Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1999/06/29

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Subject: Re: [Leica] OT Fireworks
From: csocolow <csocolow@microserve.net>
Date: Tue, 29 Jun 1999 18:16:47 -0400

Michael Garmisa wrote:
> 
> With the 4th of July aproaching I plan to shoot the fireworks show in NY
> off of my friends roof.  I have an M3 50 summicron (latest), 90 elmar
> collaps, minolta autometer III (which im thinking of trading for the
> sekonic L308 at some point) and a slik tripod.  I plan to shoot color neg.
> I know that I should be shooting slow shutterspeeds to get the full burst
> of fireworks but how slow? 1 sec 1/2 sec?  Also, how should I set the
> aperture, something tells me a simple incident reading off the roof will
> not be acurate and im unsure of how to utilize the reflective reading
> attachment.  Last question, what color neg film would you suggest I use?
> Thanks for the help.
> --
> Michael Garmisa <elmar@nyct.net>
> NO ARCHIVE

Michael,

When I shoot fireworks I use a locking cable release on the bulb setting
and lock the shutter open. I then use a black card held in front of the
lens as a working shutter. I just hold the card in place, open the
shutter and move it out of the way at the desired time. This way there's
no camera shake, I can accumulate more than one burst without having to
recock for double exposures and I can wait till the desired point of the
burst to record it. I bracket my exposures and it's been awhile since
I've done fireworks but I think I used around f5.6 or f8.0 as a starting
point with Kodachrome 64. Hope this helps.
- -- 
Carl Socolow

http://members.tripod.com/SocPhoto/