Help an amateur out:OPEN ME

[Moonchild]

Would love if you helped me out.
I have a Pentax Spotmatic asahi-55mm lens.
My question is: my light meter is broken but I am totally fine with that and have learnt how to use the sunny 16 rule and read light.
The problem is everyone online explains how to make an eduacted guess with your aperture depending on if it's sunny out or not. I plan on doing a shoot indoors, the person will be infront of a white wall and a window with natural light will be coming through onto wall.
I don't know if the sunny 16 rule works in my situation? Should I put my aperture to 16 because it's sunny or should it be something like 5.6 because it's indoors?
I thought setting it at 11 would be good?
By the way I will be using colour film.
(Kodak colour plus 200)
Is 200 good or should I use something like 500?
Please help! Thankyou!

 

[dxqcanada]

You gotta smart phone ? If so, just download a free light meter app.
Sunny 16 will really not work indoors.
Double the ISO you get one more stop ... 100 -> 200 (+1) -> 400 (+2) -> 800 (+3)

 

[john.margetts]

Sunny 16 only works if the subject is in the sun. Indoors, exposure depends on which way the window faces, how big the window is, weather outside, room decor, ...

As dxqcanada says, get a light meter app.

Sent from my A1-840 using Tapatalk

 

[cgw]

Honestly? "Close" only counts with horseshoes and hand grenades. Busted meter? Get an incident light meter. Given current film and processing costs, guessing exposure is just pissing money away. A Sekonic 398M or, better still, a 308, will actually save you money by increasing your exposure accuracy and keeper percentage.

 

[Derrel]

Get a light meter app for your smartphone. I havew one, and have compared it against my Minolta flash/incident light meter: the phone app is incredibly accurate and precise, every bit as good as the Minolta meter.

If you insist on going meter-less, look up some exposure suggestions from Kodak matwrials from the past; in years past, it was common to refer to SUggested Exposure Tables for common scenes, such as indoors by table lights; outdoors at night in city conditions; bright outdoors city lights like Times Square or Las Vegas, etc; and so on an so on.

For an ISO 200 color negative film indoors by table lamp lighting, something like f/2.8 at 1/15 second is a good beginning guess, but that is just a guess/general range suggestion:

Window Light Lighting for example, can vary hugely. The exposure for "window light" depends on the brightness of the indoor location,and it depends on the time of year/climate (Florida sunlighted window in August at Noon? Or Seattle dim-light light coming in on February 5 in a rain storm at 8 AM? Window light varies hugely!)

Get a light meter! That way you can be SURE to get the correct exposure.

Or, look up old, suggested exposures, from Kodak, published in years past, and make notes and test some shots out.

 

[limr]

The Sunny 16 in theory still works if you think of the exposure values of different lighting situations. Sure, it's easier outdoors because there's more light, but the concept still applies: open aperture and slow shutter speed systematically to adjust for light level. It's just that the light level is a lot less indoors and the adjustments are much farther away from the "Sunny 16" base setting.

Download a light meter app. I use one that is literally called "Light Meter." Use that to determine your settings so you're not eyeballing the exposure value (EV). You'll note that the app actually gives you the EV reading as well as the camera settings.

Btw, a Spotmatic? Love!

 

[limr]

Oh, and I would get some Portra 400 (there's no 500). Lower light = faster film.

 

[Moonchild]

Oh, and I would get some Portra 400 (there's no 500). Lower light = faster film.

Thankyou so much
If I get the portra 400, should I match my shutterspeed to 400?

 

[Moonchild]

Get a light meter app for your smartphone. I havew one, and have compared it against my Minolta flash/incident light meter: the phone app is incredibly accurate and precise, every bit as good as the Minolta meter.

If you insist on going meter-less, look up some exposure suggestions from Kodak matwrials from the past; in years past, it was common to refer to SUggested Exposure Tables for common scenes, such as indoors by table lights; outdoors at night in city conditions; bright outdoors city lights like Times Square or Las Vegas, etc; and so on an so on.

For an ISO 200 color negative film indoors by table lamp lighting, something like f/2.8 at 1/15 second is a good beginning guess, but that is just a guess/general range suggestion:

Window Light Lighting for example, can vary hugely. The exposure for "window light" depends on the brightness of the indoor location,and it depends on the time of year/climate (Florida sunlighted window in August at Noon? Or Seattle dim-light light coming in on February 5 in a rain storm at 8 AM? Window light varies hugely!)

Get a light meter! That way you can be SURE to get the correct exposure.

Or, look up old, suggested exposures, from Kodak, published in years past, and make notes and test some shots out.

Thankyou so much!!!
But if I set my shutterspeed to 1/15 wouldn't I need a tripod?

I live in Australia, and it's generally always very bright- I am unsure what time to do the shoot as am not certain if I should choose a time when it's bright and gleary outside or when the suns a bit toned down.
I will try all that you suggest

 

[Moonchild]

You gotta smart phone ? If so, just download a free light meter app.
Sunny 16 will really not work indoors.
Double the ISO you get one more stop ... 100 -> 200 (+1) -> 400 (+2) -> 800 (+3)

Thankyou!
I know this sounds dumb-but I did download a light meter app when I first got the camera but I didn't know how to use it...do you just put all the info in and hold phone up to where you wish to shoot and it tells you weather its too bright or dark?

 

[tecboy]

You gotta smart phone ? If so, just download a free light meter app.
Sunny 16 will really not work indoors.
Double the ISO you get one more stop ... 100 -> 200 (+1) -> 400 (+2) -> 800 (+3)

Thankyou!
I know this sounds dumb-but I did download a light meter app when I first got the camera but I didn't know how to use it...do you just put all the info in and hold phone up to where you wish to shoot and it tells you weather its too bright or dark?

Make sure you get the right Light Meter app. Some light meter apps just measure the intensity of light or in lux value. That is not what you want. Get the one with shutter speed, aperture, and iso values. It gives you a recommended setting. You can change the shutter speed value, and the aperture and ISO automatically change, or change ISO or aperture and see what happens. It doesn't tell you too bright or too dark. It just gives you a setting for right exsposure.

 

[480sparky]

Oh, and I would get some Portra 400 (there's no 500). Lower light = faster film.

Thankyou so much
If I get the portra 400, should I match my shutterspeed to 400?

The ISO you're using has nothing to do with selecting a shutter speed. Upping the ISO should only allow you to use faster shutter speeds, but there's no 'rule' that says the two must be 'equal'.

 

[Derrel]

Yes, 1/15 second is generally about where most people need to think about using camera support (a desktop or countertop or table top, a chair back, bracing the camera against a doorway,etc.) OR using a tripod. Indoor lighting, even in AUstralia, is dimmer than outdoor light...think maybe 12-14 stops dimmer than outdoors light in full sun. take your Sunny 16 Rule, and "add stops" or "slow down speeds" by 10,11,12,13,or 14 stops and you ouught to get a general idea.

Again...get one of the light metering applications for a smartphone, and use that to measure the light level, and to get a suggested f/stop and shutter speed for the ISO of the film in use (200 ISO color print film, for example).

Good luck on the shoot!

 

[Moonchild]

Oh, and I would get some Portra 400 (there's no 500). Lower light = faster film.

Thankyou so much
If I get the portra 400, should I match my shutterspeed to 400?

The ISO you're using has nothing to do with selecting a shutter speed. Upping the ISO should only allow you to use faster shutter speeds, but there's no 'rule' that says the two must be 'equal'.

Yes, I know this I just am not sure what shutterspeeed would be best for the Portra 400 film in an indoor area.
Thankyou.

 

[480sparky]

Yes, I know this I just am not sure what shutterspeeed would be best for the Portra 400 film in an indoor area.
Thankyou.

Shutter speed should be based on the subject, your desired results, the focal length of lens used, and how steady you can hold the camera without inducing camera blur (unless that's what you want).