Newbie Question. Nikon FG-20

Zeus · Jan 10, 2015

Hi, I recently acquired a Nikon FG-20, and I am completely new to film photography so this is a very dumb question. I put in a battery and the light meter works fine.
The other day I went shooting with aperture priority mode and in the location I was, the light meter read f22 with a shutter speed of 1/500. When I lowered the fstop number to f11 or f5.6, the light meter would go all the way to the top in the 'red zone' meaning the shot would be overexposed. Since 1/500 was a little on the over exposed side of the light meter (I want the light meter to be perfectly in the center at 1/125), am I able to switch to manual mode and take the shot with f22 and a shutter speed of 1/125 and still get the right exposure?

gone · Jan 10, 2015

Here you go. I like your forum name. Now all we need is Zulu, and we could have a good parade. The manual is a little fuzzy on the manual mode operation, so the second link explains it better.

http://www.manualslib.com/manual/554526/Nikon-Fg-20.html#manual

www.flickr.com/groups/fg20/discuss/72157622325000841/

bdial · Jan 10, 2015

No, if you're over exposed with 1/500 at f22, you would need to go to 1/1000 on the shutter speed.
Each f number halves or doubles the amount of light entering, the lens opening is smaller as the numbers increase.
Each shutter speed halves or doubles the time. Because of those relationships it's common to refer to each change as "a stop" as in "f stop". At a 1/125 shutter speed, you are allowing two stops more light to the film than you are at 1/500.
Similarly, f/11 is two stops more light than f/22

Les Sarile · Jan 10, 2015

At f22 the recommended shutter speed is 1/500. Keeping the same aperture and dropping the shutter to 1/125 would therefore overexpose the scene by 2 stops. Meaning it will be brighter. If the film type is a negative film like Kodak Portrait 400 then 2 stops overexposure will hardly matter and you can still get perfectly usable results. If the film is a slide like Fuji Velvia 100 then the scene may be too bright to get usable results. This of course will depend on what you consider usable.

Sirius Glass · Jan 10, 2015

Welcome to APUG
If you want to use f/16 the shutter speed would be 1/1000. If you want to use f/32 the shutter speed would be 1/250, but I doubt that the lens has f/32.
Stick around APUG and learn more about using your camera.

Vilk · Jan 10, 2015

Zeus said:
I want the light meter to be perfectly in the center at 1/125

why?

Sirius Glass · Jan 10, 2015

Zeus said:
I want the light meter to be perfectly in the center at 1/125

That would require f/48. Which again is probably not a choice on your lens.

Chan Tran · Jan 10, 2015

Sirius Glass said:
That would require f/48. Which again is probably not a choice on your lens.

You didn't say what kind of film speed you use but it seems that the meter is wrong. For say a film speed of ISO400 an exposure of 1/500 and f/22 the subject must be very bright, brighter than a snow day with full sun at noon.

Zeus · Jan 13, 2015

Ok I am understanding that for f16 I would need a shutter speed of 1000. But how come when I move the aperture to f16 in aperture priority mode, the light meter reads that the shot will be overexposed (and thus enable to take the shot). But with f22, the light meter is properly exposed at f500. So confused in regards to the Nikon FG-20's light metering.
Also Im using 400 iso film.

trythis · Jan 13, 2015

A?e you sure the iso dial is at 400? It sounds like you are taking a reading off a light bulb at that exposure. Do you have another camera you can compare readings from?

Zeus · Jan 13, 2015

Yes I am sure. Mind you, these readings were taken on a very sunny day pointed at the bay where the sunlight was reflecting off the water, causing it to be very bright.

Newbie Question. Nikon FG-20

Privacy & Transparency

Privacy & Transparency