Film for England in November

[Radix Lecti]

Hi guys.
Am going to England in November this year for business. Am taking side trips over the weekends to Lake District and plan to shoot like there's no tomorrow! Does anyone have any idea as to what the level of light outdoors at this time of the year would be. Will only carry a small tripod for the dusk/dawn shots, don't want to be saddled with it otherwise. Plan to carry my 24/2.8, 50/1.8 and 80-200/2.8 lenses. What is the slowest film that I can scrape through. Have purchased some Provia 400F but would ideally like slower film. Could you please let me know if slower than that would be possible with my lenses in November there? Thanks a lots in advance.

 

[panz]

The weather there is pretty unpredictable, cloudy most of the time during this period. Bring a strong tripod, the wind can be very strong. And most importantly, some rain protection for your cam.

 

[Larry]

you should ask Jed about this... he's staying in UK if i not wrong.

 

[panz]

I was shooting with ISO400 films when I was there in 98 & 2000.

 

[geoffery]

I'm in UK now and the weather is pretty dull for the whole week except today; which there is some sunlight and blue sky, else it cloudy and drizzling. I am in Portsmouth and Lake district is like 200-300 miles away; like panz said the weather is very unpredictable. Check BBC weather forecast of and on to see if there is a pattern.

I am going to Scotland this weekend so I can only hope the weather would be good.

A sturdy tripod is essential as the wind can be problem. Also bring some ziplop bags to cover your gear when it does rain, dont forget your rain gear.

Temperature this year is slighly colder than the last. Bring some warmer clothes.

As for film, I will be trying out the new AFGA 100 print film. Saw that it is very saturated for a print film. There might be some autumn color sitting around so some saturature films can't be that bad.

 

[panz]

Geoffery, studying in University of Portsmouth?

 

[jasphotography]

Originally posted by Radix Lecti
Hi guys.
Am going to England in November this year for business. Am taking side trips over the weekends to Lake District and plan to shoot like there's no tomorrow!

Yes, tomorrow never die! Lucky guy, Lakeland is a dream come true for every photographer, especially during the Autumn (Now actually) when trees turn into shades of gold, brown, red, yellow and orange.

Hopefully when you are there, the leaves are still intact on the trees for it just take one night, one gust of strong wind and Autumn colour are gone forever till next Autumn.

Originally posted by Radix Lecti

Does anyone have any idea as to what the level of light outdoors at this time of the year would be. Will only carry a small tripod for the dusk/dawn shots, don't want to be saddled with it otherwise.

You would be terribly wrong by carrying a tripod just for the dusk/dawn shots. First, the lighting there now is rather low. Shutter speed would be around 1/60 (or plus & minus one stop) at f2.8 using a ASA 50/100 film.

Yes, you may get away with shooting with lens wide open, which oppose the normal practise of landscape photography when maxmium depth of field is preferred.

For the above, I am only referring to clear/nice weather. How about "bad" overcast weather then ??? To clear the issue, bad weather doesn't mean you can pack your stuff and go home as you won't get good pictures. In fact, this is the time when many photographers will wait patiently for the magical moments to come like light breaking through the clouds, torching the magnificent ground...

Originally posted by Radix Lecti

Plan to carry my 24/2.8, 50/1.8 and 80-200/2.8 lenses. What is the slowest film that I can scrape through. Have purchased some Provia 400F but would ideally like slower film. Could you please let me know if slower than that would be possible with my lenses in November there? Thanks a lots in advance.

If you are going to bring your 80-200 f2.8 lens (which I strongly recommended), then a tripod is even more essential. When I was there this time last year, I predominantly used a 80-200mm f2.8 lens having made the mistake of using a 18-35mm lens the year before.

Telephoto lens is superb for compressing perspective in landscape photography, giving your subjects more details and emphasis. If you want to use wide angle lens, please find yourself an interesting foreground (like rocks, stones, fence etc) to play with and lead the viewers to the pictures.

My last few advice would be:

[1] carry your tripod (a sturdy one) throughout the trip,
[2] bring slow film/slide like Velvia 50 or Provia 100,
[3] a rain coat (a must!) and some warm clothing.

I look forward to see your pictures when you are back from the trip....

 

[Radix Lecti]

Thanks a lot guys! Specially jasphotography for that comprehensive reply. Didnt know the light was that bad! I guess you have tipped me over to taking a decent tripod along and loads of Provias and Velvias to boot. Can't take my best tripod though - cuz if I take that one (Gitzo Explorer - yeah the non-carbon fibre version!), the aircraft carrier will let only one of us in - me or the tripod! And I rather believe I am more important to the trip here! So will carry a lighter one - probably not as good as the Gitzo...but what the heck! Thanks again!

 

[Jed]

It's one of those things.

The weather is actually very predictable. Predicatably bad sad to say. Seriously. On a more specific note, a lot also depends on where you intend to go. The south tends to get many more blue sky days than we do up north (Lakes, Scotland included). I really wouldn't count on getting much blue sky. That way if it does show up it's a bonus. If.

You're a bit on the late side for autumn now. Leaves are generally all golden, and at least half gone. Can't speak for the lakes but I'm not all that far away. Situation seemed about the same down south when I was down at Highbury.

It gets dark around about 4pm (sunset), so basically the reduced daylight hours is what you need to note. In terms of brightness levels, sunny f16 is sunny f16 the world over. It's just that we don't very often get sunny f16. And bearing in mind the few daylight hours and the sun never really hitting it's zenith, you might potentially get less than sunny f16. However what light you do get is good light as the sun rarely climbs above 10 o'clock position at the equator.

Hope that helps. More gloomy than not probably.

 

[kristlbel]

lombang this thread

will be going over at the end of the month. will there still
be autumn scenary outside of London?

actually going over to paris for a weekend too. won't be
bringing tripod for this whole trip cos i'm afraid of getting mugged

 

[Jed]

End of November I'd have to say no. Like I said, it's mid November now and already the time is, essentially, past.

 

[kristlbel]

Originally posted by Jed
End of November I'd have to say no. Like I said, it's mid November now and already the time is, essentially, past.

*sigh*

hope the christmas lights will cheer me up