Does anyone have any tips or a table of exposure times with f-stops for doing long bulb exposures during the early morning, mid-afternoon, and late evening? I am using 100 and 400 speed film and was wondering whether the tables of exposure times with f-stops are corrected for reciprocity failure.

My interest is in capturing motion and streaks of people/cars/stuff moving around the standstill of the city without suffering from under/overexposure.

-- Alfie Wang (leica_phile@hotmail.com), February 15, 2002

Answers

Alfie:

I gave up on tables. I do it simply; Set the aperture at 5.6 then do exposures at 1 sec 2 secs 4 , 8 etc., doubling each time up to the end of teh roll or a minute or two.

Colour neg film is so tolerant of overexposure it just gets saturated na some hoghloights burn out. Auto printers at minilabs may not be too happy, as some densities build up and result in longer exposures.

For the cost of a roll of colour neg film I can usually get 2 or 3 good shots. It is of course vital to use a very steady tripod and cable release.

-- RICHARD ILOMAKI (richardjx@hotmail.com), February 15, 2002.

For mid-afternoon, certainly, You'll need the slowest film you can get. I sure wouldn't use 400, or even 100. Using the sunny 16 rule, even at ISO 25, the basic exposure is 1/25 at f/16. So even at one second, you need f/90 already. I assume you want longer than one second, if you want to use bulb. Two seconds: f/128. And so on. You're going to need slow film and a neutral density filter. In fact, you may have to stack the ND filters. You need a six-stop correction just to get to f/16 with ISO 25, so you can use your Leica lenses! Or a five-stop correction for f/22. Or pick a REALLY overcast day!

In lower light, it will get easier, of course. You can probably find the reciprocity info on the website for your film brand.

-- Bob Fleischman (RFXMAIL@prodigy.net), February 15, 2002.

OOOPPPS

Alfie I forgot to mention that in mid day ND filters are a must: likely up to 8 stops or more. Using a stack of filters cn degrade and image a lot and really dense ND filters can get expensive. But still a series of 2X exposures is the simplest and most reliable way.

Fred Parker Photography as an excellent table of luminances vs exposure values which can be realted to exposure times: http://fredparker.com

Cheers

-- RICHARD ILOMAKI (richardjx@hotmail.com), February 15, 2002.

Sounds like you'll be using a tripod (bulb exposures to capture streaks/motion during the day). Plus if you start using ND filters... watch out, you'll get kicked out of Dogma 95.

-- Richard (rvle@yahoo.com), February 16, 2002.

I'm thinking about refining the sunny f16 rule in accordance with the mantra of Dogma 95. Here's my plan.

I take the batteries out of my Ms and get rid of my incident meter. My minimal meter will be a sheet of white paper and a magnifying glass. Based on how long it takes to draw smoke from the paper on a sunny day I will calculate the required exposure compensation from sunny f16.

...or should I use one of my lenses? Wow, that would be even MORE purist!!!

Dogma 95, here I come!!!!!

;-)

-- John (ouroboros_2001@yahoo.com), February 16, 2002.

John, You're still way off the mark-- dispense with the white paper. Use your palm. Less is more...Best,

-- Marke Gilbert (Bohdi137@aol.com), February 16, 2002.

John, You're still way off the mark-- dispense with the white paper. Use your palm. Less is more...Best,

Sorry, but I've got a low pain threshold. Tell you what though, I'll trade you the palm for the magnifying glass and use my own glasses... just like Piggy did in "The Lord of the Flies".

Ahhh,

simplement exquis

;-)

-- John (ouroboros_2001@yahoo.com), February 16, 2002.

Glasses!? John, I knew you were a technocrat at heart.

-- Marke Gilbert (Bohdi137@aol.com), February 16, 2002.

John, you're a wimp. You should be willing to suffer for your art.

Alfie, how long do you usually stick to your "philosophies about using Leicas"? A day? Two maybe?

-- Richard (rvle@yahoo.com), February 16, 2002.

why not use a handheld meter ?

-- leonid kotlyar (kotlyarl@mail.nih.gov), February 16, 2002.

What are exposure times for doing bulb shots using a R4?

The same as exposure times for doing bulb shots with any other camera.

-- Jeff Spirer (jeff@spirer.com), February 16, 2002.

John, you're a wimp. You should be willing to suffer for your art.

Is that a "Chim-ism" or a "Capa-ism"? Mines and flak will break my back but names will never hurt me.

-- John (ouroboros_2001@yahoo.com), February 17, 2002.

Cmon, John, as that magnifying glass burns your flesh, you'll know that you're a real man. I'm sure Capa would have done it. Chim, probably not.

-- Richard (rvle@yahoo.com), February 17, 2002.

Hello Alfie. You need look no further than the late famous LEICA photographer Ernst Haas, the early exponent of motion photos using blur/wipe effects.

His film was slow ..Kodachrome.

His LEICA was set to speeds between 1/5th of a second and one second.

Quoting from the wonderful Time/Life book on Color: "Color fades in motion and becomes transparent",says Haas. "I take this to be a real visual advantage." .. Haas works subtle variations on this technique. He may turn the camera faster or slower than the moving subject, or he may jiggle the camera to suggest rythmic or erratic motion. Regards.

-- Sheridan Zantis (albada60@hotmail.com), February 17, 2002.

Cmon, John, as that magnifying glass burns your flesh, you'll know that you're a real man. I'm sure Capa would have done it.

Yeah, I heard they had to sew Capa back together again before he was interred. I guess if you were in the Roman army it would've been an honor to die this way for the Senate and People. But for producing provocative images... I'll trade the flak for some introspection. Thanks, but no thanks.

-- John (ouroboros_2001@yahoo.com), February 17, 2002.