Changing ASA on camera to gain extra stops ??

BADGER.BRAD said:

The Cosmic has no meter and aperture is auto set by setting the ASA so you only have exposure time as a variable.I will have to try using 400ASA in winter and 100 or 50 ASA in summer. As it has a fixed smallish lens I think ND filters would have to be held in place.I will just have to accept the limitations of the camera. It does take really nice photos in the right conditions at least equaling my SLRs. I have no idea what the point and press camera photos are like as have yet to process them. I have a suspicion that there is really no ASA setting on the Cosmic and it is just relying on the Aperture setting to expose photos correctly with exposure times for each light condition if that makes sense.

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When trying to fool an in camera meter you need to think differently. Backwards if you will.

Adjusting an automated exposure system from 200 to 400 is essentially telling it you are using more sensitive film (but you aren't), the meter will set the camera to give less exposure.

The adjustments you are suggesting will add exposure in the summer, over expose, and reduce exposure in winter, underexpose.

BADGER.BRAD. Do you have the manual? I have just googled Cosmic 35 and the information suggests that you have 5 shutter speeds:1/15th; 1/30th; 1/60th;1/125th and 1/25Oth. You have apertures from f4 to f16 and an ISO dial from 25 to 200. Unless the review I read is for a different Cosmic 35 camera then you have quite range of adjustments.

A 100 film in summer and a 400 in winter should give you the ability to choose the right shutter speed and aperture for most light conditions. If it were me I'd go for a 400 film all the year round.

pentaxuser

There is no meter it's all manual so using a more sensitive film in winter will give more exposure for the same time , in summer a less sensitive film less exposure for the same time. The only problem with this is UK light can vary alot from minute to minute so if I get a bright period in winter it will over expose even more or a dull period in summer it will under expose even more. My logic was to use a mid speed film (200 ASA) alter ASA on the camera to slightly under expose when the light was bright or expose a little more when the light was poor. Not really reverent to the Cosmic 35m due to it's lack of a separate ASA setting but I thought this maybe able to be used on my other manual cameras that do have separate settings for ASA/aperture and exposure time which include my earlier Cosmic 35. As People have said you cannot alter the setting once the film is in the camera it's a bit all irrelevant.

PS I have just referred back to a question I posted asking what happens in the camera when I change ASA/ISO setting which points out nothing happens in a manual camera ! It just serves as a reference.So even if I did change the setting nothing would happen anyway ! So that blows any theoretical idea I had out of the water.

Paul Manuell said:

With regards to using narrower apertures and/or faster shutter speeds. This might not be desirable by the photographer if he/she wants either shallow depth of field, therefore needing wider apertures, or movement in a photo, therefore needing slower shutter speeds.
I think the best solution for the OP ... carry a selection of ND filters to take care of 400 being too fast in bright light.

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You're completely correct, of course. My mistake. I hope the OP is taking notes!

BADGER.BRAD said:

So that blows any theoretical idea I had out of the water.

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Yep.

Paul Manuell said:

I didn't say you could, I said unlike digital you can't change the ISO mid film, ie., with digital you can change the ISO any time you want, but with film, once the film's in the camera and the ISO's set, that's the ISO you're stuck with for the whole film. lol

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don't put film into a digital camera; it may puke!

RalphLambrecht said:

don't put film into a digital camera; it may puke!

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You mean don't TRY to put film into a digital camera, surely?

RalphLambrecht said:

don't put film into a digital camera; it may puke!

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Show me a digital camera and I may puke.