F1lm question.

ghache

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Since i started shooting with a d60 a while back, i never had the chance of shooting film. So i got myself a Nikon F3 and a Nikond FE. before i start shooting rolls out ! i have a few question for the pros.


If i am using, lets say some ISO 400 film. ISO 400 film is probably more sensitive than iso 100 film right? do the camera detect that your using iso400 film and takes this in consideration when meetering or the iso dial button is to specify the type of film your using.

this is probably the only question i have about it.
 
I'm not a pro so I'm not qualified to answer this but I remember something about the film canister having to be DX or something, which will tell the camera the film speed and make the exposure adjustments accordingly. Of course the camera would also have to be DX compatible. From my brief internet research I couldn't determine if the FE or F3 were. you should see some metal contacts near where the canister goes.
 
On the FE the ISO dial specifies the film you have loaded. Set this to your film speed. If you look closely not at the dial but the ring around it there's a little metalic ring around that too. That is the EV bias. You can lift that outer ring and turn it back and forward to adjust the exposure bias up and down.

The FE is a great camera. Take note that it's not clever. It has a centre weighted average meter that will not know if you're shooting in snow or trying to correctly expose a black background. You'll learn to love either setting the shutter speed manually or doing that EV adjustment (i typically set the shutter speed). I basically dropped out of the womb with an FE and I intend to take mine to the grave too :)
 
The F3 has an ASA (what ISO was called in the film days) dial on the left side under the rewind knob. Pull it up and set the ASA/ISO. On the right side is the EV scale, same deal if you want to over or under expose the film set it here. Just remember to set it back unless you plan to shoot the whole roll that way. For just 1 or 2 shots I'd just use either the F stop or shutter speed to underexpose.

Have fun, I just got my F3 and used an FM and FE for years.

Bruce
 
Thanks all for the information!

After asking myself a couple of questions, I did download and read the user manual!
I think ill carry the FE more often. you set the aperture for desired effect, meeter, set shutter speed and shoot!
I really like the and that in camera meetering on such old camera (as per master ken, the meetering is dead on. i will deffinetly compare it with my d90 just to see how acurate it is.
i think ill have alot of fun with it ! I just ordered some ilford iso100 and iso400 black&white film.
 
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You'll need to set your D90 to center weighted average if you can in order to compare the metering. The D90 has a whole 30 years of electronics behind it analysing a small sensor in the bottom of the camera. The FE looks at average of the light hitting a single light sensitive diode. You won't be able to effectively compare the two technologies.
 

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