Film Users: Exposure - Gut, Experience or Camera Exposure Indicator?

[antitrust]

Hey guys, I've just shot my first roll of film on my EOS50 and i'm a little afraid of my frames. Whether they'd be underexposed, or overexposed.

Here's my question for other film users, how do you correctly judge the right amount of exposure? bracketing would be a little overkill right since you only have 36 frames max on a roll of film.

for me i swear by the camera exposure indicator because that's the only thing that gives me any hint!

perhaps some old birds can share some tips and tricks!

 

[CaeSiuM]

Actually the most important thing to remember is that our camera meters for middle grey so you'll have to study the scene and decide what is the subject that you want to get "proper" exposure for and adjust accordingly. This "proper" exposure will depend on what kind of detail you want to capture for the scene. Be it a silhoutte or tricky situation like shooting a person with your camera towards the sun.

For film it is always easier to err on the side of over-exposure which is to give a bit more exposure if you're unsure. Half to a stop of additional exposure is generally acceptable because film has a wider exposure tolerance.

 

[kex]

Most of the time,modern built in meter gives very accurate results.

slight overexposure on film USUALLY gives very nice result,u can try to add 0.3 to ur exposure compensation.

Just concentrate on ur framing,and let ur camera do the calculation for you

 

[glennyong]

for me - 0.3 on slides always. and er... well.. i would take a shot on my digital first. den shoot flim. =p quite accurate IMHO.

but if lazy. usually i would use shutter priority. and let the camera do the exposure calculation. spot meter or 3D matrix.

 

[LordAeRo]

Depends on your camera and what you want to achieve, my camera gives spot-on metering (or so I think) so I just follow the exposure meter. Mine's Center Weighted as well, so usually I just adjust until it gives me correct exposure. But depending on the situation, I might over/under expose from 1/3 to 1 stop.

 

[antitrust]

Actually the most important thing to remember is that our camera meters for middle grey so you'll have to study the scene and decide what is the subject that you want to get "proper" exposure for and adjust accordingly. This "proper" exposure will depend on what kind of detail you want to capture for the scene. Be it a silhoutte or tricky situation like shooting a person with your camera towards the sun.

For film it is always easier to err on the side of over-exposure which is to give a bit more exposure if you're unsure. Half to a stop of additional exposure is generally acceptable because film has a wider exposure tolerance.

so for silhouette shots, it is generally okay to underexpose by 1 stop? that way the colours will be more saturated? correct, wrong? or rather, silhouette shots are "more flexible" with slight underexposures?

 

[sljm]

Well if u are really keen on finding out how ur meter really is, u should take shots of a grey card and varying the exposure (probably -2 to +2 at half stops) this will probably tell u more about ur camera metering (whether it tends to over expose or underexpose) best if done on slides.

 

[sriram]

Before you attempt any of this, you need to get a couple of rolls of slide film, and shoot the subjects you normally would. This will give you a very good idea of how the EOS-50 meters for various scenes. Then you will know when to compensate and by how much.

The EOS-50's metering is extremely accurate. I used to shoot slides in evaluative and the results were 95% spot on.

 

[user111]

memorise the exposure for typical situations

then bracket

 

[antitrust]

memorise the exposure for typical situations

then bracket

wah, hardcore. respect.

 

[waileong]

For 100 years people were shooting film and they did not have to check every shot on a CCD to know whether their exposure was correct. They used light meters.

For at least 30 years people have been shooting with in-camera meters and they did not have to check every shot on a CCD to know whether their exposure was correct. They trusted their in-camera meters.

Relax!

Your EOS 50 has more computing power than the Apollo 11 astronauts had when they landed on the moon. On ordinary subjects, every exposure will be usable, if not dead on.

You worry about exposure only if you have unusual situations, eg. extreme backlighting, high-key subjects, etc.

You should worry more about whether you got your composition right, whether anybody blinked when you pressed the shutter. That an SLR cannot tell you, because you lose the viewfinder image at the time of exposure.

That's the sad thing about digital camera users these days-- relying too much on the CCD to the point of not knowing what is correct exposure.

Hey guys, I've just shot my first roll of film on my EOS50 and i'm a little afraid of my frames. Whether they'd be underexposed, or overexposed.

Here's my question for other film users, how do you correctly judge the right amount of exposure? bracketing would be a little overkill right since you only have 36 frames max on a roll of film.

for me i swear by the camera exposure indicator because that's the only thing that gives me any hint!

perhaps some old birds can share some tips and tricks!

 

[raptor84]

I trust my 300v for most of the exposures but if its a tricky scene like astong back lit one i normally spot meter the subject then back ground then take the in between reading or you can truse the evaulative then use fill flash. Still experementing though and yes when i was using my digital P&S checking the CCD is a very bad habit.. now using film it really forces you to think and plan the shot...

 

[ricohflex]

trust your gut feel
carry a small hand held meter

 

[doug3fflux]

spot meter off where u want to be properly exposed, lock exposure or dial it into M mode and shoot.

 

[LittleWolf]

Hey guys, I've just shot my first roll of film on my EOS50 and i'm a little afraid of my frames. Whether they'd be underexposed, or overexposed.

If you're using negative film, it has such a wide exposure latitude that you have to try really hard to ruin a picture (as long as you don't underexpose).

Disposable cameras have one fixed exposure time and one or maybe two aperture settings. Nevertheless, people (and even more, people completely ignorant about technical aspects of photography) manage to produce printable negatives with them. These cameras don't use any special film either ...

 

[oeyvind]

Meters in modern camera are very accurate. Had no problem with meters on the EOS 50, EOS 33, Bessa R, Eos 1n, EOS 3, nor the TX-1

 

[Isaiahfortythirtyone]

if ur using negatives...relax man. it shd be fine.

 

[+evenstar]

my EOS 50E is very accurate on exposure, has yet to fail me yet...so no worry bro..