Shoot higher ISO without adjusting camera

Frostice100 · Jan 24, 2018

Hi, my camera can only go up to 400 ISO.
Can i push a 400 ISO film up to 800 for example without setting my camera at the right ISO and then develop it in the darkroom (develop it normally with one stop).
Thanks

Troy Grilli · Jan 24, 2018

If you just want to shoot 800ISO film regularly but the internal meter only goes up to 400ISO, you can simply "underexpose" by one stop according to the meter's indicated reading. Then just develop normally.

Frostice100 · Jan 24, 2018

Troy Grilli said:
If you just want to shoot 800ISO film regularly but the internal meter only goes up to 400ISO, you can simply "underexpose" by one stop according to the meter's indicated reading. Then just develop normally.

Won't underexposing at 400 ISO make it 200 ISO,?
Well, i am rather new so i don't understand how that works

Troy Grilli · Jan 24, 2018

No, because 800 film is one stop more sensitive, it needs one stop less light to accomplish the same exposure. Make sense?

If your meter was, for some reason, stuck at 400 ISO and you had 200 ISO film loaded, you would need twice as much light than what is indicated because the 200 ISO film is half as sensitive as 400 ISO Film. So you would give it one stop more light than what was indicated by the meter set to 400.

Do some reading on the "exposure triangle" to see this worded more eloquently than I am capable of! Most importantly, have fun!

pentaxuser · Jan 24, 2018

Frostice100 said:
Won't underexposing at 400 ISO make it 200 ISO,?
Well, i am rather new so i don't understand how that works

No, if you underexpose you use half the exposure that the meter/film says should be used so if it is a 400 film then instead of 1/400th you expose at 1/800th which would be the correct exposure if the film was double the speed, namely 800 instead of 400 Twice the shutter speed means that the shutter is only open for half the time so the bigger the number on the shutter speed dial the less the exposure time so that is underexposure. If you use a film speed of 200 but the film is 400 then this is overexposing as the shutter speed to use my example above is 1/200th which is twice as long an exposure than what the film speed says it should be, namely 1/400th.

I hope this clarifies matters

pentaxuser

E. von Hoegh · Jan 24, 2018

Troy Grilli said:
If you just want to shoot 800ISO film regularly but the internal meter only goes up to 400ISO, you can simply "underexpose" by one stop according to the meter's indicated reading. Then just develop normally.

This presumes the OP has control over the aperture and shutter speed.
Frostice, what camera are you using?

R.Gould · Jan 24, 2018

Simple answer, if your camera meters at 400 and, say the reading is 125 at 11 then either set the shutter speed to 120 or set the aperture to 16 you are then underexposing by one stop so you are using your 400 film at 800, to use at 1600 iso the simply set either the shutter speed to 500 or the aperture to 22, thus underexposing by 2 stops to get your 1600 I do something similer with black and white film and filterr, an orange filter need 2 stops extra light so, as all of the cameras I use do not have a meter built in I set my exposure meter to 100 iso which gives me 2 stops extra light hope this helps
Richard

Wallendo · Jan 24, 2018

Look to see if your camera has an exposure compensation knob of some sort. If it does, simply set this to -1 and set ISO to 400.
If your camera allows you to set aperture and shutter speed then do all exposures manually either by using a meter, phone app, or the Sunny 16 rule. In this case is doesn't matter at which ISO the camera is set.
If your camera automaticallys set the exposure with no manual over-ride and doesn't allow exposure compensation, then you will need to shoot your film at box speed.

Frostice100 · Jan 25, 2018

Troy Grilli said:
No, because 800 film is one stop more sensitive, it needs one stop less light to accomplish the same exposure. Make sense?

If your meter was, for some reason, stuck at 400 ISO and you had 200 ISO film loaded, you would need twice as much light than what is indicated because the 200 ISO film is half as sensitive as 400 ISO Film. So you would give it one stop more light than what was indicated by the meter set to 400.

Do some reading on the "exposure triangle" to see this worded more eloquently than I am capable of! Most importantly, have fun!

I think i understand what you said.So if i have 400 ISO in the meter to 'push' it to 1600 i would have to underexpose by 2 stops?right?
I would need two times less light
Also my camera's shutter speed goes up to 1/500s
I usually shoot at 1/500s shutter speed.So i just have to shoot at 1/125s

removed account4 · Jan 25, 2018

Frostice100 said:
I usually shoot at 1/500s shutter speed.So i just have to shoot at 1/125s

no, that will give you 2x MORE light

if you want 2x less ( 1/4th the light ) you would put your dial on 1/2000th S from 1/500 ...
the shutter speeds .. the larger the # the less light, just like f-stops

E. von Hoegh · Jan 25, 2018

Frostice100 said:
I think i understand what you said.So if i have 400 ISO in the meter to 'push' it to 1600 i would have to underexpose by 2 stops?right?
I would need two times less light
Also my camera's shutter speed goes up to 1/500s
I usually shoot at 1/500s shutter speed.So i just have to shoot at 1/125s

NO. You need to learn basic exposure principles. If the meter indicates 1/500 @ f:11 with 400 iso, two stops less exposure is 1/500 @ f:22. Two stops underexposure is one-fourth the amount of light.

Ces1um · Jan 25, 2018

Frostice100 said:
I
Also my camera's shutter speed goes up to 1/500s
I usually shoot at 1/500s shutter speed.So i just have to shoot at 1/125s

No- setting your camera's shutter speed to a slower shutter speed allows more light in - thereby overexposing your shot. you need to let less light in, so for your 800 iso film being metered at 400 iso, you would need to take your normal 1/500 and turn it to 1/1000 to let one less stop of light in. Basically what you need to do is put your 800 iso film in, set your camera to the closest iso it can get to (which you said is 400) and look at your meter and underexpose it one stop. That means using a faster shutter speed or a smaller aperture (a higher numerically number aperture). Your camera should have a meter though so you just set it until it says "-1" if it has led's, or the needle is lower or whatever. what camera are you using?

I suppose really you could just put it in and shoot it as is too. One stop of overexposure isn't going to result in a completely ruined photo. Film is pretty forgiving, especially black and white.

OlyMan · Jan 25, 2018

Would be useful if you told us what camera you use so we can give you better advice.
You've said your camera tops out at 1/500th so unfortunately you can't follow the advice to increase the shutter speed to 1/1000th or 1/2000th, you would need to close the aperture by a stop (or two stops) instead.

E. von Hoegh · Jan 25, 2018

OlyMan said:
Would be useful if you told us what camera you use so we can give you better advice.
You've said your camera tops out at 1/500th so unfortunately you can't follow the advice to increase the shutter speed to 1/1000th or 1/2000th, you would need to close the aperture by a stop (or two stops) instead.

The OP has been asked twice before you, "what camera". He/she does not understand basic exposure principles, what ISO means, etc.. It's one thing to be inexperienced, another to be clueless and lazy.

edit to defeat autocorrect

blockend · Jan 25, 2018

Exposure is reciprocal, that means if you add a stop of exposure somewhere, you have to take it from somewhere else. And vice versa. However film speed (ISO, ASA, DIN, whatever) is not absolute, it's a recommendation. For instance you could hugely under-expose your film (shoot everything at 1/1000 at f16) and if you equally hugely over develop your film, you'll probably get an image. Not optimal, but useable. The ability of individual films to offer this flexibility is known as their latitude. Generally speaking fast films (400 ISO and above) have good exposure latitude, slower films less so, although it isn't the same for every film.

Depending how automatic (or not) your camera is, compensating for the effect you want is easy, or difficult. The hardest would be a fixed aperture, fixed shutter speed point and shoot camera. Experience is the only guide to how much or how little development your film would need, relative to film speed and lighting conditions. Cameras with adjustments are easier, and vary depending whether they have match needle metering, LED indicators, or LCD readouts with + or - exposure settings. If it's an auto model, the simplest thing is to call your 400 ISO film 200 (pulling one stop) or 800 (pushing one stop). Either way you or the lab may have to compensate. The more you push or pull film, the more you have to compensate in development. YouTube has lots of videos on camera exposure.

Chan Tran · Jan 25, 2018

I apology ahead of time if the OP think my post is not nice. Why would the OP want to push the film while he/she thinks pushing it means lower the shutter speed? What is there to gain? Why would the OP want to push film before understanding basic exposure? I am curious.

Ces1um · Jan 25, 2018

Chan Tran said:
I apology ahead of time if the OP think my post is not nice. Why would the OP wanted to push the film while he/she thinks pushing it means lower the shutter speed? What is there to gain? Why would the OP wanted to push film before understanding basic exposure? I am curious.

I think the op is just new at photography and misspoke.

Frostice100 · Jan 25, 2018

You're right. 1/125 gives more light, i just answered quickly because i had to go.
I am using a zenith 12xp camera.

E. von Hoegh · Jan 25, 2018

Frostice100 said:
You're right. 1/125 gives more light, i just answered quickly because i had to go.
I am using a zenith 12xp camera.

The meter on the camera you have will not go above 500 ISO, according to the one source I looked at.
If you want to meter at 800 ISO or above, you will need a handheld exposure meter. With a top shutter speed of 1/500 second and a minimum aperture of f:16, you will be overexposing the film in daylight; that is you will be limited to morning / evening outdoors, but you will be able to use the camera indoors in existing light.
You also need to learn what ISO means, and what shutter speeds and aperture mean, your previous posts indicate that you are not at all informed on the very basic principles of exposure and developing.

Frostice100 · Jan 25, 2018

It seems there is a lot of things i need to read. Well i learnt something anyhow
Thank you all for your patience and time.

Mainecoonmaniac · Jan 25, 2018

Do you have a manual setting? You can stop down one stop or set the shutter speed 2x what the meter indicates.

MattKing · Jan 25, 2018

If you are using 800 ISO negative film, just set your meter to 500 and the settings will be close enough. The difference is less than one full stop, it means a slight amount of extra exposure, and negative film tolerates that well.
You could adjust the settings to reduce the exposure by 2/3 of a stop, but given your level of experience, it probably makes sense just to follow the meter's recommendations.
Slide film is different, but as there isn't any 800 ISO slide film around any more, why worry about that.
In case you are wondering, for most cameras manual shutter speeds can't be effectively set between the markings, but aperture (f/stop) settings can. Don't worry about getting it to 2/3 exactly - just somewhere near is fine.
And for clarity, both shutter speeds and f/stops are actually fractions - "125" means 1/125 and "f/8" sort of means 1/8 - so in each case as the numbers go up, the amount of exposure decreases. For most modern cameras, in most circumstances, each adjacent number is one stop away from the next, meaning that it provides either one-half or twice the exposure.

blockend · Jan 25, 2018

Frostice100 said:
It seems there is a lot of things i need to read. Well i learnt something anyhow
Thank you all for your patience and time.

If you have a smart phone, there are free light meter apps available. As well as being damned useful if your camera lacks a meter or its light meter has become untrustworthy with age, they are also a great teaching aid as the sliders for film speed, shutter speed and aperture move to compensate as you change settings.

Dan Fromm · Jan 25, 2018

Frostice, if you want to go on with film -- please do, don't be discouraged -- you'll make better progress if you buy and study a basic book on photography than by asking questions on forum like this one and getting somewhat random and nearly always very short answers. When I was younger and less grumpy and more willing to help people I used to give deserving beginners copies of A. A. Blaker's book Field Photography. Treat yourself to a copy. You can buy it from sellers on abebooks.com, alibris.com, amazon.com, bn.com, ... Rarely very expensive.

Shoot higher ISO without adjusting camera

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