Shooting cameras with fixed speed and aperture

[thecornflake]

I've seen a few very old cameras recently that I liked the look of but had a fixed aperture and either fixed speed or only 2 to chose from. Hwoever some people do seem to get decent shots out of them from what I've seen so is it just that the settings are optimised for a certain film speed in average light, and anything else will be over\underexposed?

 

[Strapps]

Use a negative film with a wide latitude, carry a couple of ND filters in your bag and don't upload the ones that fail

 

[skysh4rk]

I've seen a few very old cameras recently that I liked the look of but had a fixed aperture and either fixed speed or only 2 to chose from. Hwoever some people do seem to get decent shots out of them from what I've seen so is it just that the settings are optimised for a certain film speed in average light, and anything else will be over\underexposed?

Negative film has so much latitude that you don't really need to worry very much about precise exposure. I typically have a light meter with me, but I will overexpose my film but several stops without a second thought.

If you want proof of how hard it is to go wrong with negative film, and why it would be possible to get good images from a camera with limited controls, check out this recent test by UK Film Lab featuring several different popular emulsions at a range of EIs:

 

[trevorbray]

Negative film has so much latitude that you don't really need to worry very much about precise exposure. I typically have a light meter with me, but I will overexpose my film but several stops without a second thought.

If you want proof of how hard it is to go wrong with negative film, and why it would be possible to get good images from a camera with limited controls, check out this recent test by UK Film Lab featuring several different popular emulsions at a range of EIs:

That's impressive..

 

[osh]

Lots of people seem to get good results with Holga cameras which work on the same principle - an aperture of f8 and a shutter speed (apparently) of around 1/100.

 

[thecornflake]

So is film speed not a big issue? I have several between 25 and 400.

 

[Steve Smith]

They were designed with the the aperture and shutter speed set to give correct exposure for a bright but cloudy day.
Then when used in the normal range of daylight, on the brightest of days, it would over expose by about two stops and on a dull day, it would under expose about a stop or two.

The film's lattitude would cover the difference and the printing stage could compensate for it.

They were probably designed for ISO 50 or 100


Steve.

 

[steveo_mcg]

Of course 80 years later and the spring probably isn't giving factory spec for the shutter speed.

 

[thecornflake]

I've put a roll of Ektar 100 in it. Spring didn't look great but after oiling I don't think it's far off the quoted 1\30 sec.

 

[ChrisR]

Think I'd have gone for something abit more forgiving of exposure errors than Ektar, maybe BW?

 

[thecornflake]

Think I'd have gone for something abit more forgiving of exposure errors than Ektar, maybe BW?

Totally right, but I'm impatient and I'd run out of HP5 so the only 120 I had lying around was the Ektar

 

[s162216]

Totally right, but I'm impatient and I'd run out of HP5 so the only 120 I had lying around was the Ektar

To be honest Ektar has very good exposure latitude, but the colour presentation of it changes much more drastically with over/under exposure compared to most films. Underexposure tends to turn it cooler and less saturated, whilst over-exposure further enhances the saturation, especially in the reds, and there is a risk of the shadows going blue on bright sunny days (but that can happen with any film - its just the reflection of the blue of the sky - the saturated nature of Ektar just enhances it).