yup...I'm addicted to film... have a few questions

mmaria

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So... as you already know @480sparky donated me a film camera and one color/bw film

I finally developed films and I'll post some of the results in bw gallery. I waited film to do this...

I'm fascinated by it. I love film. ( speaking about bw film because I didn't get anything useful out of color) I'm fascinated by it's dynamic range, dealing with highlights and much more... but there's a huuuuuge issue right now... I can't buy a bw film here! I'll probably have to buy it on ebay... grrrr...

However... I have a few questions about it... what is causing these issues?

Can meter be broken? I ask because, pictures I thought I overexposed (meter was showing overexposing) came back fine but pictures that had "perfect" exposure according to the meter, were underexposed... What is my fault?

Examples of "perfect" exposure
F1760010 (Custom).JPG
F1760009 (2) (Custom).JPG



"overexposed"
F1760018 (Custom).JPG
F1760007 (Custom).JPG

the view from my balcony

Photos I took and thought I f.cked up because they'll be overexposed are the ones that I love the most and I'll post them in bw gallery and then go back to add that link :)
I waited film to do this...

oh... I forgot to ask... what is this?
F1770001 (Custom).JPG


and one I took especially for a crazy cat lady @limr :D
F1770012 (Custom).JPG
 
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YAAAAAYYYYYY!!! :boogie:

Now you understand why I'm a crazy cat AND film lady ;) :D

Okay, exposure. First possibility, the meter is off. I assume you have fresh batteries? Second possibility, the meter was fooled into thinking there was more light in the shot than there was. Lots of bright sky or water or snow can often mess with exposures. In those cases, I'll sometimes point the camera specifically to where I want good exposure, get a reading, and then recompose. Remember, these meters aren't as sophisticated as you're used to. Once you get a few more rolls under your belt and learn the camera better, you'll start recognizing which situations might be fooling the camera and learn to adjust for them.

Also a question - there's a purplish tint to a lot of those. Were they scanned in as color negatives? Or is it just my monitor?

As for that color frame - it looked at first like overlapping frames, but looking closer, it doesn't seem that way. The image lines up too perfectly. Did this happen at the end of the roll? Or maybe a sticky shutter? Like the second curtain got stuck briefly halfway through the frame and over-exposed half? But then I wouldn't expect a perfect line down the middle like that. I'd think there would be more light bleeding. Or I suppose it could be a developing error, though someone more familiar might chime in with a yea or nay.

Finally, thank you for the kitties!! :D
 
Marija, it looks to me, that you are sitting in the middle of Europe. You are kidding about the problems with film supply. Or I am wrong ?
 
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That last frame is an overlapping exposure. The images do not line up (it only looks that way). If it happens again I would have the winding mechanism checked.

I think slide film is good for telling you if you get exposure right. I would buy some Provia film, and do some bracketing (underexpose, normal, overexpose). Doing that, I found that I have a camera that normally overexposes a little, so I always underexpose half a stop, and the pictures normally come back perfect :)
 
Bright skies in the frame tend to fool old camera meters into underexposing the shot. Unless your camera has a more modern segmented meter pattern you have to compensate by increasing exposure yourself.
 
The camera most likely has a simple center-weighted metering area, so the bright sky fooled the meter into forcing you to underexpose the images. Moral: learn to recognize when the meter is lying to you and how to 'correct' the settings for 'proper' exposure

The 5th shot is a film advance error. It may well be the camera simply did not advance the film far enough to place unexposed film behind the shutter. It could be a mere one-of anomaly, and it could be a sign of a mechanical issue.

As for buying b&w film, if buying the film is an issue, developing will be more of an issue. If you're looking for the b&w film I sent that can be processed as C-41, your best bet would be purchasing online. But TRUE b&w film (processed in DD-X, Rodinal or even coffee!) might be impossible to find a local lab, so you'll have two choices. One, send exposed film off to a lab and two, develop it yourself.

As for option no 1:
Pros: Easy and convenient.
Cons: Expensive, turn-around time, little control over process.

Option 2:
Cons: Need to purchase own equipment, need to have dark space, some chemicals don't have long shelf life.
Pros :Equipment needed is not all that expensive, you can develop however you want (develop same day after shooting), ability to push/pull ISO, total control of developers, temperature, times, agitation etc., and my personal favorite: the sheer joy of seeing the images you shot AND develop come off the reel!

.......
I'm fascinated by it. I love film. .....

Resistance was futile. You have been assimilated.
smiley_green_borg.gif
 
Matching cats! They made me think of stone lions at each side of a doorway of a library or museum - what do these cats think they're guarding?? lol

Usually if I'm facing toward a brighter sky that's sending more light into my camera than the scene I'm photographing, I lower the camera toward the subject/scene to get a meter reading then recompose (which is pretty much what Leo said!).

I've had something similar to the color image happen. Usually it's at the end of a roll, especially when I'm trying to squeeze one more shot onto the roll - it's probably a bad thing to be doing, and I only do it if I'm willing to sacrifice the second to last shot because I may end up with a half assed half double exposed freak shot (but sometimes it works! lol guess I'm livin' on the edge!).

Or as others have said, it could be the film didn't advance properly. Depending on the camera (I have one in particular like this) the lever may not have advanced all the way and you released it without it advancing a full frame. Or something could be out of whack. If it keeps happening maybe it would need to be serviced but it could have just been a one time thing.
 
What on earth did you scan that with? Those scans are positively crispy!
 
You know what, looking again you have a partial double exposure, I didn't see it at first. Look at the sky on the right side, above and to the left of the sheep - there's a patch of snow floating midair up there!

And to the far right of the frame I see a faint grayish tree trunk that seems to be growing out of a sheep's butt! lol OK not really, but it's next to the back end of a white sheep and in front of the nose of the black sheep. So I think that frame of film captured part of the field to the left(?), only advanced halfway, and captured an entire frame of the scene we see.

Could be you just didn't push the lever all the way. You could look at the negatives and see what the previous or next frames look like and see what you were shooting before and after this one.
 
Yeah, now I'm looking at in on a larger monitor, and it's definitely an overlapping frame. Check the negative strip. Where does it come on the roll? I've done like Sharon has done and tried to squeeze in one more frame at the end, but it doesn't quite work. If it happened in the middle of the roll, then you should see it on the negative strip, and as it's been said, perhaps you advanced far enough for the camera to think it was ready for the next frame, but not far enough to actually clear the last frame.

Also, you did have some fog and mist in those shots, and that can throw a meter off as well.
 
It works sometimes... not often... hardly ever... so why do we keep doing it?? lol


I was thinking too that sometimes as far as exposure goes that if the needle is fluctuating between settings I'll bracket shots, in film photography meaning that I'll take more than one shot, one at say f8 and another at f11, or at 1/125 and 1/250 as examples.

Then if I'm getting the film developed and a proof sheet done I'll have to tell them to not adjust (and the guy writes on the envelope Don't Adjust!) - I want to see if the bracketed photo's are darker/negative is dense, or if one is lighter, so I can see which looks best. If they adjust then the bracketed shots on the proof sheet look the same (although I can tell that the negatives look slightly darker or lighter for the shots I bracketed).
 
YAAAAAYYYYYY!!! :boogie:

iaza13057433812500_by_thecrossfollower-d60l0qa.gif


Now you understand why I'm a crazy cat AND film lady ;) :D
totaly!
Okay, exposure. First possibility, the meter is off. I assume you have fresh batteries? Second possibility, the meter was fooled into thinking there was more light in the shot than there was. Lots of bright sky or water or snow can often mess with exposures. In those cases, I'll sometimes point the camera specifically to where I want good exposure, get a reading, and then recompose. Remember, these meters aren't as sophisticated as you're used to. Once you get a few more rolls under your belt and learn the camera better, you'll start recognizing which situations might be fooling the camera and learn to adjust for them.
fresh batteries

yeah... I always get reading on a place I want to be exposed properly and I think I did that with this camera also... but ...I'll just have to figure out how this works... I don't mind :)
Also a question - there's a purplish tint to a lot of those. Were they scanned in as color negatives? Or is it just my monitor?
Actually, one photo on the other thread was so red that I had to desaturate it, but because it was so red I didn't notice that the rest of the scans were red too... I'm not on my computer today but tomorrow I'll desaturate everything.

I saw that sparky explained about the film I used.

But the color cast isn't a big issue for me, I'll just desaturate the color ps recognize...

... or any work except pressing the shutter :) Ok I'm lying... you have to do bunch of things before pressing the shutter... Focusing is what I seem to forget, because I do shoot manually with digital but I always use AF.
As for that color frame - it looked at first like overlapping frames, but looking closer, it doesn't seem that way. The image lines up too perfectly. Did this happen at the end of the roll? Or maybe a sticky shutter? Like the second curtain got stuck briefly halfway through the frame and over-exposed half? But then I wouldn't expect a perfect line down the middle like that. I'd think there would be more light bleeding. Or I suppose it could be a developing error, though someone more familiar might chime in with a yea or nay.
it happened at the end of the roll

Finally, thank you for the kitties!! :D
I visited a monastery. This is the house where the monk lives, he's taking care of them... when I saw those two I simply had to take a picture for you :)
 
Marija, it looks to me, that you are sitting in the middle of Europe. You are kidding about the problems with film supply. Or I am wrong ?
Unfortunately, I'm not kidding..

Trying to find a place which has bw film...

I'm now in a photo club and I'll ask them where they get bw film...

It's not easy to find it at all
 
That last frame is an overlapping exposure. The images do not line up (it only looks that way). If it happens again I would have the winding mechanism checked.

I think slide film is good for telling you if you get exposure right. I would buy some Provia film, and do some bracketing (underexpose, normal, overexpose). Doing that, I found that I have a camera that normally overexposes a little, so I always underexpose half a stop, and the pictures normally come back perfect :)
I'll do that with the next film I load

Bright skies in the frame tend to fool old camera meters into underexposing the shot. Unless your camera has a more modern segmented meter pattern you have to compensate by increasing exposure yourself.
we'll se how will I do next time
 

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