Reversal film exposure

[Nigel]

Yes--that is correct. Reversal film is siad to have poor latitude but I have shot some stuff that had a range of four full stops and it looked good--not great but good enough. I don't think it is enough of a problem to worry about. Good Luck

[Hanthx]

I've learned the hard way, and with the help of a few cool members of this forum, Ive learned that a percentage of light traveling into the cameras lenses is either absorbed by the lens (if it is quite large) or directed to the view finder. If you use your cameras built in light meter, make sure to open up the iris anywhere from a 1/2 of a stop to a full stop. My canon 814 is notorious for underexposing the film if it is the subject is not brightly lit. I actually open up 1 1/2 stops almost all the time. When I shoot with a camera that has a smaller lens (or with the xl built in) I don't occur that much of a problem, but still advise to open up atleast 1/3 a stop.
Hope this helps. Han

[Si Dunn]

I am shooting some Plus-X B&W reversal film while testing some old, cheap cameras with questionable light meters. Some of the film that seemed to be metered correctly has come back fairly dark--difficult to project through. I assume this means it was underexposed a bit, right? (I know that reversal film has very poor exposure latitude--I did b&w still photography for many years and am used to having more latitude to work with). If the images are thin, light and washed-out, this indicates overexposure. Is this correct? Thanks for any assistance.

[mattias]

han,

the internal light meter is always calibrated for light loss in the optics. it's when you use an external meter you need to compensate.

are you sure your variable shutter is fully opened? the built in light meter does not automatically compensate for changes in shutter angle. and are you using a high end projector and screen, in a really dark room? otherwise correctly exposed footage always looks underexposed if it lacks highlights.

/matt

[This message has been edited by mattias (edited October 12, 2000).]

[Si Dunn]

Thanks to each of you for your assistance.
Each of you brought up some good issues to
consider. I think I have narrowed the problem down to underexposure in automatic mode. To be sure, I plan to shoot a test roll of a static subject under steady lighting, and try switching from automatic to manual in some of the segments, and then do some bracketing of exposures.