Re-rate the ISO of slide film?

Kobe · 9th March 2004

Do you re-rate the ISO of a slide film? I have 2 rolls of Provia 100, would like to know what ISO I should re-rate it, to get the best results. I'm gonna shoot landscape for both the slides. Anyone have something to share with?Thanks in advance.

Zerstorer · 9th March 2004

Instead of re-rating film, you might want to just shoot it as is and learn its characteristics and meter accordingly in future. Re-rating is basically the same as applying EV compensation throughout the whole roll, serves little purpose unless you know your meter is off by a certain amount.

coke21 · 9th March 2004

Originally Posted by Zerstorer

Instead of re-rating film, you might want to just shoot it as is and learn its characteristics and meter accordingly in future. Re-rating is basically the same as applying EV compensation throughout the whole roll, serves little purpose unless you know your meter is off by a certain amount.

Generally slides do not perform as well as the ISO at they were rated rite? Correct me if I am wrong. Always thought that the best results were acheived when the shots are normally exposed. + or - EV will render the shots not as nice?

Zerstorer · 10th March 2004

coke21, can you rephrase what you were saying? I don't quite get you.

kex · 10th March 2004

i minus 0.3 for most of my slides exposure.
0.3 works well for me,u might wanna try out a few shots with and without compensation and see wich one u prefer.

showtime · 10th March 2004

i dont screw with the iso rating and also do not apply and exposure compensation... i follow the meter and it gives me perfect results time and time again. i shoot provia if anyone must know.

coke21 · 10th March 2004

Originally Posted by Zerstorer

coke21, can you rephrase what you were saying? I don't quite get you.

Sorry what I meant to say was that underexposing or overexposing slide film does not have a nice result. So by playing around with the EVs will make the shots not so nice.

swingoutsister · 10th March 2004

an useful advice which has been repeated many times; when in doubt, bracket! especially if you are travelling to a "once-in-a-lifetime" kind of place. sometimes, the "correct" exposure not necessarily yield the "best" look, know what i mean? also, film manufacturers are generally notorious for being optimistic about their film sensitivity rating. for example, a film rated at ISO 400 might actually be closer to 320? you need to 'trial-and-error' to find out certain characteristics about certain films. what looks nice for others might not work for you. for example, i shoot my consumer fuji superia x-tra 400 at +1.0 or even +1.3. in general, for slides, slight underexposure might yield better contrast and shadow details. i don't think its recommended you +EV for slides, unless you are intentionally doing so to uprate the sensitivity, and then push-process accordingly.

Kobe · 10th March 2004

Hi all. Thanks for the replies.

And since no one suggest +EV here. Will also try out -1/2 (my EOS500 is 1/2 steps one) and no compensation.
Or maybe just use bracketing to play safe.

Zerstorer · 10th March 2004

Would like to point out that re-rating whole-sale and applying compensation when necessary are 2 different things.

EV compensation is used when you know the short comings of your camera's metering. In the case of your 500N, there is no spot meter and the evalutive metering is easily fooled when there are large areas of sky. Remember that a meter only works on a midtone, in high contrast situations with sky, the 500N would most likely underexpose by about 1-2stops. It would depend on your experience to do the necessary compensations.

So it is totally untrue that +EV compensation will never be needed.

Yes, shooting an entire roll AS-IS would be a good way to learn how your camera behaves first.

kex · 11th March 2004

½ stop may be too much for me,u might wanna set the ISO to 125 if u shooting ISO100 slides and leave the EV to normal.

T0ny · 23rd March 2004

I like the way people say the film manufacturers are 'overoptimistic' in their speed rating, without once considering that it may be their own camera / lens combination which is giving the impression of a wrongly-rated film. It may be best to compare results from every body / lens combination, under controlled lighting conditions, to ascertain the true speed rating of the film and also whether the equipment is introducing exposure anomalies.

Just my half-crown's worth.

Tony

9th March 2004	#1
Kobe New Member Join Date: Jul 2003 Posts: 26	Re-rate the ISO of slide film? Do you re-rate the ISO of a slide film? I have 2 rolls of Provia 100, would like to know what ISO I should re-rate it, to get the best results. I'm gonna shoot landscape for both the slides. Anyone have something to share with?Thanks in advance.

9th March 2004	#2
Zerstorer Senior Member Join Date: Jul 2002 Posts: 3,610	Instead of re-rating film, you might want to just shoot it as is and learn its characteristics and meter accordingly in future. Re-rating is basically the same as applying EV compensation throughout the whole roll, serves little purpose unless you know your meter is off by a certain amount.

10th March 2004	#4
Zerstorer Senior Member Join Date: Jul 2002 Posts: 3,610	coke21, can you rephrase what you were saying? I don't quite get you.

10th March 2004	#5
kex Senior Member Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: beebox Posts: 2,101	i minus 0.3 for most of my slides exposure. 0.3 works well for me,u might wanna try out a few shots with and without compensation and see wich one u prefer.

10th March 2004	#6
showtime Member Join Date: May 2003 Location: Singapore Posts: 996	i dont screw with the iso rating and also do not apply and exposure compensation... i follow the meter and it gives me perfect results time and time again. i shoot provia if anyone must know.

10th March 2004	#8
swingoutsister Member Join Date: May 2003 Posts: 66	an useful advice which has been repeated many times; when in doubt, bracket! especially if you are travelling to a "once-in-a-lifetime" kind of place. sometimes, the "correct" exposure not necessarily yield the "best" look, know what i mean? also, film manufacturers are generally notorious for being optimistic about their film sensitivity rating. for example, a film rated at ISO 400 might actually be closer to 320? you need to 'trial-and-error' to find out certain characteristics about certain films. what looks nice for others might not work for you. for example, i shoot my consumer fuji superia x-tra 400 at +1.0 or even +1.3. in general, for slides, slight underexposure might yield better contrast and shadow details. i don't think its recommended you +EV for slides, unless you are intentionally doing so to uprate the sensitivity, and then push-process accordingly.

10th March 2004	#9
Kobe New Member Join Date: Jul 2003 Posts: 26	Hi all. Thanks for the replies. And since no one suggest +EV here. Will also try out -1/2 (my EOS500 is 1/2 steps one) and no compensation. Or maybe just use bracketing to play safe.

11th March 2004	#11
kex Senior Member Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: beebox Posts: 2,101	½ stop may be too much for me,u might wanna set the ISO to 125 if u shooting ISO100 slides and leave the EV to normal.

23rd March 2004	#12
T0ny New Member Join Date: Mar 2004 Location: East Anglia, England Posts: 7	I like the way people say the film manufacturers are 'overoptimistic' in their speed rating, without once considering that it may be their own camera / lens combination which is giving the impression of a wrongly-rated film. It may be best to compare results from every body / lens combination, under controlled lighting conditions, to ascertain the true speed rating of the film and also whether the equipment is introducing exposure anomalies. Just my half-crown's worth. Tony