First time shooting digital coming from a full analog process

[TheoLeakas2005]

Hey folks!
I've only ever owned two cameras, a Canon AE-1 and a Nikon F5. I've been hired by a family friend to take some senior portraits of their daughter, and I'm planning on renting a Nikon D850 for a day (this way I can use my 28-70mm G ED). It comes out to be much more than the cost of a couple rolls of film, but the speed and flexibility is worth it to me for this project. What things should I be aware of coming from film? Underexpose rather than overexpose? Shoot RAW? Does this produce a LOG image, and then the colors are entirely up to me in Lightroom via a LUT? Should I be using fill flash? How much exposure latitude does the sensor have? Dynamic range? Should I be using exposure compensation for normal scenes, (e.g I'll shoot Portra 160 at +0.3 for a little more shadow detail and slightly finer grain)? Are there ways I can accidentally damage the sensor that I should be aware of? All your help is appreciated! Thank you so much!

 

[Anon Ymous]

Shoot RAW?

This.

 

[Sirius Glass]

Ignoring digital photography from spacecraft, I too am a recent active digital photographer. I am using Nikon Z7ii. I have chosen to shoot both RAW and JPEG simultaneously, however I am doing post processing on the RAW files only with Light Room and PhotoShop Classic.

 

[MFstooges]

Never overexpose just like you shoot slides. I've never used newer camera but I've read the DR is pretty good especially full frame sensor. Activate the histogram so you can check if you capture all the details. You can work on it later from RAW file on post pro.

 

[bdial]

The camera has a control for exposure compensation. But it's probably not something you need to put in all the time like you might for your Portra. You probably don't want it using auto ISO.
Most of the time auto white balance will give you good color. The camera also has some controls for different styles of color rendition. Probably want to keep that neutral.
As Anon Ymous said, shoot raw, actually I usually have the camera set to do both RAW and jpg, that creates two files, the jpegs are good for quick evaluations, and Lightroom and PS will automatically use the RAW file. On mine I use two memory cards and write the jpeg to one and the Raw to the other (jpeg to the SD card and raw to the express card). The CF Express cards are expensive though, so you may just want to use an SD card, if cards aren't supplied with the rental.
I prefer single-point auto focus, but if you're doing environmental portraits with your subject moving you might want to use continuous. I don't remember what or if the D850 has for face tracking, on the mirrorless cameras it's pretty sophisticated.
Nothing in particular that you need to worry about with the sensor, you may want to check for dust by doing a few exposures at a small f/stop against of a featureless background, the sky works well, then look for dust blobs. Or else just assume you may have some spotting. Much depends on the rental supplier as to how clean the camera is, I would think. Cleaning the sensor is another matter, It's not rocket science, but if it needs it you may want to have someone experienced do it, if for no other reason than it's another overhead expense to get a kit with a blower, swabs, solution etc. If you aren't going to do a lot of lens swapping, you probably don't need to worry a lot about dust.

It probably doesn't need to be said, but take the camera out for some tryout sessions before you do the portraits. There are some good intros for the D850 on Youtube, and I think Ken Rockwell may have a blog on it that might be helpful.

The D850 is a nice camera to work with, the mirrorless cameras have stolen its thunder a bit, but its a good transition from film to digital, you may not realize it's not your F5

 

[Chan Tran]

Do you have an editing program like Photoshop? You are going to need it. You could do a free trial for 7 days but you do have to give them a form of payment and you have to be sure to cancel in time otherwise you will be charged. It's tough to learn how to use Photoshop in 7 days or less. Treat it like you shoot slide with the F5 you should be fine. You can fine tune the exposure in post processing. Chimping is also very useful.

 

[koraks]

for a day

Make that two days. One day to practice, some time in advance of the actual event. And then the advent itself as well. You don't want to miss out on all the action because you're fumbling with the many controls and menus you're not familiar with because they simply didn't exist in F5-times.

If you do insist on having your first meetup with a digital camera on the day of the job, then my strong suggestion would be to put everything on full automatic and shoot RAW. The odds that the camera will get it right based on its own 'intelligence' are pretty big.

 

[Chan Tran]

Make that two days. One day to practice, some time in advance of the actual event. And then the advent itself as well. You don't want to miss out on all the action because you're fumbling with the many controls and menus you're not familiar with because they simply didn't exist in F5-times.

If you do insist on having your first meetup with a digital camera on the day of the job, then my strong suggestion would be to put everything on full automatic and shoot RAW. The odds that the camera will get it right based on its own 'intelligence' are pretty big.

Can you rent the camera for a day? I see the 1 week rate is $125.

 

[koraks]

IDK, but a week sounds great.

 

[Paul Howell]

Not being a digital Nikon user I don't have Nikon experience. If you are using an external flash be sure to read the instruction for the D850 to make sure your flash is compatible with the 850. Some older flashes designed for analog cameras may damage newer digital cameras. I have read debate on the subject but as you will only have one digital camera no sense in taking the risk. As you not shooting an entire class you have to bracket exposure. I do shoot Pentax, Sigma and Sony digital and in most situations the A mode matches my handheld meters. And you have the back screen to get an idea of well the fill in flash is working. Last shoot a roll of film as well, always good to have a plan B.

 

[choiliefan]

Rent an 85mm 1.8 while you're at it.
You won't regret it.

 

[Chan Tran]

Not being a digital Nikon user I don't have Nikon experience. If you are using an external flash be sure to read the instruction for the D850 to make sure your flash is compatible with the 850. Some older flashes designed for analog cameras may damage newer digital cameras. I have read debate on the subject but as you will only have one digital camera no sense in taking the risk. As you not shooting an entire class you have to bracket exposure. I do shoot Pentax, Sigma and Sony digital and in most situations the A mode matches my handheld meters. And you have the back screen to get an idea of well the fill in flash is working. Last shoot a roll of film as well, always good to have a plan B.

Any flash that is safe with the F5 would be safe with the D850 but as far as safe is concerned. The F5 has different type of TTL flash than the D850.

 

[Pieter12]

Shoot RAW + JPEG. Make sure you have cards in both slots. Any settings you make in the shooting menu (saturation, sharpening, etc.) will only apply to the jpeg images, RAW is straight (well, some processing) from the sensor. A RAW file has about a 4-5 stop latitude, but blown out highlights cannot be recovered easily, light slide film. The D850 is a high-resolution camera and camera shake can be more apparent than on film or a lower-res digital camera. You might want to look at Ken Rockwell's page on the D850 for some suggested settings to get you started. You can only damage the sensor if you drop the camera or put it in mirror lock-up cleaning mode and actually touch it or try to clean it with inapporpiate materials. The sensor should be clean from the rental house, you can check by shooting an even-toned surface like a wall or sky, out of focus. Look for any spots on the image at 100%. If there is any dirt, it can usually be easily fixed in Photoshop.

 

[MattKing]

I'm with koraks about the suggestion that you practice with the camera first.
If it were me, I'd base what I was trying to do on the equipment I am most comfortable with - a film camera - and if I wanted to add a small number of near immediate results, add some digital.
And I'd use a quick mount tripod system, with matching mounts on the film and digital cameras, to enable quick switching between methods.

 

[Alan Edward Klein]

Rent the flash with the camera as a kit so you know it works. Get the memory cards at the rental place too. You'll need a charger and rent an extra battery. Shoot RAW plus jpeg in Auto mode no compensation. Practice at home especially with the flash so you don't over or under do the fill- flash part. Get a cone type attachment to direct, bounce, or subdue the flash. Are you sure your lens works with this camera? Try it at the rental place before you leave.

 

[Pieter12]

I forgot to mention that modern digital cameras can shoot pretty decent photos at insane ISOs, meaning flash is not always necessary, or at least less so than with film.

 

[Alan Edward Klein]

I forgot to mention that modern digital cameras can shoot pretty decent photos at insane ISOs, meaning flash is not always necessary, or at least less so than with film.

Eyes look dead without catchlights.

 

[bdial]

More or less, any flash that works with your F5 will be fine on the D850, though you may not have TTL functionality on the D850.
The oldest Nikon flashes that have TTL for film and digital are the SB-600 and SB-800. I don’t know about other manufacturers.
Otherwise, any flash that gives good control of its output will work, but you’ll spend more time looking at the display.

Regarding sync voltage, anything that doesn’t fry your F5 is ok. The D850 can tolerate 250 volts as can just about any other Nikon SLR. Hopefully, if you decide to use flash, it will be one you already have and are comfortable working with.

 

[Pieter12]

Eyes look dead without catchlights.

And fill flash can easily look artificial.

 

[markbau]

The main difference I have always found between film and digital is that with film we were always worrying about giving the film enough exposure to avoid having dead shadows, with digital its the reverse. Digital seems to have no problem with shadows but they blow out highlights easily, as a matter of course I always have exposure set to 2/3 under.

 

[TheoLeakas2005]

Ignoring digital photography from spacecraft

Okay, I'll bite. What????

 

[wiltw]

• Like slide film, be careful about overexposure of highlights.
• Shoot RAW...it permits you more latitude in adjusting shadow areas vs. highlight areas during postprocessing
• When you postprocess RAW, keep in mind that YOU have to apply Sharpening...the postprocessing program does not necessarily apply the same sharpening as the camera's automatic sharpening of its internally-generated preview JPG.
• Digital camera TTL is NOT the same as film camera TTL...often the on-camera flash provided by the camera manufacturer in the past 20 years can support both kinds of TTL
• The cautions about flash trigger Voltage damage applies to any camera with electronic trigger circuitry (rather than mechanical contacts to trigger flash), altough most digital cameras since 2004 or so have trigger circuits which can tolerate flash with up to 250v trigger circuit.

Shoot with a digital camera AND familiarize yourself with RAW conversion process BEFORE you shoot a job!

 

[MattKing]

Okay, I'll bite. What????

One is tempted to say that @Sirius Glass is actually an alien, who came from space and landed here, but the story is a bit less dramatic. He will likely share it.

 

[Sirius Glass]

Okay, I'll bite. What????

Early in my career I was heavily involved with designing and deploying electrooptical devices including telescopes on spacecraft. Some of my later work include designing and programming Voyager I & II Jupiter Approach movies which show the Jovian satellites orbiting Jupiter and the Red Spot movies. So much earlier than most of the rest of the people in photography I was using digital photography, hence the comment: Ignoring digital photography from spacecraft

 

[TheoLeakas2005]

When you postprocess RAW, keep in mind that YOU have to apply Sharpening...the postprocessing program does not necessarily apply the same sharpening as the camera's automatic sharpening of its internally-generated preview JPG.

This is really good to know, thank you! If I may indulge, is there a preferred method (unsharp vs regular -PS user) and optimal amount that's calculable in any real way? Or do you just eyeball it?