Question regarding Nikon SLR camera

[kcuf2]

ok here it goes:
I have been shooting for the past few years. Since the day i m born till the day before i get my D70, i have never use any camera before. The only camera that i use when i needed one is those kodak disposable camera. And till the past few years, the first camera i bought and officially use is the D70. Till now i can say i am rather proficient with digital cameras already.

However, i missed out on film cameras TOTALLY. I know absolutely NOTHING about film cameras. Examples: how to load the film etc etc.

My problem now is tat i need to shoot at 40R, 30R, 20R sizes, and I think that most will probably agree with me that the best way to go is to shoot film. And the best of all, I am able to borrow a nikon F4 at no cost. But the owner of the F4 is not around to guide me.

So most probably i will be using the F4 and my 50mm lens. Of course i will go and learn how to load the film, rewind film those things.

Beside this, is there any difference using the F4 and my D70? As in, the metering aspect, the choosing of PSAM, focusing ?? As mentioned above, i know nuts about SLR cameras, so wat else will be different that i need to take note of?

sidenote: i will be shooting in a studio, so if there is any more difference between using D70 and F4 in studio, please highlight to me too. thanks!

[chisiang]

40R

[radedward]

are you sure you don't need a medium format camera?
go experiment with it. shouldn't be too different


piece of info you should know first though (from wikipedia)
While it will accept most lenses made for the F mount system, its lack of electronic aperture control limits its functionality with any lens after the D series. The D series and all lenses prior to it have a mechanical aperture ring, where the DX, G, and S series do not.

[kcuf2]

Originally Posted by chisiang 40R

er yes? 40R = 40" x 30"

[kcuf2]

Originally Posted by radedward are you sure you don't need a medium format camera? go experiment with it. shouldn't be too different piece of info you should know first though (from wikipedia) While it will accept most lenses made for the F mount system, its lack of electronic aperture control limits its functionality with any lens after the D series. The D series and all lenses prior to it have a mechanical aperture ring, where the DX, G, and S series do not.

medium format i have thought abt it, but the thing is i dun have access to it, and none of any1 i know uses it, and none i know has it, and the clubsnap rental ppl do not have it... so basically = no choice..

regarding the D, DX, G lens dun worry... that one i still know about it, the only usable lens in my cabinet is the 50mm and is just nice for my requirements, so its ok

[sammedia]

40R?! No sure if a 35mm film can blow that big. Last time when I shoot film, the biggest I print is only 16x20". I think u might need 120 format.

[ziploc]

Loading film is actually the easy part. With film you don't get instant review and hence need to give extra care before pressing the shutter button (e.g. ensuring shutter speed is adequate for the focal length used, etc). Need to make every shots count and can't afford to be trigger happy anymore. And it is a lot more trouble if need to switch iso.

[kcuf2]

Originally Posted by sammedia 40R?! No sure if a 35mm film can blow that big. Last time when I shoot film, the biggest I print is only 16x20". I think u might need 120 format.

oh gosh....wats that 120 format?? issit a film that can be loaded into the F4?

I need a coupld of 40R pics, just a few, tentatively 3. But 20R about 10-20, 30R <10.....

[sammedia]

It mean film for medium format camera.

[catchlights]

Originally Posted by kcuf2 er yes? 40R = 40" x 30"

just 16x20, 20x24, 20x30, 30x40 etc, all the Rs are machine print, all the what inches by what inches are printed by enlarger, anyway, very hard to fine someone will print from negative using enlarger for you nowadays, even you shoot on film now, most of them will recommend you scan to digital file and get it printed.

[xxxger]

Originally Posted by kcuf2 er yes? 40R = 40" x 30"

4R = 6" x 4"
then 40R = 60" x 40" ?

[catchlights]

Originally Posted by kcuf2 oh gosh....wats that 120 format?? issit a film that can be loaded into the F4? I need a coupld of 40R pics, just a few, tentatively 3. But 20R about 10-20, 30R <10.....

Nikon F4 is a 35mm film format camera, aka small format camera,
cameras using 120 film are called medium format camera,
cameras using 4x5, 5x7, 8x10 film are called large format camera.

[mercurial_streak]

Hi, this is frm a noobie pov, hope it helps.
I, like u, onli touched cameras that were of the digital breed. I m also a d70s user. Touched manual slr nikon fm3a this wk due to a photog course i m attending, so went ard shootin yest n here is the main diff i felt:

-loadin the film is no joke (or maybi it is jus me), i almost went ard shootin without the film being loaded up. lucky someone told me the film rewind tingy supposed to turn when i advance the film did i do the film properly the 2nd time round.

-adjusting all the settings take quite abit of time since everyting is everywhere (camera dependent). For eg, exposure compensation is on the left knob, shutter speed is on the right knob, aperture n focus is on the lens. much more convenient on d70 but guess practice will solve this.

-forget to advance film b4 pressing shutter. (but f4 doesnt seem to have film advance lever. auto advance?) this jus makes u look noob, not much of a concern.

-a single iso for a whole roll of film is a bitch esp when the sun gives up on u but since u r workin in controlled environment, shdnt be a concern for u.

-manual focusing is much more precise than on d70.

hope my experience will help u.

[Triodeman]

Yeah, one of the "disadvantage" of film camera is unable to have instant review. But fear not, since you already have a D70, you can always fine tune the exposure in the studio with the D70 first, and have the same setting on the F4 and you should be pretty close.

Originally Posted by ziploc Loading film is actually the easy part. With film you don't get instant review and hence need to give extra care before pressing the shutter button (e.g. ensuring shutter speed is adequate for the focal length used, etc). Need to make every shots count and can't afford to be trigger happy anymore. And it is a lot more trouble if need to switch iso.

[catchlights]

btw, film cameras are just a black box holding the lens and the film, won't make much different on photo quality, so using a F4 body will not make the photo nicer than using a F70 body if both using same lens and same type of film.

[ortega]

1 good advice

film is cheap - bracket to be sure +/- 1 stop in half stop increments
and yes you need to go medium format
if you can't then get the slowest/smallest grain film you can find

[ortega]

and send to a pro lab for processing and printing
better not save money there

[lsisaxon]

Originally Posted by kcuf2 er yes? 40R = 40" x 30"

4R= 4" x 6", so I guess 40R should be 40" x 60"?

[lsisaxon]

Originally Posted by kcuf2 ok here it goes: I have been shooting for the past few years. Since the day i m born till the day before i get my D70, i have never use any camera before. The only camera that i use when i needed one is those kodak disposable camera. And till the past few years, the first camera i bought and officially use is the D70. Till now i can say i am rather proficient with digital cameras already. However, i missed out on film cameras TOTALLY. I know absolutely NOTHING about film cameras. Examples: how to load the film etc etc. My problem now is tat i need to shoot at 40R, 30R, 20R sizes, and I think that most will probably agree with me that the best way to go is to shoot film. And the best of all, I am able to borrow a nikon F4 at no cost. But the owner of the F4 is not around to guide me. So most probably i will be using the F4 and my 50mm lens. Of course i will go and learn how to load the film, rewind film those things. Beside this, is there any difference using the F4 and my D70? As in, the metering aspect, the choosing of PSAM, focusing ?? As mentioned above, i know nuts about SLR cameras, so wat else will be different that i need to take note of? sidenote: i will be shooting in a studio, so if there is any more difference between using D70 and F4 in studio, please highlight to me too. thanks!

Just a few questions...
1) what makes you think that 35mm film is sharper than digital?
2) who is going to help you blow up the image?
3) who is the target audience of the final image?
4) are you aware that people have used 3MP D1-series cameras and blown the images to more than 100"?

Making large prints is an art by itself. Yes, it's easier to blow up to those sizes using MF or LF film size but you will need professiona labs who are able to handle these sizes. For 35mm, I would say that based on my experience anything bigger than 20"x24" is pushing the limit, even with Rodagon-G lens for the enlarger.

A digital workflow is easier. Because for large prints, usually people do not go up close to scrutinize (although some nitpickers do), what can be done is to up-sample the 6mp image until you get a decent dpi for the size of print you want to make, then perform an unsharp mask. Yes, if you look at the detail it is crap, but if you stand further away to appreciate the entire image, you won't notice the blurness anyway.

Even with 35mm film, it's the same because even with the finest grain film, the limiting resolution is your optics. If you want to still be able to retain the details at that kind of size, you should go for a medium format and blow up the image using an APO lens.

[lsisaxon]

Originally Posted by Triodeman Yeah, one of the "disadvantage" of film camera is unable to have instant review. But fear not, since you already have a D70, you can always fine tune the exposure in the studio with the D70 first, and have the same setting on the F4 and you should be pretty close.

You heard of polaroid backs?