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35mm sugestions.

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  #1  
Old 29-06-10, 02:14
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Default 35mm sugestions.

Hi all.
I'm due to go to Lanzarote on the 16th of July, to see my mum and other family, and have a nice week in there. The thing is I'm taking my 35 mm camera, a Minolta Dynax 500si, with a Sigma Zoom 28-80 55 mm diameter lens. Nothing really special.
I was thinking about film and filters, and see if any of you knows what to do in my situation. I can do with some filters, and I found some here, but they look to good to be true. I suppose that for that prize I could just try them out.
Anyway, I'm expecting to have very bright sunny days, and I'll be doing a lot of panoramic, and probably some night shots.
Right now I got a bunch of films from Boots that are 200 ISO, and I think that they are pretty good for the prize, but I'm quite lost about the ISO thingy. I don't know if I should go for higher ISO or just stay low. I'm thinking about panoramic, so any ideas are welcome, even if you think that there is something that I would already know, chances are I don't know, because I'm new to this.
Should I have a checklist? Also, I'm expecting a lot of earthy colors, and black laba, so I thought I could do with something like that too. Or a filter would be more practical?
Thanks.
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  #2  
Old 29-06-10, 10:20
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Hi there, going back to my film days, I used to use low ISO, fine grain for Landscape - 50 or 100. Night shots were High ISO - 400 plus. A Polarizing filter will help bring out colours and a graduated Neutral Density may also help Landscapes if you have a great contrast between, foreground and sky.
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  #3  
Old 29-06-10, 11:32
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For going to the Med in summer stick to 100 ISO film. Basically with 100 ISO you will have to use one aperture stop over what you would have for 200 ISO, or half the shutter speed.

The best film for your situation is Kodak Ektar 100, it's quite a new film with saturated colours (i.e strong colour). The reds are particularly strong with that film. I think the Lomo red film would just give you an unnatural and gimmicky effect.

Because of the saturated red Ektar is not the most ideal film for photographing people, it makes skin look too red. For people a more natural colour film like the Superia 200 at Boots will do fine. Fuji Reala 100 is also good for providing natural colour, as is Portra.

You may want to consider slide film, but to view you'll either have to a) use a projector b) scan it or c) pay a lab large amounts of money to print it. Slides tend to give very vivid colour.

If you want to take shots at night without a flash I'm afraid you simply can't use the same film as for daylight shots. You'd need at least ISO 400, and given that you have a slow zoom lens ISO 800 or even 1600 would be more ideal. Fujicolour Pro 400H or 800Z spring to mind here.

You may want to try Black&white, there are excellent high-speed films from Kodak and Ilford which give an excellent heavy grain effect. Ilford Delta 3200 ISO and Kodak Tmax 3200 would be ideal. Since they are actually 1000 ISO films designed to be pushed you could expose them at 1600 ISO (remember to tell the lab that).

Filters: this is very much a personal choice here. As Andy said a Polariser will accentuate colours and cut through reflections in water - I've gone without one in sunny conditions. An ND filter will let you use high ISO film in bright light - it uniformly decreases the exposure. There are different grades of ND filter. Bear in mind that while this seems an attractive solution high ISO film are considerably grainier than lower ISOs like Ektar.

Coloured filters will give you more of that specific colour in the photo. Up to you to decide what you like. Since you have an SLR what you see in the viewfinder is very much what you get on the print.
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Old 29-06-10, 19:26
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Quote:
Originally Posted by juanodaxis View Post
Hi all.
I'm due to go to Lanzarote on the 16th of July, to see my mum and other family, and have a nice week in there. The thing is I'm taking my 35 mm camera, a Minolta Dynax 500si, with a Sigma Zoom 28-80 55 mm diameter lens. Nothing really special.
I was thinking about film and filters, and see if any of you knows what to do in my situation. I can do with some filters, and I found some here, but they look to good to be true. I suppose that for that prize I could just try them out.
Anyway, I'm expecting to have very bright sunny days, and I'll be doing a lot of panoramic, and probably some night shots.
Right now I got a bunch of films from Boots that are 200 ISO, and I think that they are pretty good for the prize, but I'm quite lost about the ISO thingy. I don't know if I should go for higher ISO or just stay low. I'm thinking about panoramic, so any ideas are welcome, even if you think that there is something that I would already know, chances are I don't know, because I'm new to this.
Should I have a checklist? Also, I'm expecting a lot of earthy colors, and black laba, so I thought I could do with something like that too. Or a filter would be more practical?
Thanks.
Hi ,You only live in Newport SW, if you would like a trip to the Forest of Dean I can give you loads of filters Cokin or circular for film, left over from the days of my playing with 35mm film.
No charge just have what you want for free and you may even get a coffee as well..
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  #5  
Old 29-06-10, 21:38
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Alex mentioned coloured filters. I would have thought the main use for these would be with B&W film. I used to use a green or yellow/green filter for general purpose, an orange filter to bring out any clouds in a blue sky and to darken the sky quite dramatically plus a red one for very dramatic skies. Most useful for colour film as has already been mentioned would be a circular polariser (nothing to do with the physical shape of the filter but the structure of the polarizing element) and a couple of ND filters of varying strengths.
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Old 29-06-10, 23:33
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Bloody hell, I wasn't expecting such a response. Thanks all.
This is really helping, making me see things on a different perspective.
Film with different ISO may not be a problem, I may be able to get my hands on another camera, I don't know yet.
I just had a look at Kodak Ektar 100 films, and they are more expensive, but is not something that I'll be doing often, so I'll spoil my self, also I'll try B&W, and High ISO for night shots.
Filters, yep, good thing I got an SLR, that will make me decide there and then, or at list I hope so, but I certainly never though of using them with B&W. I'll certainly try that out. And the polarizing filter I seen some examples of "with and without" and I think that would be a big improvement.
@ Red Dog, I would love too, we'll talk about it. Thanks a lot.
Thanks all. Kip them coming.
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  #7  
Old 30-06-10, 12:00
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Just remember there are no 'better' or 'worse' films, only different films. Indeed, the choice of film is an artistic decision in itself: do you want coarse grain, fine grain, saturated colour, natural colour, exaggerated reds... I would only recommend Ektar 100 because it is ideal for this situation: fine grain, good colour and low ISO.

With B&W the rule to remember is that a coloured filter will make that colour appear whiter on the print and make the opposite colour darker. So red will make reds look lighter and blues look darker. Yellow and orange give a similar effect to the sky but more subdued. Yellow is a general walk-around filter for B&W because B&W films tend to be a little oversensitive to the blue area of the spectrum - a yellow filter compensates for this nicely. Green filters will make vegetation look lighter. Basically you can get really carried away if you want, but for B&W I'd stick to yellow and maybe red for the time being.
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Old 05-07-10, 21:50
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I think I'll be taking another camera for black and white. But this is a really old camera and I'm not sure if it will be up to the job. No because of the camera, but because the lens is only a standard 35~70 mm, all manual, without electronics. The camera is a Minolta X700 IIF. Shocking, hu? I can't see why I wouldn't get some decent pictures using this camera for B&W. I would love to have a wide angle and whatever, but I'm just learning, so lets experiment.
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Old 05-07-10, 21:56
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No, Juan, that isn't shocking. I have been using all-manual lenses and all-manual cameras for years. It really isn't as hard as it sounds. Turn the focus ring until everything is in focus, set aperture, shoot. In fact these manual cameras are ideal for learning because they involve the photographer a lot more than with an all-electronic gadget.

35-70 is a perfectly adequate zoom range. For B&W use Delta 3200 for high-speed night shots. If you wish to use that film in daylight an ND filter will be very useful to lower the light coming in. However your shots with that film will be very grainy...up to you to use that to aesthetic effect.
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Old 06-07-10, 19:01
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I found some examples of pictures taken using Delta 3200, and I can see what you mean by very grainy. I was actually looking for that effect on B&W, so that's a bonus.
Here is an example. Is a big picture...
About manual lenses and cameras. I wasn't thinking about them being difficult, just about how old they are, but like I said before somewhere, I like vinyl and I like classic cars, and I like acoustic music... I find manual really appealing.
EDIT: I just noticed the Kodak T-MAX P 3200. I think the end result is very similar to Delta 3200, but is half the prize. Maybe I should try both.
Thanks Alex

Last edited by juanodaxis; 06-07-10 at 19:18.
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