jeffrey_e
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Posts posted by jeffrey_e
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<p>EIther put the incident meter someplace that has the same light as your subject or take a meter reading using your camera or a hand held spot meter from a distance. One trick that works pretty well using your camera's meter is is to take ameter reading off the palm of your hand and open up one stop. I'm assuming your hand will be more or less lit the same way as the subject of your shot.</p>
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<p>James, there are two basic "flavours" of light meters. (1) Incident light meter which has a "dome". It reads the light hitting the subject. You put the meter next to the subject, point the dome toward your camera, take a reading and you're done. (2) Spot meter which you point at your subject and take a reading just like you do with your camera. With that one you could use a grey card. You need to ensure you're pointing it at something that's neutral grey like a grey card, or alternatively, you need to dial in exposure compensation just like you do now. That type of meter reads the light reflecting off your subject. <br>
<br /> Some advanced meters can do both incident light and reflected light, some can also do flash metering.<br>
Get yourself a simple incident light meter.<br>
Two of the best loved "classic" onees are the Luna Pro and the Sekonic Studio Deluxe. The Sekonic doesn't use batteries and the design dates back to the Norwood Director meter from about the 1940's. I have a Sekonic and it's one of the best photography gizmos I own.<br>
<br /><br /></p>
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<p>Right. Reciprocity failure. Should have thought of that. Yes, long exposure times, slow film will result in reciprocity failure.</p>
<p>I have an idea that Fuji publishes information on exposure compensation in their information sheet on this film.</p>
<p>Wikipedia says this about Velvia:</p>
<h2>Long exposure problems</h2>
<p>The original Velvia (RVP) suffered from <a title="Reciprocity (photography)" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reciprocity_%28photography%29">reciprocity</a> failure much more than other films. Exposing the film for as little as 16 seconds produced a color shift, typically to purple or green, depending on shooting conditions. Anything over four seconds required the use of magenta color correction filters if correct color balance is required, and anything over 32 seconds is "not recommended" by Fuji.<sup>[<em><a title="Wikipedia:Citation needed" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed">citation needed</a></em>]</sup><br /> Velvia 100 (RVP 100) is much better with long exposures: no reciprocity failure compensation is required for exposures shorter than 1 minute.<sup id="cite_ref-7"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Velvia#cite_note-7">[7]</a></sup></p>
<p>Here's a link to reciprocity failure chart for Velvia:</p>
<p>http://www.brucepercy.co.uk/blog/2008/05/06/reciprocity-chart-for-fuji-velvia-50-rvp/</p>
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<p>The general advice is to tilt a grey card a bit toward the light source. However grey cards are often a bit shiny. That can lead to the grey card reading as a whole lot brighter than it really is leading to underexposed pictures.</p>
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<p>The user-friendly interchangeable screens in the AE-1 Program make a world of difference to me. When I shoot macro, I tend to use an Autobellows with a 100mm macro lens. I use a "grid" screen for focusing. The "regular" centre/split focus screen would simply go dark making macro work impossible. <br>
<br />Beautiful viewfinder as well and the LED lit aperture indicators make getting correct exposure in dark settings as easy as could be.</p>
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<p>"Given" This man was given an F1, all the lenses I could want, and also given an FTBQL. Buy a lottery ticket my friend, your luck is in. Congratulations!<br>
Beautiful pictures, the "Painted Ladies" is a fine composition.</p>
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<p>It's an audio check only. So, if you can't hear it, the battery is either dead, the camera is broken or you indeed have a hearing problem. How about you test the battery by pressing the button in the presence of someone who has good hearing?</p>
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<p>On re-reading my last post, I should have added that it is often easier to hold back the shadow areas by dodging rather than burn in the highlights and I find that's very often pretty much all that's needed with split grade printing. If anything, I suppose that's the more usual thing I do.<br /> <br /> When I wrote the previous post I was thinking of landscapes where there is a great deal of sky in the picture. I find that a bit of burning in the sky is often all that's needed to prevent a blown out sky. Over the past while I've been finding that I'm happy enough with the results if I use an orange 15 and at times even red 25 filter. That not only prevents blown out skies, but also (sometimes artificiallly) creates drama. And that's the case even when a normal brightness range is exceeded and the Zone System afficianadoes will tell you that a compressed development approach is called for. Given that I shoot 35 mm in the Canon FD system, a compressed development approach is not generally the best way to go.<br /> <br /> And for all that, the centre weighted metering in the AE-1 works just fine. And because it's a TTL system, I don't have to worry about filter factors - I just use the meter in the camera. The only time I calculate exposure using filter factors using an AE-1 is when I'm using a red 25 filter and the ambient light is too low to easily see the meter. In those cases the AE-1P is a better camera because the aperture numbers are lit up.</p>
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<p>Thomas, sorry. This is the problem with being a little to quick to and not providing a full explanation. It causes confusion. Now I'm going to confuse the original poster even more confusion. I apologize in advance if I make things worse. What follows is not a full explanation, but it should do.<br /> <br /> Provided that the brightness range in the scene is say 5 stops (and no more than say 7 stops) I generally take a meter reading off something in Zone III or IV, adjust either or both shutter and aperture to provide me with the exposure I'm looking for, place the camera on a tripod, compose the scene, <strong><em>i</em></strong><em>gnore the meter reading that the camera now gives me</em>, and release the shutter.<br /> <br /> If there is nothing in Zone III, I'll take the reading off something in Zone VII and compensate accordingly.<br /> That's what I meant by ignoring the meter. I decide on the exposure first, using a Zone System approach which involves taking a meter reading off a selected porton of the scene, set aperture and shutter to get what I want, and I then ignore what the camera thinks the right exposure is.<br /> <br /> If the brightness range is 7 stops or more, I decide which is more important shadow or highlight detail and I set the exposure to capure what I want and I allow either the hightlights to get blown out or the shadow to get blocked up. <br /> If I'm shooting monochrome, I use the time honoured approach of ensuring sufficient exposre in the shadows and processing for the highlights. This will more often than not involve a darkroom procedure that calls for split grade printing (say filtration at 1 and at 4) and if needed burn in the highlights. With film like Acros or HP5+ processed in D76 split grade printing may well do just fine without the need for burning in.<br /> <br /> There are folks who will tell you that to do this properly you need a spot meter and that the AE cameras are not suited to this approach. I've nothing to say about that. They're right in that a spot meter would be easier than the centre weighted meters in the AE cameras. I've just never gotten around to convincing myself to spend the money on a spot meter and I've learned the quirks of the centre weighted meter sufficiently to make this work.<br>
<br /> And if Roger has read all this, my advice is ignore everything I've said and enjoy using your AE-1. It's a wonderful camera.</p>
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<p>Right, thanks Thomas, now I understand what you're saying. I've no experience with any cameras other than the AE1 and AE1P and so I've no comment on whether it would be easier to use them. I'm sure you're right.<br>
By full manual mode I mean exactly what you describe. I've used an AE1 and an AE1P for years fully manually. I believe that I have perhaps shot one or two pictures in all that time on "A". No idea what got into me to even bother to try it, but I did. Truth be told, I've no real idea how to use the cameras in automatic mode. I understand what the modes are, I know how to use them and all that, but with the exception of the one or two shots mentioned above, I've never actually used them so I've no experience with them. When I shoot flash, which is very rare, I also set the flash manually.<br>
I generally use the in-camera meter, I set the aperture and shutter speed and I shoot. From time to time I use a hand held incident meter. It simply never occurred to me that it would be any advantage to see the aperture through the viewfinder. And yes, after I set the shutter and aperture, I ignore what the meter tells me. </p>
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<p>Thomas: I'm afraid I don't understand why you believe the AE1 is not meant to be operated fully manually. That's the way I've used mine for years and years. I cannot see how match stick metering would help - the way the meter works provides the actual aperture, and because it's a needle moving on a scale, in addition to showing full stops, it also shows half stops. Frankly, I can't imagine an easier camera to use manually. But like everything, to each his own, if you find match stick meters easier to use, I won't argue the point.</p>
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<p>Thomas, I made no mention of how to use the camera in automatic mode because I don't use automatic settings, and the question related to adjusting the camera manually. If I thought it was a question about how to use it automatically, I wouldn't have answered because I've no idea.</p>
<p>Two more points. <br>
1 The round bottom button on the right side of the lens also triggers the meter. Push in that button and turn the shutter speed dial. You'll see the aperture reading through the viewfinder move.</p>
<p>2 In addition to permitting stop down metering, the stop down lever permits one to view a scene and actually see the depth of field possible with various apertures. The viewfinder will get dark at the small apertures, but your eyes will adjust.</p>
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<p>Why anyone on this forum would discourage a young person from entering the world of film is utterly beyond me. If anything, younger photographers who I know are fascinated by film and in particular black and white darkroom work. All of these people are folks with both intelligence and real artistic flair. </p>
<p>Holly: Check out the A-1. If it works get it. Change the light seals and send it out for a CLA. Learn how to use it in manual mode. Shoot a few rolls of Ilford's HP5+. Process it in D76. Do this an you've a real good chance at finding happiness. At a minimu, you'll be the envy of all your peers.</p>
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<p>Hello Roger:<br /> The lever activates a mechanism that over-rides the mechanics of the lens and it permits the aperture to be opened or closed down. This is called "stopping down" the lens, and it allows for "stop down metering". This is what you use when you use something like a bellows unit that separates the lens from the body of the camera. You adjust the aperture or the shutter until you get a reading of 5.6 and that is the reading for a neutral gray exposure. You'll note that next to the 5.6 reading through the viewfinder there's a little square. That square is the stop down metering indicator.<br /> In other words, it doesn't work for regular metering.</p>
<p>What you do for normal photography is press the shutter button down half way. That triggers the meter. The needle moves and that tells you the aperture that you need for the shutter speed that's already selected. <br /> So first, select a shutter speed. Then point the camera at your subject. Then press the shutter button down half way. Look through the viewfinder and the needle will show you the correct aperture. You then adjust the aperture on the lens.</p>
<p>This assumes that the subject is more or less mid-tone. If the subject is brighter you'll have to open up a stop or more, if the subject is darker you'll have to close down.<br /> Start here:<br>
http://www.mir.com.my/rb/photography/companies/canon/fdresources/SLRs/ae1/</p>
<p> </p>
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<p>What you describe Roger is exactly how the camera is designed to work. If you point the camera at a neutral gray subject and meter, it will give you a reading of the correct aperture for the shutter speed you've selected.<br>
The lens is set for full diaphram metering (hence the FD) designation and the aperture won't move until the moment of exposure.<br>
If you push in the lever you get stop down metering for use with items such as FL lenses and bellows units. That will not give you a proper reading on regular FD lenses.</p>
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<p>Sounds like gummed up lubricaton from lack of use. I recall reading that from time to time, say every month or two, one needed to release the shutter to prevent this type of thing happening. <br>
Try shooting say 100 shots, without film, to see if that gets things moving. Your lens may also be gummed up and so try working the depth of field preview lever a dozen times for each aperture setting. </p>
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<p>The Canon document only shows the distance scale, and I may be missing something but I don't think that address the minimum focusing distance. My 1.8 will turn beyond the minimum marked on the scale.</p>
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<p>Thomas: right. I should have done the arithmatic. 19.68 sounds about right...</p>
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<p>Michael, you've now got me curious. I'll have to make a point of doing a test on my 1.8. </p>
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<p>I always understood that Canon set the minimum focusing distance for their lenses to focus at 10X the focal length of the lens. </p>
<p>For that lens, that would mean 10cm or about 18 inches. Though I've not tested mine, it looks like it is set up to focus at 18 inches.<br>
The lens has a minimum marking showing 2 feet, but the lens actually turns beyond that point whichi I would guess to be 18 inches.</p>
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<p>The biggest FD I've heard of was a 5,200 mm lens. See here:</p>
<p>http://www.petapixel.com/2010/01/06/ginormous-5200mm-canon-lens-on-ebay/</p>
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<p>I just saw Josh Root's answer. For what it's worth, I couldn't agree more. </p>
<p>This forum is active precisely because it is limited to FD only. The Mods here do a great job of culling out non-FD posts and the energy devoted to doing that is no doubt considerable.</p>
<p>If there is a problem with searching a forum that's a question that should be addressed. But adding EOS to FD isn't the answer.</p>
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<p>Has anyone here used one of these? I'm considering an FLM 48FT or an Arca Swiss. Any and all insight would be appreciated.</p>
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<p>This particular forum, the "FD" forum is a discussion group relating to film cameras that Canon stopped making in the early 1980's.</p>
<p>While I am absolutely convinced that this type of camera is exactly what people should be using to learn photography for all kinds of reasons that I won't bore you with, I suspect that your daughter will be wanting a digital camera.</p>
<p>If you are interested in a film camera, please post and I'm sure lots of folks round here will be delighted to assist you. However, if you're looking for a digital, you may wish to post your question in the "EOS" forum to help with selecting a digital.</p>
<p>There are also some very good articles on selecting a camera to be found here:</p>
<p>http://www.photo.net/equipment/</p>
Too good to pass up !
in Canon FD Mount
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