johnmyers

<p>Age/Sex/Location</p>

<p>Ellery, he should absolutely use the meter - it is by far the most essentially beneficial aspect of any camera! Setting the camera to manual won't affect the ability to use the meter at all. In fact, using manual settings can only help one to understand getting accurate meter readings.</p>

<p>Sam, I don't think anyone really NEEDS to read a book or take a class in order to make images that achieve their vision. My suggestion to you would be to take photos without the fear of making mistakes. I would also suggest that you put your camera on full manual mode and control shutter, aperture, and focus yourself. This will quickly make each function linked to it's corresponding effect in your mind - you'll learn very quickly how to get the end result you want if you force yourself to be involved in every aspect of the image.</p>

<p>Also, if you're really interested in doing macro photography, I'd hold off on buying another lens until you can afford to get a dedicated macro lens. Or perhaps just use an extension tube on the lens you currently have.</p>

<p>Take a look at the Fuji Finepix S1500...great camera that at ~160 USD won't break the bank. Just bought one for my girlfriend and she swears by it.</p>

<p>Brian, there are so many variables in order for someone to determine whether your exposure is correct (and even then most of those variable are subjective). In this case, every monitor is different and most aren't calibrated with others across the world.</p>

<p>On my monitor, the snow in your scene appears as a somewhat middle gray and the dark tones don't hold much detail. What's difficult to say though is if it's simply from the scan. The best way to tell if you've exposed correctly would be to get a good loupe and look at it up close on a light table, or use a densitometer.</p>

<p>If this was taken at dusk and the snow really did look gray and if that's what you wanted, then this is correct. If you want the snow to be white with detail next time, don't count on the camera meter to get you there. As others have said, meter off something specific that you want to be middle gray toned...chances are you don't want the brightest thing in the scene to be middle gray, so if you're going to meter off the snow, be prepared to increase exposure time by a couple stops or more depending upon the film and development methods. If you develop your own traditional BW films, you will open up so many doors to great exposures in just about any situation.</p>

<p>I agree with Lex...apug is an extremely active resource for anything regarding film photography, from development, printing, products...you name it.</p>

<p>That shag rug comment was priceless.</p>

<p>Deviantart would be another consideration, I suppose.</p>

<p>Thank you, Cole.</p>

<p>Right now the 18-55 would be just fine for your beginning portraits. If you want a shallower depth of field if the 18-55 isn't cutting it, simply pick up a 50mm 1.8 lens...very cheap, very sharp, very worth the money.</p>

<p>Changing the ISO on a film camera only changes what the light meter tells you to do. If you have a shot perfectly metered at 400 ISO and then change it do 1600, it will say you're well overexposed. If you're on auto or priority settings, it will adjust accordingly. If you're on manual, you will have to choose to adjust the shutter or aperture.</p>

<p>Jim Harden,<br>

Set your aperture to whatever DOF you wish to achieve. A fast lens wide open at night is good for letting you compose and see details through the viewfinder...as for actually taking the photo, you'll usually want to stop down to f/8 or whatever that sweet spot is for your lens and the DOF you want to achieve of course. If you spot meter for the image at the aperture you wish to use and it says it's underexposed off the charts (most cameras I've used only show two stops) at 30", you can just keep lowering the aperture until you finally see that meter move and simply do some math to find out the correct exposure time, then put your aperture back to where you want it and count off that long Bulb exposure - this is a fabulous reason to use a fast lens for this kind of photography. If you're shooting film, remember to look up your film's reciprocity failure charts and take that into consideration when doing your calculations. Have fun and I hope you enjoy this very relaxing and breathtaking form of photography.</p>

<p>... how about photo.net?</p>

<p>Here's mine<br>

<img src="http://i.imagehost.org/0681/00Unc7-182017884-2.jpg" alt="" /></p>

<p>Films I love...<br>

Slide film: Fuji Velvia 50 (Bold and pleasing saturation), Fuji Provia 100F (Totally accurate while remaining very vividly natural...hope that makes sense), Fuji 64T (Absolutely stunning effects when used as a night photography film under lights with a white cast. Also perfect when used for what it was intended for...tungsten lighting. Color night photography under sodium lamps never looked so good.)<br>

Color print: Fuji NPH 400 (I believe this is called Pro 400H now? Amazing everything...not a single complaint. Colors and contrasts are so smooth and grain is so controlled and small.)<br>

B&W Print: Ilford HP5, Ilford Pan F+ (Definately a film worth learning), Ilford Delta 100, Kodak Tmax 100, Kodak Tri-X (A film with some very unique characteristics that I just love)</p>

<p>It's rare, but sometimes it can make for a uniquely enjoyable photograph.</p>

<p>I agree with Lex, looks like just a good basic exposure at night.<br>

Turn off your IS, don't touch your tripod, wait for a break in the breeze and use a remote shutter release (if you don't have one, use your self-timer for exposures 30" or less of course!).</p>

<p>You won't notice a huge amount of difference when using a very good lens, so the DOF effect is in most cases certainly worth it. Test it out and see if the results are acceptable to you, chances are you won't even be able to tell the difference and if you do it will likely be totally negligable and you'll choose the shallow DOF for its power in creating what you had envisioned.</p>

<p>I wish "pro" camera bodies would incorporate on-camera flash. It's simple to not use (just don't use it if you don't want to) but very handy if:</p>

<ol>

<li>You didn't bring your hotshoe flash unit (for any variety of reasons)</li>

<li>It's a matter of taking the picture or not</li>

<li>You want to use it to trigger other lights</li>

</ol>

<p>I love the look of Tri-X @1600. And Tmax 3200P @3200 in D-76 is beautiful too.<br>

And to Jamie...if you want to take pictures of contrasty scenes at night and develop later with a low contrast so you have more control in the printing stage, you should look up how to do a dilute/static process. It's fabulous. It keeps detail in shadows and the highlights won't blow out. Ilford films (like HP5 @1600 and even Pan F) work particularly well with this method.</p>

<p>Hello, quick question here...<br>

Does the Holga 135PC use a standard threaded cable release? Photos I've seen of the camera are straight on, so I can't tell if I would be able to use one or if I have to hold the shutter open with my finger for 20 seconds.</p>

<p>I am sure you'll love those films. Velvia 50 is fantastic, though a warming filter should be used somewhat conservatively...you're better off with a good polarizing filter (any filter depending upon the scene, of course). Post about your experience when you get back...interested to see how you compare those two films.</p>

<p>John R., I agree...wouldn't that be too much possibility of having incriminating evidence?</p>

<p>I'm always suspicious of people with the last name of Buglady walking near my house with a device that records light.</p>

<p>Quite honestly, I'd get the Nikon N80 used off eBay...you can find incredible deals on this incredible camera. It uses a threaded cable release (great for battery life) but doesn't offer mirror lock-up (I've never needed it for any of my night photography and my rolls and rolls of Ilford Pan F are perfectly sharp under very very high magnification). The spot metering on this camera is certainly accurate and as others have said the exposure latitude on most B&W films is very high and easy to fix through developing and printing. All you need is reciprocity failure charts for the films you will use and possibly a battery operated calculator if you're not too comfortable with your on-the-fly math skills ;).</p>