What stop watch are you using?

Andrew O'Neill

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Yes, counting metronome beats...if there are many... one can lose count, especially me as my mind will start to drift thinking about stuff...so to keep track of minutes, I have at times scratched marks in the ground indicating minutes...If exposures are longer than 5 minutes, I'll use the stopwatch mode. When I've forgotten my stopwatch at home, my phone's timer will suffice. I love my little phone, as I can take a shot of the scene, make notes, and have film data stored in it (filter factors, reciprocity, etc). Beats fumbling around with paper...which I have with me just incase the phone goes kaput.
 

Doremus Scudder

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Processing film: Zone VI compensating developing timer
Exposing paper in the darkroom: Metronome function of my GraLab 450 timers
Processing photo paper in the darkroom: Zone VI compensating developing timer
For long exposures of film in the field (which is what I think this thread is about): For exposures up to a minute or so, I just count in my head. I get a nice march tempo going (120bpm like Sousa marches) and count measures (I'm a trained musician, so counting measures is second nature now). I can count up to five minutes or even longer if needed, but when the exposures get up into the many minutes category, I'll use the countdown timer function on my phone because it sounds an alarm when time is up. That way I can do other things during the exposure time. Example: when photographing in slot canyons, my exposures were often in the 20-40 minute range (even longer at times). I'd set up, begin the exposure and then go scouting for other image possibilities until the timer went off. Then I'd return to the camera, end the exposure (the few seconds of walking back to the camera is negligible with a long exposure), end the exposure and carry my camera to the location I chose while the exposure was being made.

Best,

Doremus
 

eli griggs

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My cellphone or a chronograph Seiko or an old Timex, with either digital or analog dial.

Generally, I find a watch is nice but the choices of phones or, perhaps an Apple Watch serve well and are almost always available (if you, in fact, actually have an Apple Watch).
 

snusmumriken

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My enlarger timer is a Soviet-era clockwork device, bought in Czechoslovakia in the 1980s to get rid of the money foreign visitors were obliged to exchange (I left the rest for the hotel staff). To time chemical processes, I use a mechanical Smiths clock from the 1950s. Neither seems likely to fail any time soon. I like the sound of clockwork.
 

Sirius Glass

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I assumed from the start that the OP was talking about timed exposures in the field and not darkroom work.
 

warden

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I'm with the mechanical timer crowd, for in-the-field and darkroom. I use a wristwatch with a bi-directional rotating timer bezel and it suits me. But my dad has a vintage stopwatch from his youth that I keep meaning to "borrow".
 

Sirius Glass

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StevieB said:
Same here but I say pieces of cheese.
Click to expand...

What type? Hard cheeses or soft cheeses? Domestic, French, Italian, Greek, ... please a little help here.
 

Mick Fagan

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I have a quite old Seiko stopwatch I bought from a school fete, it turns out it was one of a few brought back from the 1964 Tokyo Olympics. Seiko were the official timers for those Olympic games and I believe that somewhere Seiko were selling their stopwatches for people to sit in the grandstands and do their own timing.
 

PerTulip

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warden said:
... I use a wristwatch with a bi-directional rotating timer bezel and it suits me. ..
Click to expand...

I have an automatic wristwatch with bi-directional bezel and stopwatch feature. Nice to work with. If I am not wearing it, I just use the smartphone.
 

bags27

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Can an iphone stopwatch count backwards? I need to set a watch to the final time and work backwards, otherwise I might forget the duration.
 

bdial

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@snusmumriken, I love the look of those clockwork Smiths timers.

As for what I use, for exposures I usually count in my head using the "1001..." method. If I think of it, and have it with me, I might use my phone.
In the darkroom, for processing I have a large Gralab, and a Time-O-Lite in different areas, plus a StopClock pro for the enlarger.
 

loccdor

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RalphLambrecht

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5150Bronco said:
I am wondering what people are using for a stop watch for exposure or anything else.

I have looked into Minerva and Aristo Apollo.

Thoughts? Examples or links would be helpful too.

Thanks!
Click to expand...

I didn't want to depend on yet another battery and consequently searched high and low for a mechanical stopwatch; ended up with a Hanhart; paid a lot, but had it already for 30 years and it's still going strong
 

Sanug

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In my analogue darkroom I like to use for the paper development time an analogue stop watch. Unfortunately, this beautiful big Kienzle I bought from ebay is defective and I did not find a shop to fix it.



But I bought a small stop watch from former GDR which is working fine.

 

eli griggs

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Lol
RalphLambrecht said:
I use a darkroom timer for darkroom exposures and processing times. For camera exposures above 1s, I use a mechanical stop watch from hahnhart because, I want to be battery independent for that.
Click to expand...


I should also add that I have a number of old black faced darkroom timers and the smaller Time o'Lights, plus a digital enlarger timer.

I also have a multi unit Time 'o Light that has at least five units built and an analog power reostate (?) for, in my case, lowering or raising the speed of my home built magnetic mixer or could be used for light level control.

It was made by a photographer who had a well known portrait studio in Charlotte, NC at our Cotswall shopping center and I got it from his daughter who also sold me my Letiz Valloy II and Omega E enlarger, etc.

Because it's so heavy, I've not tried to sell it, ship it, so it continues to occupy space in my darkroom closet.
 
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Alan Edward Klein

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bernard_L

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Film processing: Heuer stopwatch pictured below.
Paper processing: pair of Ikea kitchen timers-beepers dev + fix
Enlarger: Seiko electronic metronome
Camera exposure beyond 1s: count in my head, helped by prior training with the metronome.
 
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