Kinda urgent help needed with Kodachrome pls?

[dwdmguy]

Good day!
I have an assignment to be there at 0400 so I have to figure this out.

I've never shot Koda with Flash...

I have a new roll of Kodachrome in my F5 (My goto body) and have only used 3 exposures. I have to be using the F5 inside early tomorrow morning.

Do I use the rest with flash? Yikes, don't know how? Or take the loss and put in my 800z et. al.

Thanks kindly.
Tom

 

[DanielStone]

shoot what you know. Is there a reason to shoot Kodachrome in favor of color neg? If you're inside, I'd personally opt for the color neg, mostly for the latitude. But that's me.

-Dan

 

[dwdmguy]

Yes Dan, that's the way I'm leaning. No reason, I like color Neg (800z / 400h etc) but I wanted to try Koda and be frugal with it so it just turned out that way.
Thanks again.

 

[bdial]

No reason you can't use the Kodachrome with flash, but the combination probably isn't the best for an ad hoc learning experience.
Probably best to rewind the kodachrome manually, if the camera allows it, stop turning as soon as you feel it snag a bit as it gets to the end of the leader on the winding spool. Then mark the leader with how many exposures are on it and reload it when it's a more appropriate film.

Much depends on what sort of things you're doing with the flash, and what sort of flash, i.e. TTL, automatic, completely manual, etc.

Otherwise, using flash with Kodachrome is no different than using it with any other film. Since slide films have less latitude than neg films, shadow detail might be a problem, but it all depends on what you're doing.

 

[Alexander Ghaffari]

I like how Kodachrome 64 turns out with electronic flash. No issues with my Vivitar 283.

 

[Nicholas Lindan]

Kodachrome works wonderfully with electronic flash. The combination was the staple of indoor color photography for close on 50 years and it's color rendering has never been surpassed. Shoot it, be happy, don't worry.

 

[dwdmguy]

Ok guys, so let me please ask you this as I NEVER use flash.
I use a light meter so if my ambient is for example, at ISO 64, 250 at f/8, how do I compensate that with my lil' Nikon SB600?

Thank you so much for your quick help.
Tomorrow I'm out at 0400 to document the arrival of a Div. of our brave troops coming home while their families are there to great them, then follow them to the Mess Hall etc... This is one of the ways I give back to not only community but these are the guys/gals that allow me and my boy to do what ever and where ever we choose. My son has this freedom because of the wonderful men and women and I've done these before. (About twice a month) but never this early and never indoors.
Thank you again.

 

[dwdmguy]

Meant something like 1/4 at f/2.8 etc.......

 

[polyglot]

Your flash is automatic, right? Let it pick its own exposure. Given you have so little ambient, you will likely end up with flash-dominated images if your exposures are short enough (1/60) to be steady with people in them. An ISO400 film would be a much better choice here because the ambient would be only one stop down at f/2.8 1/60. At 64, the ambient won't even register unless you drag the shutter (long exposure plus flash).

An event is not the time to be learning how your equipment works.

 

[bdial]

Take the film out of the camera, mark the number of exposures on it.
Read through the quick guide for the flash
Mount the flash and work with it some without film in the camera. In TTL mode, it will use the camera's exposure system, as stated, you don't need to worry about ambiant light. Just stay within the flash's effective range, as a guess it's probably good for up to 15 feet or so.
Load the camera either with the Kodachrome or color neg and go for it.

 

[dwdmguy]

Poly, ya, I get that, "An event is not the time to be learning how your equipment works." this is a one of a kind service that is always shot during the day. This isn't a wedding, it's something were I give my time for something very, very good. geezzzz....

bdial, that's just what I'll do, thanks tons guys.

 

[flash26c]

No time to be trying new things for sure but if you must ----- You can use flash exposure bracketing; might not be bad to have a bit of insurance. Also, Slow Sync will bring out backround details using available light. Close-ups of people with no backround always look like deer in the headlights floating in space! Good luck

 

[bdial]

You're welcome. Break a leg.

 

[ajuk]

I hope the OP lives near Dwane's if he's on such a tight schedule.

 

[polyglot]

Sorry, slightly more snide than I intended. Take it more like "do some playing/testing with the flash before the event". If you don't have a DSLR, load up some cheap ISO100 negs, set camera ISO to 64 (the extra exposure won't bother the film but will give you an idea of the shutter speeds achievable), shoot a roll indoors and take it to a 1-hour lab.

Try flash in full-auto, direct and bounced. Try slow sync. Try slow sync and about -1 flash compensation.

You want to balance ambient and flash if you can, except where the colours will be horrible. Balancing is much much easier with faster film since it means you can get more ambient in with acceptable shutter speeds. So I'd recommend taking some 400NC or similar for this event.

A faster lens will also help you balance against very low ambient.

 

[dwdmguy]

Troops delayed until 1700.
Thank you again for all your help.