night shots

santino · Aug 19, 2004

Hi there!
I'm kinda new to "tradiotinal" night shots, I use a Praktica MTL 5B
http://www.praktica-collector.de/214_Praktica_MTL5B.htm
I got a question, I use the "B" mode but it's still a mystery to me, how long the shutter should be kept opened. (I know it depends on light sources and so on) any advise would be very helpfull.

ksmattfish · Aug 19, 2004

You will probably have to experiment to really get a feel for it. Take a roll out and try 1 sec, 3 sec, 10 sec, 30 sec, 2 min, 5 min, and 15 min.

Depending on your film choice you may not even see much of a difference between some of the exposures even if it seems like there is a big difference in exposure times; this is reciprocity failure in effect. Check out sites on night photography for suggestions for different subjects, and be sure to read the small print about your film; it will give recommendations for adjusting exposure times longer than 1 sec.

santino · Aug 19, 2004

thx, thats what I thought, I have to experiment. My film is Fujicolor Superia X-tra 400 ISO

ksmattfish · Aug 19, 2004

If you go to the Fuji site and look up the tech pub on that film it'll have a chart somewhere that looks something like this:

if your meter says 5 sec, then open up the aperture 1 stop
if your meter says 30 sec then open up your aperture 2 stops
etc...