Forums | MacLife

Bah, thats not old, you should see my Oldschool camera, its from the 60s I think, not a piece of automatic in it.

Thats actually a pic i got off of Google. I have 4 lenses but I cant identify them. I don't know much about Film in general but I would like to learn. How do I know lenses is which. I just got back from picking up some more photos from the developer. He said my film is generally underexposed. He recommended a few things but he didn't know what camera I had and I soon forgot what he said.

I had been using all automatic settings, but it looks like I will have to start doing it manually. is there a website I can use for reference.

I have been using Kodak's 400 HD film.

Nefarious Bidding wrote:

Get low to the ground and look up at your target.

Thats more of an artistic thing right? I am fine in that department, I am just having geting good exposure.

Wanting to do manual exposure will definitely help!! Good! (or if you want to remain with automatic you can use exposure compensation to expose less every single time)

The exposure will depend partly on which lens you are using because more zoomed-in lenses ('telephoto' or 'long' lenses) need faster shutter speeds to get sharp shots. In general you want to shoot with a shutter speed (dial on top of the camera) of 1/125 or 1/250 -- the faster the better, in most cases, but with some of your lenses you can get by with shorter shutter speeds while keeping your photos sharp. The other setting is the aperture, the one on the barrel of the lens. I think for now it'd be safe to say just adjust this so that the light meter inside the viewfinder is in the middle of it's range. Then, later on you can experiment with this, because it does affect what the image looks like.

PDF Canon AE-1 Manual

Good luck!

Make sure you're setting the ISO properly.

Oh, and about the lenses. They should say all the information about them right on the front. Focal length, aperture range, filter diameter, etc.

freakoutjackson wrote:

Cut your ASA in half (Most all film the ASA is overrated). Better to overexpose than under.

Whats asa?
Whats ISO?

And what is the light meter in the camera? and how do I know if it is in the middle?

Last edited by galeninjapan (2005-02-16 11:49 pm)

The AE-1 is an awesome camera, hard to believe that something that old is still that capable.  Does anyone besides me think it would be cool if Canon brought back this camera body style but put a 6MegaPixel digital back on it and made it compatible with the EF lenses as limited production unit?
And film will always have a charm and certain qualities that digital never will.

Last edited by sevenofeleven (2005-02-17 12:46 am)

galeninjapan wrote:

freakoutjackson wrote:

Cut your ASA in half (Most all film the ASA is overrated). Better to overexpose than under.

Whats asa?
Whats ISO?

LOL. That could be your problem. See that big round dial by the shutter button? See the little window? Be sure that is set to match the film you are using, or as jackson said, half. You can play with it but be sure to shoot a few rolls at the correct setting before you go messing with it.

do you have the manual (PDF)?

So ASA=ISO?

I should lower the ISO to say 300 when I am using 400 film?

galen: Was the ISO set correctly when you were shooting those rolls of 400? If not, just try it at 400 for a couple rolls.

galeninjapan, as people have pointed out, there are many sites available to grab information. Also, a trip to the local library is a great idea. For magazines, I always liked Peterson's Photographic.   Anyway, the basics:

Film speed: ISO is the more common expression today.  It, and ASA mean the same things. It is how sensitive the film is to light.
A film with a ISO speed of 100 is twice as sensitive as one with a speed of 50. A 200 speed film is twice as sensitive as one with a speed of 100, and four times as sensitive as an ISO 50 film.

The more sensitive a film is, the more silver it has in it. Silver is the component which reacts to light. So, the faster the film, the more expensive. Now, for the confusing part:

Faster films are grainier than slower films. This is to say the pictures won't be as sharp.  Slower films are used by landscape photographers and fine art photographers. They can use slow shutter speeds and tripods.  A sports photographer needs faster film. He can get away with this, since he's shooting sporting events, and grain doesn't matter as much. The sports guy needs to "freeze" baseball players and runners. The fine art photographer can use slower films, and long shutter times.

Film speeds you'll find in the drug stores will have speeds of 100, 200, 400, and even 1600. (good for art museum pictures, where flash photography is prohibited.)

"Professional speed films" might be such films as Fujichrome Velvia, at ISO 50, and the slower speed Kodak films. They are also generally kept in the refridgerator, to prevent the dyes and emulsions from going bad early. Important to the pros.  For decades, many pros swore by Kodachrome. It was great film, with incredibly accurate color. Some magazine editors would not accept images shot with anything else.  Its processing was unique, you had to send to one of the kodak labs for processing. This has all changed, I think. I'm not sure who, or what, is running the Kodak labs now. The orginal Kodachrome, Kodachrome 25, has been discontinued, and I think Kodachrome 64, and the newer Kodachrome 200 are on the way out.  But, Fujichrome Velvia is here, and it is awesome slide film, with commonly available E-6 processing, done at most photo shops.

Oh yes, the "DX" thing:  that came out in the 1980's ( I think) little silver squares on the side of the film cartridge. It "tells" a modern camera what the speed of the film is, so it does not have to be set. Don't worry about it, your AE-1 doesn't read the DX coding.

Slight amount of under-exposure, say a 1/3 of a stop,  especially in bright sunlight, can be a good thing, better than the washed-out effect of too much light. Experiment, see what works.

Tip:  ever wonder how they make those ghostly waterfall shots you see in magazines and calendars?  Slow film, with a very slow shutter, 1 second or more. Needless to say, a tripod is required.

Oh yes, Black and white is fun, and can be very expressive. Try a roll of Kodak tri-x 400. Shoot some indoor and outdoor. I think you'll surprise yourself.

freakoutjackson wrote:

Cut your ASA in half (Most all film the ASA is overrated). Better to overexpose than under.

Better to overexpose negative film. Better to slightly underexpose slide film. Depends on what you're using.

Galen, you should know that the larger the f-stop number, the smaller the aperture opening (f/2.8 is larger than f/4, which is larger than f/8, etc.). And with each stop up or down, you're either doubling or cutting the light in half. Same with shutter speed. Aperture and shutter speed are reciprocal (unless you're using really long exposure times). For example, a shot at f/16 at 1/250 is the equivalent exposure to f/8 at 1/500. The film will be exposed to the same amount of light. What makes the difference is what you are trying to capture. If you are trying to freeze action, you'll want a faster shutter speed. If you're wanting to adjust depth of field (for example, you want to single out a flower in a field and blur the background), you'll want to adjust the aperture - a larger aperture will give you a shallower area that appears in focus in the photo and vice versa.

If you're interested in learning about photography, I'd recommend the following two books: The Basic Book of Photography by Tom and Michele Grimm and Understanding Exposure by Bryan Peterson.

ISO 400 films are very popular, and you can do a lot with them. As technology has improved, the higher films speeds have gotten better.

A "Rule of Thumb":  For hand-held photography, the slowest shutter speed you can use, cannot be less that focal length you are using. Example:  if you are using a 50mm lens, the slowest shutter speed you can use without a tripod is 1/60th, without blurring.  If you are shooting a scenic vista with a 28mm lens, the slowest shutter speed is 1/30th.

This can be problematic, if you are using a zoom lens though. Then you've got to "play" a little.

The photographers at nature magazines such as National Geographic use very powerful telephoto lenses, costing thousands. This is how they get those great close-ups of tigers, polar bears, etc, without actually getting close to them. (although I suspect the polar bears always know when they're being photographed.)

Sounds like you're off to a fine start.