First roll of 35mm

Kid_Rock_GTX · Dec 19, 2006

Well I got my first roll of film developed and it didnt turn out to well. I was honestly worried everything would be out of focus but the focus wasnt to bad. Out of 36 shots they only developed 17 of them cause the rest didnt turn out at all. Here are just a few of the best pictures I got. Please check out all of them in this gallery http://s70.photobucket.com/albums/i106/kid_rock_gxt/First%20roll%20of%2035mm%20film/

I would really enjoy it if you guys let me know everything you can about how to improve my pics. Im not worried about the whole artsy/composure side of things I just want to figure out how to make my pictures come out better, like the technical side of the pic. Once i get the pictures to turn out then I will worry about the acual stuff im shooting. my pics are all really light and not anything like the acual colors and grainy. The colors in all the pics are so far off from thew real thing. What am I doing wrong? I got myself a old Asahi Pentax K1000 camera im using and I used Kodak professional ulta color 35mm film. And i dont know crap about photography so help me out. I just pointed and focused and shoot the picture. I want to hear everything I did wrong and everything I need to do right next time.

Here are a few of the best pics

Please check out the rest of them for me and let me know everything about them, I really wanna be able to take a pic and not have it all grainy, crappy color, washed out, crap.

Big Mike · Dec 19, 2006

Do you remember what settings you were using? It looks like part of your problem is getting the exposure right.

Don't expect everything to come out perfect...and don't expect to be able to get it right, right away. It takes time and practice.

When shooting with film, it will really help if you take a note pad with you...and write down the settings used for each shot. The shutter speed, the aperture of the lens and make a note of the ISO of the film and maybe something about the scene or the light at the time. Then when you get your photos back, you can see what settings you used.

If you really want to experiment...take the same shot several times...but change the settings each time. Take note of what settings you used...then compare that to your results.

Kid_Rock_GTX · Dec 19, 2006

Most all the pics the camera was set up like this, whatever the dial is on the top it was setup to 1000, i think thats the shutter speed and then on the lenses I turned it to 2 (on the dial of 22-2) Dont know what that is either? Oh and i dont except it to turn out right the first pic but I wanted to have at least all 36 shots turn out, lol

Big Mike · Dec 19, 2006

You can't just set those dials...you have to adjust them depending on the light you are shooting in. That's why your photos didn't turn out.

*I think* that camera has a light meter...it should be a needle on a scale.

When you point the lens at the scene...you have to adjust the settings to get the needle in the centre (at 0) of the meter. You can adjust it slightly above or below...but lets just start with it in the middle.

You can adjust both the shutter speed, the dial on the top...and the aperture on the lens.

I'm sure there are some people around here who know this camera, much better than me...so let's hope they chime in here. In the mean time...do some searching for "K1000 metering".

elsaspet · Dec 19, 2006

Ok, here is how you figure out the exposure deal assuming your cameras apeture and shutter speeds are fixed on this level.
100 or lower ISO is for really bright light. You go higher ISO depending on the darkness. You always want to shoot at the lowest ISO possible to make the shot.
Also, if you are able, get off of "P" and set your dial at AV for daytime. (Apeture Priority). Go to the appropriate apeture for the shot, which can differ between portraits (2.8 or lower) to landscapes (8.0 or over) Nighttime with flash, you want to go to manual mode which is quite a bit trickier.
If possible, like for the first few photos, bump your exposure up a stop or two when shooting towards backlighting. It will blow out the back, but will expose the forground correctly.
And yes, use that spot meter if you have it. If not, be sure to center weight.

Torus34 · Dec 20, 2006

If you want to work out the kinks, do get a decent hand-held exposure meter and then use slide film. That will eliminate a lot of the effects due to processing/digitalizing. For a simple [very] run-through on the speed/lens opening/DOF relationship, check

http://www.thephotoforum.com/node/36

BoblyBill · Dec 20, 2006

here's what I did when I first got my camera... I set up a tripod and focused on my rose bud...

Here's shutter speed of 1/60 and aperture at 11

Here's shutter 90 aperture 9.5

Here's 180 6.7

Here's 250 5.6

Here's 350 4.5

Now these were all at the same exposure... notice how the background gets blurry the smaller the apt numbers gets... The smaller the aperture number the more light the camera brings into the camera and the smaller the DOF (depth of field).

Here's the same set of pictures but I kept the shudder speed the same.

90 4.5

90 5.6

http://static.flickr.com/144/328236568_6aad41eea4.jpg

90 6.7

90 13.0

90 32

All I did in these pictures was get a little posted note and place the shudder aperture and in some the film speed... It was an easy way for me to learn how each effected the picture... I would suggest what Torus34 said about slide film, because the film lab can not mess with the exposure like they can in the film... if you notice in my aperture change... most of them (except the last two) look exposed pretty good. That is because the lab change mess with the exposure to an extent. In slide, in these pictures you would have been able to see a difference in each one as far as how light and dark they are. See how the more under exposed they got the more grainy they got. Just some things to think about. Have fun with your camera.

The_Traveler · Dec 20, 2006

You would do well to get a basic photography book and read it to understand the essentials of focus, film speed, shutter speed, aperture. Then you will have the vocabulary to understand the responses to your questions. An interactive q&A on a web board will be slow and leave great gaps in your knowledge that are crucial to your becoming a good photogrpaher.

Kid_Rock_GTX · Dec 20, 2006

The_Traveler said:
You would do well to get a basic photography book and read it to understand the essentials of focus, film speed, shutter speed, aperture. Then you will have the vocabulary to understand the responses to your questions. An interactive q&A on a web board will be slow and leave great gaps in your knowledge that are crucial to your becoming a good photogrpaher.

Lol you really hit the nail on the head. Alot of the things you guys are talking about dont make any since at all to me. Like the whole slide film stuff? That would mean i would have to get a slide film camera right? Or no?

But thanks for all the help what I did understand helped out alot. I read threw a online manual of my k1000 camera and found out a few things that could be hurting me bad.

1 i had the camera not set on my film, it was set on asa 100 and Im using 400 films so I changed that.

2 I have one of those expoiser meters in the veiw finder and In the manual it explained how it works and I want it in the middle and all that fun stuff. it also told me how to check the battery to see if it is dead. Well I did this and the battery is deader than a popcorn fart! So today im going to go to town and get one of these little watch batterys.

Also I have a small problem considering my main lense with all the dials on it dont have a cover for it. The manual said the way you turn the light meter off is to just put the cover on the lense while its on the camera. And i dont have a cover, that explains why the battery is dead. So i got to figure out how to make a cover for my lense.

And another question about the ampture. Thats the field of depth right? I read the manual and it made me understand that better and Im just making sure its the same thing? Mind goes from 22 to 2, this is the ampture stuff right?

So basicly this is how to take a pic, lets see if im close to right. I set the ASA to my film speed, Set the shutter speed to my disired shutter speed then adjust the focus and apture to what i want and see were my light meter is and if it is off I make adjustments to the ampture and shutter speed?

Thanks for all the help guys im trying to figure all this stuff out and have learned alot in the past week

Big Mike · Dec 20, 2006

You seem to be off to a good start...by finding and reading the manual...and by wanting to understand how it works. Many people will tell you that by learning on a camera like that...you will have a good foundation of knowledge for how cameras work. A lot of people who use modern cameras...never learn this stuff....so good for you.

All you need to cover the lens, is a lens cap. They are pretty generic, any photo store should have them. Just get the right size for your lens.

Finding the right combination of shutter speed and aperture can be tricky. Once your meter is working...you will see that when you change one setting...you have to change the other to compensate...or else the meter will be off.

Aperture controls Depth of Field. Look at your first two photos...that is a short DOF because some of the things are out of focus...while others are sharp. This is the result of a large aperture (small F number). If you wanted the tree and the field to be in focus...then you would use a small aperture (high F number).

So if I was going to take a photo...I'd try to decide what DOF I wanted...and set the aperture first. Then I would adjust the shutter speed until the needle was where I wanted it on the scale. You have to watch out though...because if the shutter speed is too slow...you will get blurry images, if you are holding the camera. So then you have to either use a tripod (to keep the camera steady) or pic a bigger aperture (lower number)...which will allow you to increase the shutter speed.

Got it? :lol:

Don't' worry if it seems confusing at first. It takes some time to sink in...but after you start to understand...you will love you camera even more.

dgs · Dec 20, 2006

Ah, a K1000. Fond, fond memories.

It's a great camera to learn with. I think you'll find that it will also grow with you (or you'll grow into it <Grin>)

A couple hints I hope you'll find of some help. The light meter is pretty good. In it's day it was state of the art. The art has come a long way, of course. Since the meter is in the viewfinder the camera must be to your eye when using it. For me anyway it was easier and felt more natural to spin the aperture dial (the rear ring on the lens) than adjust the shutter speed (the top dial) For most situations, this is exactly the wrong thing to do. It takes a bit of practice, but you'll get used to adjusting the shutter speed with the camera at eye level. The meter looks very closely at the little circle you see so you must take some care if you have a frame with varied light values.

I'm sure you'll be happier with your next roll of film. You seem to be on the right track. Remember to share some pics with us.

Kid_Rock_GTX · Dec 20, 2006

dgs said:
Ah, a K1000. Fond, fond memories.

It's a great camera to learn with. I think you'll find that it will also grow with you (or you'll grow into it <Grin>)

A couple hints I hope you'll find of some help. The light meter is pretty good. In it's day it was state of the art. The art has come a long way, of course. Since the meter is in the viewfinder the camera must be to your eye when using it. For me anyway it was easier and felt more natural to spin the aperture dial (the rear ring on the lens) than adjust the shutter speed (the top dial) For most situations, this is exactly the wrong thing to do. It takes a bit of practice, but you'll get used to adjusting the shutter speed with the camera at eye level. The meter looks very closely at the little circle you see so you must take some care if you have a frame with varied light values.

I'm sure you'll be happier with your next roll of film. You seem to be on the right track. Remember to share some pics with us.

So you had one of these k1000s? I like it its kinda fun, only thing that sucks is the price to get crap developed.

And trust me I will post up pics all the time, I love posting pics of crap lol

Patrice · Dec 20, 2006

If you want to learn photography on film without breaking the bank try black and white film and develop it yourself - it's really easy. Then you can make a contact exposure on a simple light box and develop that yourself as well. It's really easy as long as you stay away from color prints or color slides.