How did I scrap a 4 hours shoot.

Okay folks, I am not proud of this one butsince I would like to resolve the mystery, I will let you know what happened, if somebody can explain to me, it would be really appreciated.

Here is the equipment involved: A Canon EOS 2000, Canon EOS A2, Canon 28-90mm II USM and a let's say "general brand" circular polarizing filter. I am using all this equipment for a while, except for the filter, and never had any major problem.

Last wednesday, I had a shoot in a studio, with a nice model, I used my 28-90 all the time. First, I shooted a roll of fuji with my EOS 2000 then switch the lens on my EOS A2, I shooted 3 rolls of Kodak 100VS and I finished with a roll of Delta 100.

It was not an important shoot, just a way to spend the afternoon, but here is what happened: Back home I souped the Delta 100 only one half of the picture is visible, yesterday I picked up the negs of the fuji, the same problem, now I do not know if I want to have my 3 Kodak 100VS processed. I am affraid of the result. The mistake I can see is my filter, that I let on the lens for all the shoot.

But personally, I do not think a polarizing filter can totally mask haslf of the picture. What do you think ?

You didn't set the flash sync speed. If you have high-speed sync with dedicated flash units, it doesn't work with studio strobes.

It has nothing to do with the polarizer.

David's of course right, that's the only way to get half a picture, but don't give up hope.

Sometimes the shutter speed gets accidentally changed and it is possible your colour films are OK.

Ian

The order of film shot was: Fuji - Kodak(3) - Ilford. The first and last rolls were shot out of sync. I'm afraid the three others were also.

Mike

Flash sync... you put the finger in the wound... This is what happen when you do not do studio enough often... I am banging my head on the wall right now...

Patrick... you aren't the first, and definitely won't be the last to make this mistake. So stop banging your head against the wall. it'll just give you a good headache.

gene

I get nervous in studio shoots and almost always make some stupid mistake. I'll put a filter on, remember to open up the lens but then forget to close it back down when I take the filter off. I'll stop down for better DOF on some shots, adjust the shutter speed accordingly, and then forget to change back when I open up again.

I'm trying to teach myself to slow down in the studio, take my time and make sure everything is right with each shot, but it hasn't worked yet. I'm sure part of what makes a pro a pro is that they don't make stupid mistakes.

Also

You can also get 1/2 a picture when a shutter is sticking. I've had two Minolta X-570s develop the problem. Nothing to do with flash, happens randomly, in daylight, any scene.

Your problem wasn't this, certainly, but I just wanted to share an alternative cause which can make life miserable.

Ian Grant said:

David's of course right, that's the only way to get half a picture, but don't give up hope.

Sometimes the shutter speed gets accidentally changed and it is possible your colour films are OK.

Ian

Click to expand...

Don't bang so hard, Patrick, I can hear you from my neighbourhood!

On the bright side, it only takes one time for you to learn to double-check these things!

This is a tip from my grandfather.
Before he started a studio session, he took the back off his bronica and fired a couple of frames.
If you look through the back of the camera and through the lens, you will see a bright flash.

I do this on all of my cameras. The Nikon N90s is a bit of a chore. There is a little tab and i mean little. You have to hold it in in order to fire the shutter with the back open.
You can see the curtain move across the shutter opening. The same for my mamiya 645. But the crown graphic and mamiya 645 are much easier.

I also found out the hard way that certain cameras like my mamiya have a slow sync speed. 1/60". Lost a bunch of test rolls this way. DO'H.
When you do the test, you can see that only half of the frame gets exposed at anything higher than 1/60"

My most recent example of this sort of thing was at a reunion where I was short of space. Try as I might, I just couldn't get the whole group into the shot, unless I posed them at the bottom of a set of stairs, put the tripod on the landing at the top of the stairs, raised the tripod almost to the top of its extension and shot down on the sea of happy faces (myself included - I was part of the group, and my Mamiya M645 Pro does have a self timer after all).

It was night, and I was using two Metz flashes, for illumination.

The problem occurred because with the tripod at maximum extension I could just barely stretch enough to view and compose the shot through the prism finder, but not enough to see the shutter speed set.

Naturally, I didn't notice the fact that in setting up I had inadvertently knocked the shutter speed off the 1/60 synch setting, and equally naturally it went to 1/125 or faster, rather than 1/30 or slower.

There is an indication in the viewfinder of what speed is set, but it isn't particularly clear, so I don't usually refer to it, normally preferring instead to actually check the setting (which in this case I couldn't reach in order to see.

Almost all the whole group shots were ruined. After I finished the group shots, I put the camera down for a while in order to enjoy the party, and didn't notice the problem until it was too late to try to set up the shot again.

GRRRR!

Matt

P.S. on some of the more recent models of the Pro Tl, the shutter speed latches at the 1/60 synch speed. Now I wonder why they decided to do that:rolleyes:

we all make mistakes
and the only way to learn is
by making mistakes ...

Many reasons I love shutter leaf lenses.