Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1999/12/19

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Subject: Re: [Leica] Exposing slide film at night
From: csocolow <csocolow@microserve.net>
Date: Sun, 19 Dec 1999 13:06:04 -0500

Gib Robinson wrote:
> 
> We're planning a family outing Wednesday night to see Christmas lights, the
> Presidio in San Francisco, and, who knows, maybe the moon. I'll bring a
> camera, but I have no confidence in my ability to get good exposures at
> night. I've usually dealt with the problem by bracketing so widely I was
> bound to get acceptable results. I've looked through the tech books I own,
> but haven't found any good sections on night time exposures. I'd love some
> recommendations from this group -- rules of thumb, books to read, exposure
> routines that work for you.
> 
> --Gib

I would always bracket in situations such as this. The old saying:
"Film's cheap, reshoots aren't" certainly applies here.

But I would add a couple thoughts. First is that Kodak's newer
Ektachrome emulsions seem to have less reciprocity shifts than other
transparency films I've used. I find I get into trouble when I try to
adjust for reciprocity. I've done twilight/night architectural photos
metered at f16 at 15 seconds that were dead on. When I adjusted for
reciprocity by giving brackets at 30 seconds, 45 seconds, one minute
they've been overexposed. The same goes with some of the Fuji neg films
I've been using.

My second thought is that if you're metering through the lens and adjust
for the brightness fo the bulbs (as in bracketing) you should be
alright. Have fun. Don't forget to try some thing with camera shake,
perhaps combined with (sorry LUG) even a little dialed back flash to
freeze your subjects for some interesting effects.
- -- 
Carl Socolow

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