Question about film speed?

[Sharkface]

Okay so first off, I'm a total noob. I messed around with my moms crappy little Canon SD1000 and decided I like taking pictures so I bought a cheap Vivitar 220/SL on Ebay. I'm still learning what all the buttons do and while reading the manual I realized that I was suppose to set the film speed. It's been set at 1600 for the first 10 or so shots and the film I have is Kodak Ultramax ISO 400. I'm guessing ISO and ASA are the same thing? Do I need to take this roll out and just start with a fresh one or can I still salvage it? Thanks for your help!

 

[Chamelion 6]

Yes and no... ASA is an American standard rating and not as broadly used... if it's still used at all anymore. ISO is an international standard that's much broader in scope.

But the practical answer to your question is that as far as film is concerned ISO numbers and ASA ratings match exactly so that ASA 400 = ISO 400 and so on and etc.

As for your current roll, you need to shoot the rest of it at 1600, you can't change ASA in the middle of the roll. I've been out of film for a very long time and I'm not really familiar with the current stuff on the market at all, but you can "push" film to higher ASA ratings and compensate in the processing. Generally the film is going to display more grain and if it's color there may be some shift but it can be salvaged, you just need to find somebody that will process it for you. Alternatively you can switch to ASA 400 and finis the roll and process it normally. If you do that the stuff shot at 1600 will be underexposed and probably unuseable.

 

[reznap]

You should keep shooting at 1600 and see if a lab will push it 2 stops for you. It'll most likely be a little more contrasty and grainy that way (at least, that's what happens with b&w film but I'm unsure about the layered emulsions of color film..) but it would work. Basically this works by just letting it stay in the developing chemicals longer and compensates for underexposure.

If you switch it now it would be impossible to have both those 10 frames and the following ones (shot at 400) to develop correctly.. you'd have to pick one or the other (unless a lab can cut it at 10 and develop them both differently... but that'd be one heck of a lab - I'm new to film somewhat so I don't know).

ISO and ASA refer to the film speed, it changed a while back. Used to be American Standards Association I think, now it's International Standard Organization.

 

[Chamelion 6]

You should keep shooting at 1600 and see if a lab will push it 2 stops for you. It'll most likely be a little more contrasty and grainy that way (at least, that's what happens with b&w film but I'm unsure about the layered emulsions of color film..) but it would work. Basically this works by just letting it stay in the developing chemicals longer and compensates for underexposure.

If you switch it now it would be impossible to have both those 10 frames and the following ones (shot at 400) to develop correctly.. you'd have to pick one or the other (unless a lab can cut it at 10 and develop them both differently... but that'd be one heck of a lab - I'm new to film somewhat so I don't know).

ISO and ASA refer to the film speed, it changed a while back. Used to be American Standards Association I think, now it's International Standard Organization.

I don't know the history of ISO or ASA but both were used when I first started shooting in the 70's. Most European and Asian film companies, Fuji for example, always used ISO, Kodak labeled theirs with ASA...

 

[reznap]

I don't know the history of ISO or ASA but both were used when I first started shooting in the 70's. Most European and Asian film companies, Fuji for example, always used ISO, Kodak labeled theirs with ASA...

Hey cool, I just read a little about it - looks like I was a bit mixed up. I assumed they didn't coexist. I just read on wiki that the British has the BSI scale and the Russians used ГОСТ

 

[Chamelion 6]

I don't know the history of ISO or ASA but both were used when I first started shooting in the 70's. Most European and Asian film companies, Fuji for example, always used ISO, Kodak labeled theirs with ASA...

Hey cool, I just read a little about it - looks like I was a bit mixed up. I assumed they didn't coexist. I just read on wiki that the British has the BSI scale and the Russians used ГОСТ

Honestly, the only reason I knew was I was convinced every new brand of film I came across was going to have some magic quality to it so I tried a lot of obscure kinds of film back then. Almost all of them had ISO numbers on the box. For all my experimenting though, I never really found anything better than good old Tri-X, Pan-X, Kodachrome and Ektachrome.......