Discovery

[HighPlainsDox]

Today, I discovered that I can adjust shutter speed indepently of the aperture. I have an aperture-priority 35mm camera. I did the tape trick, taping over the DX coding area of the film canister like one of the guys here mentioned a while back. Doing so allowed me to change the ISO setting manually, and the shutter speed manually as a result (at any given f/stop). For instance, if I want f/16, but my shutter speed is too slow, all I have to do is set my ISO up a notch or two to speed up my shutter. Conversely, if I want to slow my shutter down, I set the ISO down a notch or two. In essence, it's lying to the camera's programming, making it think the film's more (or less) light sensitive and adjusting the shutter speed accordingly.

I'll post some results of my playing around when I get 'em developed. :) The first two shots I took were of some clouds - pre-storm. I used f/16 for both, one at 1/500 and one at 1/1000. Trial and error has taught me alot about my camera and photography.

[Texas Sadie]

So how does that work?

[Bartman01]

You do realize that the actual ISO of your film isn't changing don't you? With film, you can deliberately push or pull the ISO value, but you need to do this consistently for the entire roll - then tell the developer to process accordingly. For example, pushing 1600 speed film to 3200. It doesn't give the same quality as shooting the film at its rated ISO though.

If the correct exposure at ISO100 is f8 at 1/15, tricking the camera into thinking it is f8 at 1/60 will give you a shot that is underexposed by 2 stops.

Does your camera not allow you to override it's meter? If not, this may be a way to force the camera to expose the shot properly when the meter is wrong - or to bracket your exposures.

[HighPlainsDox]

Originally Posted by Texas Sadie

So how does that work?

Seems to work ok. ;)

[HighPlainsDox]

Originally Posted by Bartman01

You do realize that the actual ISO of your film isn't changing don't you?

Yes I do. :) Can't change that. It's manufactured into the film.

With film, you can deliberately push or pull the ISO value, but you need to do this consistently for the entire roll - then tell the developer to process accordingly. For example, pushing 1600 speed film to 3200. It doesn't give the same quality as shooting the film at its rated ISO though.

If I understand my camera right.... I see a certain scene that gives me a 1/125th shutter speed at a certain f/stop with the "right" ISO setting. (My shutter speed reads in the viewfinder as numbers 30, 60, 125, 250, 500, and 1000.) It doesn't seem right for the effect I want to capture. I can simply step it up a notch or two until my shutter speed reads a more appropriate 1/250th or 1/500th second at that f/stop. I wouldn't think it would have to be set the same for the whole roll....would it?

If the correct exposure at ISO100 is f8 at 1/15, tricking the camera into thinking it is f8 at 1/60 will give you a shot that is underexposed by 2 stops.

Exactly as I understand it.

Does your camera not allow you to override it's meter? If not, this may be a way to force the camera to expose the shot properly when the meter is wrong - or to bracket your exposures.

No, there's no way to override the meter, except by this method. That's what I was thinking.

Thanks for your suggestions. :)