Very basic film questions!

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russbates

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Russell Bates
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Really basic question i'm sure. But searching film and speed obviously come up with alot of results!

Right, being rather youthful I have grown up in a world of digital cameras. I have recently been given one of my Grandfathers old slr's and really fancy taking it out for a spin. Though being ignorant in all things film i wonder if someone could give me a hand.

- Firstly there is a dial to set the film speed (ASA/DIN) what is this?

- How would i go about choosing film? Ill mostly just be shooting basic outdoor sunny day type stuff.
 
ASA / DIN is what is known as the ISO rating on modern dSLRs.

Speed rating depends what you are planning on photographing. As with the DSLR, the higher the ISO, the more sensative to light it is, so ISO 400 would allow you to shoot with faster shutter speeds than ISO 100, and the higher the ISO the grainer the photo (noise)

Unlike a DSLR its not easy to change until the end of the roll

For normal outdoor stuff, then a 200 speed film should be good starting point.

Remember, film is light sensative, so you've got to load it carefully and keep the back closed until the roll is finished and you've wound the film back into the canister. If its an older camera, don't forget to wind the film on by hand!
 
Ok, great. Would i then set the ASA/DIN to 200/24 for that film, and thats effectively like setting the ISO ?
 
Yes. ASA was American Standards Association. ISO was International Standards Organisation or something like that. ASA and ISO numbers can be substituted as they refer to the same thing.

DIN was a German Standards system that was used but is not really used these days.
 
DIN was a pretty stupid German system.. Deutsche Industrie Norm, where an increase or decrease of 3 in the DIN no either doubled or halved the effective film speed.

It was eventually done away with and the ASA (American Standards Association) system was universally adopted.

You'll still encounter ASA and DIN scales on older cameras, and equipment like light meters and flashguns.

The ASA and ISO scales are identical in all respects so there's no adjustment required to be made.
 
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