Setting ISO on manual SLRs?

[hooray4mo]

Does setting your camera's ISO to whatever speed intended (whether it be box speed or to push/pull), does the camera actually do anything different internally? Or is it only for the camera's internal light meter?
I'm trying to understand the whole push/pull concept, and I am usually always good at remembering to set my camera's ISO to box speed. But does it make a difference in actually taking the exposure?

 

[cgw]

Check out "film exposure latitude."

 

[dxqcanada]

Depends on the camera.
Many older cameras just had a film speed reminder dial, so you set it to know what film is in the camera.
Other cameras with a built in light meter will have a dial to show you an exposure reading based on the film speed.
Other cameras with a built in coupled light meter can change shutter speed and/or aperture based on the exposure reading set by the film speed setting.
Some cameras can read the film canister bar code and set the film speed automatically.

Pushing ... you are under exposing and may have to compensate by over developing the film to bring up the highlights
Pulling ... you are over exposing and may have to compensate by under developing to drop the highlights from being blown out.
As CGW mentioned ... read up on exposure latitude.

 

[hooray4mo]

Depends on the camera.
Many older cameras just had a film speed reminder dial, so you set it to know what film is in the camera.
Other cameras with a built in light meter will have a dial to show you an exposure reading based on the film speed.
Other cameras with a built in coupled light meter can change shutter speed and/or aperture based on the exposure reading set by the film speed setting.
Some cameras can read the film canister bar code and set the film speed automatically.

Pushing ... you are under exposing and may have to compensate by over developing the film to bring up the highlights
Pulling ... you are over exposing and may have to compensate by under developing to drop the highlights from being blown out.
As CGW mentioned ... read up on exposure latitude.

Thank you. I've been using a lot of extremely expired film lately, and so I've been rating said film at lower ISO in order to compensate for the loss of the film's sensitivity to light. But I was curious as to whether anything within the camera actually changed/moved, like mechanically or electronically.

 

[dxqcanada]

Is there a specific camera that you are referring to?

 

[VidThreeNorth]

Thank you. I've been using a lot of extremely expired film lately, and so I've been rating said film at lower ISO in order to compensate for the loss of the film's sensitivity to light. But I was curious as to whether anything within the camera actually changed/moved, like mechanically or electronically.

About your expired film: Don't change the exposure. If you have more than 1 roll, then use one and develop it and adjust from there. Lowering the ISO sounds like you will be over exposing the film. If anything, the film might be fogged by heat. That could cause it to "over expose" inherently.

 

[cgw]

Film is crazy-pricey now, granted. But shooting old "mystery" film is really a crap shoot. Processing it costs the same as fresh stock. Results vary wildly. B&W is probably safer but old C-41(color neg)is unpredictable. Hopefully, more learned colleagues will chime in.
Rate at box speed since there's no accurate(sic)way to adjust exposure given the raft of unknowns(age/ storage conditions). The OP will simply have to take what comes shooting stale film materials. Buena suerte!

 

[webestang64]

extremely expired film

If it's color print film, C-41 process, it will have a heavy base fog as the film will start to "develop itself" over time as it has "developer incorporated couplers in the color layers" (E-6 will get very faint). Not much you can do about that. With old BW film there is a way to get rid of some of the base fog. I use Kodak X-Tol 1:1.

BTW.....fresh color print film I shoot slightly over to bring in a bit of color sat. ie.....400 speed I shoot at 320, 200 speed I shoot at 160. BW I do film speed test but that's a long drawn out story.

 

[RAZKY]

... I was curious as to whether anything within the camera actually changed/moved, like mechanically or electronically.

Post #3 answered this question.

 

[hooray4mo]

Is there a specific camera that you are referring to?

I mainly use various X series Minoltas (XG-1, XG-7, X-700) and also a Canon AE-1 Program, and a Ricoh KR-5 Super.

 

[hooray4mo]

About your expired film: Don't change the exposure. If you have more than 1 roll, then use one and develop it and adjust from there. Lowering the ISO sounds like you will be over exposing the film. If anything, the film might be fogged by heat. That could cause it to "over expose" inherently.

Hmm, well that sounds like good advice. But I've been shooting various expired film stocks for months now and have been overexposing it majority of the time lol whoops ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
From what I've gathered from various YouTube and Instagram film photographers, its best to overexpose expired film.
The results always differ, but I kinda don't mind all that much since I shoot mainly for fun and as a hobby =)

 

[hooray4mo]

Film is crazy-pricey now, granted. But shooting old "mystery" film is really a crap shoot. Processing it costs the same as fresh stock. Results vary wildly. B&W is probably safer but old C-41(color neg)is unpredictable. Hopefully, more learned colleagues will chime in.
Rate at box speed since there's no accurate(sic)way to adjust exposure given the raft of unknowns(age/ storage conditions). The OP will simply have to take what comes shooting stale film materials. Buena suerte!

You're right about the crap shoot part. I mainly shoot for fun, as a hobby, and shooting old expired film is a more cost effective way to learn more as I go. I've gotten back quite a few handful or two of unusable rolls, but knew going in that that was going to be the case when I shot the expired roll.
Sometimes the extremely grainy and color shifted photos make for retro looking/experimental results which I kind of like =)
But when I'm shooting and aiming for a more professional look, I opt for fresh rolls of film

 

[dxqcanada]

I mainly use various X series Minoltas (XG-1, XG-7, X-700) and also a Canon AE-1 Program, and a Ricoh KR-5 Super.

Those SLR's have full manual, aperture priority auto, and full auto modes.
In full manual the light meter changes if you change the film speed dial ... the camera will expect you to change aperture or shutter speed yourself.
With the auto modes, the camera will also change the lens aperture or both aperture and shutter speed.