Need some help with FM


Status
Not open for further replies.

bigfatfish

New Member
Jan 13, 2004
997
0
0
Hello,

I was trying to do some night shots with my FM on the sheares bridge oneday at about 9pm, but I could not get a proper reading on the exposure meter in the focusing screen . At all shutters speed except Bulb it showed at least (-) exposure, and at a certain shutter speed it showed all (+) , (0), (-). Anyone knows why?

And how do you calculate the shutter speed to press for Bulb? :)

thanks.
 

it simply means that the available light was not enough to give you a proper exposure for the shutter speed settings available on your cam. you can try increasing the size of the aperture to let in more light. i believe the FM settings only allow for exposure time below 1 second and that is likely not enough for shoooting at 9pm.
dunno what it means when all three light up though. was it because you switched to bulb mode?
as for calculating the appropriate exposure time in bulb mode, try this page
http://www.fredparker.com/ultexp1.htm
don't depend entirely on the light meter, there's really no right or wrong way to expose a shot, sometimes an under or over-exposed shot can give you a more desirable image. it really depends on you. try playing around with different exposures, after all, film is meant to be used :D
and hope you have a tripod if you're gonna take lots of night shots
have fun and good luck
 

giddygoat said:
it simply means that the available light was not enough to give you a proper exposure for the shutter speed settings available on your cam. you can try increasing the size of the aperture to let in more light. i believe the FM settings only allow for exposure time below 1 second and that is likely not enough for shoooting at 9pm.
dunno what it means when all three light up though. was it because you switched to bulb mode?
as for calculating the appropriate exposure time in bulb mode, try this page
http://www.fredparker.com/ultexp1.htm
don't depend entirely on the light meter, there's really no right or wrong way to expose a shot, sometimes an under or over-exposed shot can give you a more desirable image. it really depends on you. try playing around with different exposures, after all, film is meant to be used :D
and hope you have a tripod if you're gonna take lots of night shots
have fun and good luck


thanks will check the site out! :)
 

bigfatfish said:
And how do you calculate the shutter speed to press for Bulb?

Hi Bigfatfish, this is manfred.
I am a fellow FM2N user. There is no definate exposure for night. What most web and books teach are to first turn the ISO dial up to let say 3200 then do a meter reading as normal. From there, use the iso dial as a guide count down the stops of light you need to compensate for the iso till you present film iso. With this stop number, multiply your timing or shutter speed according base on the stops to the right bulb timing.

But as times goes by you will soon realise what is the agar agar timing and exposure for the night exposure.

My advise is to start off with the following exposure
1) f5.6 8 seconds
2) f8 10 seconds
3) f16 12 seconds

and bracket from either one of this setting. These settings are for iso 100 films. If you use other films, you might want to modify the timing accordingly. Sooner or later you will get what you want after some trial and error. Note if you want to follow books take note of the reciprocal failure of films and also the odd increment or shutter speed.

In night photography agar agar is the key.

use F16 if you want the car lights or the moving lights to be thin and f5.6 if you want it to be thicker.

if you want street lights to have a lot of strend of hair light reflection, then use small aperture.

Enjoy
 

Wow. Thanks Alot manfred that was alot of information. :)
 

Status
Not open for further replies.