Canon F1n - How do I use meter to get correct

[benjiboy]

As somebody who is about to start shooting color slides...i am all ears.
Though, i have been told it is best to er on the side of underexposure.?

That's true Chip, but only by about a third of a stop ( I.S.O 100 rated at I.S.O. 125) with most films, with the exception of Fuji Velvia 50 which is better rated at I.S.O 40

 

[benjiboy]

Do you know what battery model is a suitable substitute then or a link to this.
I went to a camera shop for it so was hoping it was a correct substitute.

It's a PX28 6 Volt Silver Oxide Battery

 

[flavio81]

Hi Vert,

You own my favorite 35mm camera, the wonderful Canon New F-1.

This kind of camera is almost impossible to find in my country. Please make sure you read the user manual thoroughly, it is available for free on the 'butkus' website. Such a high quality camera deserves that its manual is read entirely.

As for the meter, if you have a screen with centerweighted metering pattern (the screens are listed on the manual), if you don't have a good idea on when and how to use the exposure compensation dial, please download the manual for the Canon A-1. In it, there is an excellent, well explained, guide on how to use exposure compensation according to the scene (i.e. snow scenes, dark scenes, etc). I followed the advice on those pages and had well exposed pictures for years and years.

 

[John Koehrer]

Butkus asks for a small donation if you use his site. If you want, I suppose you can "borrow"
a copy

 

[cooltouch]

As somebody who is about to start shooting color slides...i am all ears.
Though, i have been told it is best to er on the side of underexposure.?

Well, yes, because slide film doesn't handle overexposure well at all. If you've blown (overexposed) a scene or portion of it, any information contained within that area is lost. On the other hand, an underexposed image, while perhaps not very usable on first glance, will likely still contain quite a bit of information, and often this information can be coaxed out of the image, especially with the use of some good software once the image has been digitized (gasp!).

But really, underexposure can also result in ruined photos. So it's best to just try to be as accurate as possible with your exposure and also to be selective about where in the scene you're applying your exxposure to. You can have dark areas and very bright areas in a scene, but you don't want either to overly affect your exposure. Me, I have found that my highest number of keepers comes when I look for that mid-tone, that 18% gray, within the image, and that's what I meter off of.

Benjiboy has a point, to a point. Reversal film is more sensitive to exposure corrections than print film, so blown highlights become obvious with smaller levels of exposure change than print film. So, yeah, one needs to be cognizant of this when shooting slides. But it's still all about exposure, and I submit that, as I mentioned in my above post, if you take a pic of a bride's gown outdoors using the Sunny f/16 Rule, the gown should be correctly exposed and the highlights shouldn't be blown.

 

[MattKing]

The advice to err on the side of (slight) under-exposure will make most sense to you if you project the slides.

 

[wiltw]

No, the more exposure you give reversal film the lighter the image on the slide, if you need to show detail in the bride's white gown on slide film you reduce exposure. It's reversal film, positive film for projection on a screen by transmitted light not negative to be printed.

If the incident meter says ISO 100 1/100 f/16 in bright sun, you expose both color neg and color slide to that reading! If you want a little bit better color saturation in the slide, yes you might give -0.33EV or -0.5EV to that reading. And if there are shadows that you want to not get muddy color from color neg, you might add +0.5EV or +0.66EV to that reading. But ISO 100 1/100 f/16 in bright sun is correct for both.

But when you are taking a reading off a white target with a reflected light meter, you have to ADD exposure to what the reflect light meter suggests, or you will get grayish white wedding gown from the reflected meter reading unadjusted.

Example: left shot was one-degree spotmetered aimed at the White square (far left, lowest row), whereas the right shot was incident metered

If the left frame was filled with white wedding gown, it would have been simularly underexposed because the reflected meter assumed the scene/target averaged to a mid-tone (it got fooled by a bright target). One has to ADD exposure to the left shot meter (reading of white gown) to arrive at the 'proper exposure' where white is white and not gray...On left shot 1/30 f/5.6 was suggested by meter, on right shot 1/30 f/2.8 was suggested by incident meter -- MORE exposure is needed than what was suggested on left. Else we get the 'gray white' seen in the left shot.

 

[CMoore]

The advice to err on the side of (slight) under-exposure will make most sense to you if you project the slides.

Hey Matt -
Yes, i bought a Kodak Carousel Projector in very good shape, and six ecxtra 80 Slot trays.

What is your opinion on the disagreement about exposing Negatives Vs Positives.?
I would think the same strategy would apply regardless.? Your meter will still want to turn a white dress to gray whether it is positive or negative. So some (a bit less with slides) overexposure (in relation to what the meter is saying) would be called for.?
Thanks

 

[benjiboy]

Hey Matt -
Yes, i bought a Kodak Carousel Projector in very good shape, and six ecxtra 80 Slot trays.

What is your opinion on the disagreement about exposing Negatives Vs Positives.?
I would think the same strategy would apply regardless.? Your meter will still want to turn a white dress to gray whether it is positive or negative. So some (a bit less with slides) overexposure (in relation to what the meter is saying) would be called for.?
Thanks

I've been shooting slides for more than forty years and can assure you that the the more exposure you give the film the lighter the results, so you have to think in reverse as far as exposure is concerned because it's a positive not a negative.

 

[CMoore]

Hey Ben -
I understand that the Positive/Slide will be lighter, but isn't that what you want to do in the case of the wedding dress.?
If you meter the dress (on a slide), the meter is still exposing for 18%.?
So the meter will be wanting less light, to gray down the dress, so you need More Exposure to lighten it up.?
Just not as much "over exposure" as you would with negative film.?