Re: [Leica] Polar Bears - off topic but so is everything else I'veseen lately

["John Poirier" <MJ.Patterson@nt.sympatico.ca>]

Dale wrote:
>
>Churchill I think is about  58.5 degrees north so the day calculates
>out to be about 6.5 hours long.   Dale
>---
>$ dale-reed@worldnet.att.net  Seattle, Washington U.S.A. $

Another factor to consider in terms of film speed requirements is the height
of the sun above the horizon.  While the sun may officially be up for 6.5
hours, Churchill won't be getting anything like what you folks in the south
think of as full daylight.  To illustrate, here at roughly 63 north, I was
out shooting at mid-day today.  The sky was clear- but the sun was barely
above the horizon.  My exposure was about 1/60 at f/4 with ISO 100 film.
That's about 5 stops off mid-day lighting in the south.  In the spring our
days (and Churchill's) will be longer than in the south- but for much of the
time the sun will be relatively low in the sky- producing beautiful but not
very bright lighting.   Therefore, a relatively fast film is still important
for wildlife work.  Even 200 may not be good enough if it gets cloudy-
although polar bears in flat lighting are a dubious proposition anyhow.

Cheers.

John Poirier
Yellowknife, NWT, Canada