F4s+MF-23

[dafy]

Hi guys, I posted this on the Hybrid forum, but that area doesn't get a lot of traffic and I have a chance at getting this (MF-23) at a steal, so...:

The only function I miss going back to the F4s is lack of bracketting. Apparently the MF-23 will allow me to bracket, but I'm a manual shooter, I set both the aperture and the shutter speed - will the MF-23 bracket with such a setup?

Hard to tell (or I'm blind) from this page:

http://www.mir.com.my/rb/photography...acks/index.htm

Do I need to be in an auto mode to bracket or can I start at say a defined 1/125 and bracket from there without touching the camera, ie cable release and MLU, with the back installed?

Merci,
Shawn

 

[Morituri]

Well, I've never used the MF-23 but I can't for the life of me imagine that it would be any different from any other bracketing setup from any other Nikon. You simply choose that you want to take say half a stop under and one normal shot. Then whatever you set on your camera manually or Aperture Priority or whatever, the camera will take half an exposure under and a normal shot. But you have to take press the shutter twice.

If you set it to take 1 stop under, normal and one stop over, it will do so, but again you need to take three pictures back to back.

I hope this helps, If I am wrong I am sure someone will correct me.

 

[dafy]

Thanks Morituri. I just found a manual for it online, and your advice sounds correct. I'll buy the unit and I'm sure it will do what I want

Shawn

 

[narsuitus]

Shawn,

I am curious!

If you are a manual mode shooter, why do you need the MF-23 back to help you bracket?

What are you shooting that prevents you from manually bracketing?

 

[Chris Livsey]

The MF-23 does add bulk to the back, obvious I know but consider it. I have never used the bracketing, got one for the more esoteric functions, focus trap etc. Can't see why with the intuitive controls you need the back for that. Could be better switching to P for one frame. the metering is very good. There is a massively complicated table in the handbook with the limitations on bracketing, boils down to not running out of speed or f stop to cover your range. If it's a steal try it and resell they do seem to have a demand.

 

[dafy]

Thanks guys, and happy holidays. The reason I wanted this to work, ie bracketing in manual, is because I'm currently trying to do hi-res images with film on a VR head, stitches. I'd like to add an extended dynamic range to that on very contrasty scenes, so the less I touch the camera between movements, the better.

However after settling on a film (ATP 1.1 plus SPUR) I've finally shot one roll through the camera, 30 images (10h x 3v shots). I've successfully stitched the middle row together (points to success in my mission, yay!) but the camera I bought has a very consistent, approx 2-3 stop, light leak for about 1/4 of the frame horizontally. Blah. So I'll have to get an estimate to have it fixed before I forge on with the technique.

I can of course do extended range but adjusting the shutter in manual. Just wanted to minimize camera movement when taking the same shot with different exposure.

Will have to wait tll the camera works to continue though. It was a 2 second exposure with mlu, so I'm going to run my other roll of film through it with the original back under normal conditions (no mlu and just snap some bright snow etc) to see if anything there is to blame or if it's something to do with the shutter. In all my film cameras over the years, I've never had a light leak...

Shawn

 

[dafy]

Hum, might not be a light leak. Just filled my Patterson tank with Rollei's recommended 250ml solution, it was clearly not enough. Took just over 300 (more like 325) ml to get water to the top of the spool. I think I found my 'light leak' which indeed is 2-3stop under-, not over -exposed lol. Oopsie!