six feet in the air. I set up not far from where we were last Saturday. I adjusted my exposures to roughly what the chart suggested. It turned out to be an eye opener.</p><div></div>

[Rob_the_waste]

<p>next...</p><div></div>

[Rob_the_waste]

<p>Now we get to yesterday's efforts. Sorry about the Newton rings.</p><div></div>

[Rob_the_waste]

<p>another</p><div></div>

[Rob_the_waste]

<p>last shoreline shot</p><div></div>

[Rob_the_waste]

<p>The last three images were exposed for a full minute. Then, I tried to shoot one of the yacht clubs after dark, but my release cable broke. Bummer, I couldn't feel it anyway. It must have been cold. On the way home, I stopped by the Guildwood Go train station to kill off the last couple of frames. It turned out I only had one left. Stupidly, I left the watch in the truck.</p><div></div>

[lauren_macintosh]

<p>Rob Holz: as long as you can count you can get good results, I like it</p>

[Troll]

<p>What kind of film?</p>

[mjferron]

<p>Hey Rob those tripod legs have adjusters to make the camera come up higher like Mihai's does. :0 sorry. Anyway nice shots.</p>

[subbarayan_prasanna]

<p>Beautiful images, regardless of reciprocity effects! Thanks for the post. sp.</p>

[Rob_the_waste]

<p>Bill, film was Kodak Gold 100. <br>

Mike, Mihai's tripod is the midget. ;-)</p>

[starvy]

<p>The reciprocity effect had obviously taken effect but I think the potential is very much there. You must revisit this spot with your best film gear and good quality films.</p>

[rick_drawbridge]

<p>Ah, <em>now</em> we know what you were seeing in the viewfinder when you were sitting on the rock with your toes in the tide...Well worth the effort, <strong>Rob</strong>, a very nice series of shots. The long exposures certainly impart a "dreamlike" quality to the images. Incidentally, I prefer "clickety-click" to the "one thousand" system...!</p>

[JDMvW]

<p>reciprocity failures, noise, -- Those of us who have used GAF 500 slide film care not a bit for these fine points. If you get the image -- <strong>that's</strong> what counts. ;)</p>

<p>Of course, nowadays, you can fix some of these problems, even exposure, digitally. In the old days, we had to dig out the Repronar which often re-introduced some of the same problems, again.</p>

<p>Nice work. Enjoyed hearing the tale and seeing the results.</p>

<p>As for the watch in the truck, after 15 seconds or so, the difference between actual timing and what you count really comes to be insignificant....</p>

[Rob_the_waste]

<p>Sorry, digipic. Lake Ontario is kind of funny here. Where the sun comes up, it doesn't matter even if there isn't a cloud in the sky, there's always a red haze on the morning horizon. If the sun is up, there's never a bad sunrise.</p><div></div>

[q.g._de_bakker]

It is a failure of reciprocity still. ;-)

[rustys pics]

<p>Cool shots. Are you guys up in Rochester? If so, have a Genesee Bock for me!</p>

[CosteaM]

<p>Great job, Rob. I love your still water exercise. Just to let you know the PanF that I shot from the Cathedral Park didn't come out well. I got some uneven development effects. The thing is that I loaded this film without testing and I tried to improvise. Not good... I have to revisit the place but coming week-ends look busy (First The Easter then I have a photo shoot at the Distillery District on Apr 30th-I will PM you).</p>