Film and external flash,night shots?

DesertFilth

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What's the proper way for taking night photos with a film camera, I currently have and have been using a pentax k1000 and haven't taken any night photos.Could someone please give me the run down on taking night photos when to use,with and without external flash,I have bought 800 iso film too use but somewhat afraid of wasting it.
 
What's the proper way for taking night photos with a film camera, I currently have and have been using a pentax k1000 and haven't taken any night photos.Could someone please give me the run down on taking night photos when to use,with and without external flash,I have bought 800 iso film too use but somewhat afraid of wasting it.

I don't use flash, so I can't speak to how to use it for night shooting. When I shoot at night (I also use a K1000, among others,) I usually shoot B&W film (mostly Ilford HP5, box speed is rated at 400) at 1600 and push develop the film. I'm not sure if you develop yourself or send it out, but I think most labs will push if you give special instructions. I wouldn't really push past that. Grain gets too problematic and you're really not gaining much exposure anyway.

Also, depending on what you're shooting, you might want to plan on having a tripod with you. Most of my night shooting has been done in urban settings, which often provides enough external light for hand-held shooting, but even so, I'm usually right on the edge of shutter speeds slow enough to require stabilizing the camera. My fastest lens is a 50mm f1.7, so I'm good down to 1/60th and even 1/30th isn't that much of a stretch. I've successfully shot as slow as 1/15th hand-held, but it takes some practice. If you're shooting in an area with not much ambient light, then you'll definitely need a tripod, even with a fast lens and pushing to 1600.
 
I almost always used a flash with film at night, unless using a tripod and non-moving subjects. ISO 800 film is still pretty slow for a lot of indoor lighting. I don't remember doing much bounce flash when using film although often had the flash off to the side and not on the camera.

I usually felt pretty good just being able to work out the exposure with the little wheel I had on my cheap Vivitar flash unit. If you just have the one roll of ISO 800 then you might run a couple rolls of ISO 400 to get the hang of the flash settings and then go with the ISO 800 and adjust accordingly.
 

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