RaymondC

Would it be true, many working pros are in it for the money? These days on social media you have those who have day jobs but shoot for clients in the weekends. Even I have been told by family and friends. Do you shoot weddings? No? Learn it, make some money! You get make more money shooting weddings than photographing a rubbish truck and call it fine art. Actually someone did say that to me. For me my personality is that I rather not deal with people photography. I rather hide away and photograph mountain and skies.

What I find online these days are many people that get into photography for some part time or weekend paid photography, mainly portraiture and weddings. They also ask quite newbie questions like what brand is best, what is the ideal lens, how much photos do you give them, is this Amazon or China CFL light bulb constant light set up OK. Over here where I am anyway you see them on various FB groups. I wonder if they didn't pursue photography as a paid for service how many of them would still do photography and how much would their approach or their equipment change by ..... Cheers.

Took my scanner off auto exposure, results better :)

Thanks Joe :) I was able to do this inside Lightroom and be quite crude with my sliders. I think it is somewhat similar to the evening I shot it in. With a longer exposure for the darker buildings the brighter faded sky might had became brighter. Does colour negative film make parts of the image areas a bit more brighter? When you say I shot it night for day you mean maybe my exposure was overexposed in camera? If one did meter correctly can one get an accurate scan or does the software still think you want full shadow detail?

Yes, that Kodak datasheet doesn't say anything about an exposure speed longer than 1 second. It says to to your own testing. I found the Portra reciprocity from this webpage. Assuming with box speed that was 2.5" with my initial anyway I wouldn't had needed reciprocity at all. But compared to my dSLR it should had been 1.25 seconds anyway ... Hmm..... I will do box speed next time. Kodak Portra Lovers

I found it to be Ok'ish to overexpose with daytime the brighter areas where the sun hits is a bit too bright but the skin to my eyes was pretty much the same. I collected the film from my lab today. I asked the owner in the film days what wedding photographers rated their film at and he said 1 stop overexposed ... Shrugs ..... In the above scene where would you point the spot meter and would you use any exposure adjustment? I've always found night time tricky to meter and I question myself. I am thinking spot meter off the bottom left area of the frame , bottom floor of the building above that amber brown window on the wall there?

I shot it with a Hasselblad 500CM with the 80mm lens. The body and lens was also recently CLA'ed due to fine tuning the focus and I did the CLA thing with it. I did go out this evening with my digital SLR to take the same shots and the same settings since I wrote them down. Picture attached underneath. This was taken at the same time today as of yesterday, the more correct exposure with the dSLR seems to be ISO 100, F8, 5 seconds. I don't use fixed rule for all, because with night photography the spot meter on my Sekonic 758 might not be that reliable. Many I read also don't use a light meter at night. After tonight. Maybe my ISO 100, F8, 10 seconds was more for night time cityscapes at a viewing platform further away, today I found out I should had been 5 seconds or 1 stop less. I usually use this rule for a typical night scene where there are deep shadows and bright highlights but in the past it has been further away The issue I have with the photograph is that it is too bright, it doesn't look like it was taken 30mins after sunset with the shops lights turned on. dSLR image attached I took tonight which is the 1 stop darker, 5secs ISO 100, F8. Also the sky has gone too white. Yes I have read C41 films has more latitude. If the difference was just 2 stop over or 3 stops over if I didn't need reciprocity would that be asking too much for the film to handle and still get an image from C41 film that looks as it was there ie a night scene? 3 stops because I was a) 1 stop over compared to my dSLR image. B) I also overexposed it by 1 stop deliberately ie film rated as 200 ISO, C) I added reciprocity if it was not required.

With film I have shot mainly with slides. So this time I am trying out C41 films. I got my first roll back from the lab - Kodak Portra 400. This is the unedited scan after it was passed thru my Epson V700. Did I managed to overexposed Portra 400 despite it having overexposing characteristics? It was 30mins after sunset with the sun fading behind the buildings and there is a hill there as well. Summer here in New Zealand. The rule I usually use with slides is ISO 100, F8, 10secs. So with Portra that means 2.5 seconds +1EV for the film's latitude and +1EV again for reciprocity. I've now read reciprocity doesn't kick in until 8 seconds for 1 stop correction so I might only needed 1/3 of a stop. Daytime images came out very nice esp for portraiture though. :) Like to know your views on this Thanks.

I suppose I should see it from other people. If others are into pottery, tinkering with cars, quilting, hitting the nightclubs, seeing karaokes it may not work for everyone.

We have heard about others saying we buy too much stuff, spend too much money, take too much time. It's not your job. It is that time of the year again and whilst I haven't shot slide film for over a year I thought about taking the projector out and giving it a go, got immediately told off. Then I was thinking if in the future I can learn and enjoy this hobby with some studio strobes, can't see that really happening. Many people say to best enjoy slide film is to project them right. It doesn't matter who they are. It could be house mates or flat mates, even if the place is my own the partner or wife will complain. Maybe it is little wonder that many hobbyists only have 1 camera, 2 or 3 lenses and a speedlight which they bounce it. Because going on holiday if you spend just that too long on a photograph they again frown about it. How is your mileage in this regard? I might need to reverse the car out of the garage and use that. Film guys might think, darkroom?! Taking a room and converting, that's a tsunami waiting to happen if you propose such an idea. Thanks.

Once upon a time, I had an urge about the F6 but I didn't end up getting it. Didn't really make rational sense when I have a great F100 already and I don't use it awfully a lot. It also doesn't use AA batteries so a bit of a bummer there. If I was spending the time I could just use one of my medium format cameras. One can get them second hand for about 65% less than the new price. Ie $800-1,000US. A 35mm film camera is more about mobility. But that said, for a new Nikon F6 price if you can still get them at some stores one could even get a dated Phase One or Leaf digital back.

Thanks for that. Tried Lightroom also. Doesn't allow me manual controls.

Mine isn't a high model phone seems like it won't work.

I am due for a phone upgrade had this for 4yrs now myself. Re: the photo apps, do I need a specific phone before I can get manual settings with my phone app? I've downloaded Fv5 Lite version, Open camera app and VSCO but the best I have managed is P mode and Shutter Priority. My phone 4yrs only cost me about $250US equiv maybe that is why? Cheers.

I've seen sport images ie night stadium shot at ISO 10,000+. For myself I don't use Auto ISO b/c I prefer to manual adjust the ISO for every shot but I am the type that goes overseas even and struggle to capture 60 images per day - yes with a digital camera. I've captured street scenes in Asia with cars using ISO 1600 at F4.0 and it's great. I've also used a APS- C Ricoh GR compact camera at F5.6 ISO 6400 handheld a sunset of a mountain and it's been fine also, a print was made at A4. I do use Auto ISO on the Ricoh however. I have used Auto ISO on the Nikon dSLR occasionally and it's been fine.

Does that mean the meter does not work when you are looking through the viewfinder with a manual lens? Ie not using live view mode. But hold on, the Z has a EVF, does the EVF tell you what the meter thinks then you can adjust the aperture and shutter to see fit.

I think these might be the new scanners. We had someone speak to us at the camera club last year I think and it indeed damage film these days if those machines are used. I've not travelled overseas for a few years but I've never had any issues with my film and I have never seen wavy looks on my film. I have used film up to ISO 800 in the past. I have also gone past x-ray machines 5-10x. 1x domestic, 1x international to Asia stop, 1x reconnect to Europe, 1x France to UK and then back in reverse.

This post is from July and I have posted a few times. Maybe I'll reply with some reflection time .. I agree with rodeo_Joe that full frame and even crop sensor digital cameras are superior than film cameras. I have both a Epson V700 and a dedicated Nikon Coolscan 4000 film scanner. If one is super attached to film then by all means shoot film. Buy film in the USA and take it there and bring it back and develop in the USA. I also import m film from the USA to New Zealand, for slides I use a USA lab also it's so $$$ here. But I don't shoot that much a good few rolls a year carefully, luckily I do tripod landscapes mostly and every 2yr I send a back to the USA. If you are open to digital. Z are bulky as mentioned. Why not just picked a up a second hand Fuji camera with a few F2.0 compact lenses or even a F2.8 prime? I know it is not full frame but compared to film it is just so compact, myself as a D600 and a FM2N user. For travel unless I was doing serious overseas photography I would not get a full frame. As a D600 dSLR user, I may get a Z in the future who knows what the future holds esp on the second market but for now I have no intention of getting a Z camera. Like you said, the Z50 has limited lenses. The Fuji X cameras also has similar dials to a manual Nikon SLR.

Yep, if one knows how to use a spot meter effectively and you are fine with that, there is no need to use a incident meter. The OP might had mentioned earlier on he doesn't use camera flashes which handheld meters can meter for flash as well. With the very occasional portraits I do at home. Yep without camera flashes. With an incident meter it is easier because after spot metering it I don't have to think in my head if that is OK or if I need to dial in some compensation. Is the person's skin mid tone, or lighter or darker? Where did I exactly spot meter it, was it on the sunlight part of the skin or the shadow part or is the entire face evenly lit. However if one is perfectly OK with spot metering, they don't have to use the incident meter.

So the bottomline is that, working with a monitor set to sRGB isn't a gauranteed what everyone else sees on their screen since everybody does not use color management. So basically use Adobe RGB on my screen which is the best setting on my screen and upload a JPEG sRGB for others to see it and they will more or less see an OK image.

I have a Dell ultrasharp monitor which I can set the preset as standard, sRGB or Adobe RGB. Which one should I use? If I was only printing then obviously I'll set Adobe RGB. Like most people I print a few at home but most of it is shared online. While Adobe RGB allows more gamut and less clipping it might not be what others see. When I export using lightroom it is set to jpeg sRGB but the editing what I see on my screen the Dell screen is set to Adobe RGB. Thanks.

I have just the (1) monitor. Previously I had used DVI but now I have to use the HDMI input because the other monitor I got from a family member the HDMI port on it is a bit buggy so I have put the other monitor to DVI and my Dell Ultrasharp instead now use HDMI. Using the HDMI the colors are a bit more saturated a bit brighter. I did drop the brightness and contrast to 32. When I was using DVI both were set to 38. I have then re-calibrated it using my Spyder Express 2. The HDMI port still looks more saturated. Any thoughts? Cheers. Edit. I found the issue. Someone was prob using my Dell screen for his XBox! It was using the "gaming" preset (!).

Played around with the online tool. One could trade in a excellent condition D5 XQD and get around $2,500 credit. One could buy a Z7 and tradein a used Z7 ;-) and you still owe them around $1,500 or maybe more .....

The US is a lot cheaper. In New Zealand the Z5 body alone goes for almost $2,000US including our 15% GST. The FTZ adapter is $400US equiv inclusive of GST.

Pretty good deal. On eBay a P67 the 6x7 version with MLU goes for $400US body alone with a unmetered prism. The 104mm F2.4 lens alone the modern version alone goes for $800US, the older one goes for maybe $350US.