Ilford Sportsman film speeds ilford fp3 film speed

I've just purchased an Ilford Sportman late 1959 model from a charity shop,
It appears to be in almost perfect condition.

I really like how raw and basic the controls are for this camera, offering shutter speeds of B,25,50 and 200

The aperature range is from f2.8 to f16

in the instruction booklet, it states that a medium speed film can be used with a shutter speed of 50 and aperature of f11 to use the camera for snap shots.
The medium speed film they suggest is "fp3" which I found had an iso ranging from 64asa (in 1951) and 125asa(in 1960). This is confusing as I'm new to film photography.

Any suggestions?

There is the "Sunny 16" rule, which states that on a sunny day, the aperture should be set to f/16 and the shutter speed to the approximate inverse of the film speed.

So using a modern 100 ISO film in sunlight, you can use 1/200 at f/11 (as you have no 1/100 to use with f/16 and no f/22 to use with 1/50))

Even with a 64 ASA rated FP3, it seems that their "snapshots" aren't intended to be in full sunlight.
IIRC, I remember seeing old magazine ads for FP3 rated at 125, like FP4 (it was before my photographic time).

If you want to be sure, you can pick up a separate light meter very cheaply nowadays: It's a good learning tool which can help you get used to light situation which vary from "sunny"..

Hmm that is the last version of the basic model the previous version has a f/3.5 lens, yours has a Lantherium (higher refractive index) triplet.

The shutter speeds were not all that accurate, even new from the box.

FP3 was 125 ASA after they changed the speed 'standard' about 1960, previously it would have been 64 ASA, but because many more people were using exposure meters, for colour - they reduced the safety factor for mono film. The safety factor was for people who used look up tables like the f/16 rule.

I think it was £13-12-6 new, in old money, seems like yesterday.

Nel

I use mine and accentuate the apertures with copious use of red filter and use 400 asa film