Rolleicord troubles...

Chris Nielsen · Feb 9, 2009

Hi all

Shot a classic car show recently with my Rolleicord (mode III I believe). I used a hand held meter (Sekonic L-208) in my normal way which usually produces very consistent results, but a good number of the resulting images look at least a stop underexposed. I only shot print film but it was pretty obvious the exposure was all over the show. Some of the frames are usable but not many. Thinking back, the day was very bright and a lot the cars were under trees in deep shadow so I used reflective mode on my meter and metered close to those shadowed cars so the meter only saw the shadow. The readings looked reasonable at the time but the negs are pretty bad.

Question is, should I be blaming user error or do we think maybe the speeds are off on the camera?? I bought it used a couple years ago and I'd be surprised if it has ever had a CLA - I certainly haven't taken it for one seeing as it was a cheap camera to start with.

Thanks all...

Chris

jolefler · Feb 9, 2009

Hi Chris!

Reflective metering of general scenes can be very tricky. The meter is designed to suggest a value off an 18% grey card. If you meter lighter subjects, it'll suggest an lesser exposure than needed. You can substitute a grassy portion of the area to be captured, or the palm of your hand instead of a grey card and be reasonably accurate.

As for a CLA, before you do, listen carefully to the speeds as you cycle the camera through it's shutter speed range. If they sound like they increase or decrease linearly, you may be OK. Also make sure the iris opens and closes as it it should.

The Rolleicord is anything but a cheap camera! It's worth a CLA if needed, but for maximum fun try it without if the speeds and iris look good.

Jo

archphoto · Feb 9, 2009

Sorry, Chris, you can blame yourself. (or the meter if you wish....)

A leaf-shutter that needs a CLA goes slower, thus overexposing, not faster and underexposing.
As Jolefler mentioned run through the shutterspeeds by ear and check the iris (aperture)

Peter

Chris Nielsen · Feb 9, 2009

Yeah, I was thinking about speeds being off after I posted the message and it hit me that it would give me overexposure not under. D'oh!!

Time to practise with the meter methinks

Ronald Butler · Feb 9, 2009

Could you have the wrong film speed programed into your exposure meter?

Chris Nielsen · Feb 9, 2009

Ronald Butler said:
Could you have the wrong film speed programed into your exposure meter?

LOL, anything's possible with me!!!

Nicholas Lindan · Feb 9, 2009

You might want to try using the incident feature on your meter. Metering shiny cars parked under trees on a sunny day is a bit of a nightmare - specular reflections can throw the metering off resulting, as you have found, in underexposure.

Chris Nielsen · Feb 9, 2009

Hmmm, I thought I shouldn't use the incident mode because of all the bright light floating round behind me, but I suppose I should really have just stuck my meter right next to one of the cars... Thanks for the hint, now I'll know for next time!!!!

Steve Smith · Feb 10, 2009

It's not foolproof but I generally find that if these shutters work correctly and smoothly on the one second setting then all the faster speeds are usually correct too.

Steve.

archphoto · Feb 10, 2009

You are right Steve, that's the time when I pick-up my tools and give the shutter a CLA: when the 1 second is off.
> I do it my self for the past 30 years, have my own shutterspeed tester and so on.

Peter

Chris Nielsen · Feb 10, 2009

Yeah, I think we've established it's the fault of the loose nut behind the wheel. Sadly..

Rolleicord troubles...

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