This is a great video but I do have one correction at 2:36. This is partially true. Adjusting for 2 stops is because most data sheets recommend using an 80A or 80B filter which takes away 2 stops of light hence the need to adjust the ISO by 2 stops. If you don't use the filter then you don't need to change the ISO.
I’m slowly getting back into photography and was so curious on how to navigate bar/night club lighting. Film is so underrated so this was definitely helpful
I have been shooting on film at night a lot and I have a lot of tips/knowledge I can fill in. 1: I never meter for the shadows at night - because the "shadows" at night are simply black. There could be some skyglow etc, but usually you don't actually want to capture it and having black areas of your images are what tells the viewer the context of it being at night. - instead I meter for middle grey, choosing an area of the image that I want correctly exposed. Usually every shot has an area that you want the viewer to "read" and that contains texture. 2: Night shots in general are very high contrast and it is expected that you will end up losing details in the highlights. What I mean by this is that if you are taking photos of lit signs etc, you pretty much have to choose between exposing in a way to being able to read the sign on the photo, or being able to see the things around it well. The extent of this depends on the contrast and lighting of the scene but expect any scenes where there is only one source of light to fall into this effect. The difference between the sign and the area lit by it is just too great of a dynamic to capture, even if you can see it well. 3: Use a tripod. I use a tripod for around 95% of my night shots. Even high Iso films like Portra 800 or Cinestill 800 struggle to capture most scenes well just because there is realistically so little light. You have to shoot wide open at like 1/30 - 1/60 at the best of times. Just remember to have your camera well secured so that it really dosent move while taking the shot. A mm move of your camera over the course of your exposure will blur it. In general tripods allow you to do a few things. Stop down to get sharper images, capture darker scenes in general, capture motion and light trails of moving objects and also importantly; use lower iso films. 4: Night photography can be done on all films - if you have a tripod. The main thing with different films is their colour renditioning and reciprocity failure. Since most artificial light has a lower CRI (colour rendering index) than daylight, it usually causes colour casts and spikes of different colours, mainly greens. Thats why a lot of indoor and night shots look muddy and green. Cheaper films have a bigger tendency to do this so thats why I prefer Kodak Portra over lets say Kodak Gold. Cinestill 800T shifts the entire spectrum towards the blues, so greens end up being cooler and more pleasing, hence why it is used that much. Also regarding Cinestill and the 2 stop difference - as mentioned in other comments this maybe only applies if you wish to filter yellow light with blue filter for daylight films, I haven’t really noticed that much of a difference between the Portra 800 or Cinestill 800 sensitivity to yellow light sources. 5: Be careful of lens flare, especially on retro lenses. Keep any bright sources of light well outside of your composition (unless you want them on the photo ofc), as they will bleed heavily and light streak your shots. If you ever get “ghosts” coming in from the sides, thats probably because there was a streetlight or something just outside your frame which flared in the lens. I have been surprised at how hard it is to nail this because you generally cannot see the flare when you look through the viewfinder, or only very faintly. I do use 1970s lenses though. Hope this ends up changing the game for someone. Feel free to ask about anything, there's definitely more I could develop (no pun intended) further.
my quick and dirty trick with a built in light meter is to just aim the camera at the darker area and set the shutter speed, then frame my shot and take the photo.
As long as it isn't a selenium cell, or older light meter, this is by far the best and fastest way for sure - so long as you also factor in reciprocity failure. Someday I will have a camera with a reliable built-in light meter, but today is not that day.
2 stops of ISO adjustment for shooting under tungsten light? That would only be true if you are using a blue filter on the lens to compensate for the color shift. If you're planning on adjusting the color balance in post you really don't need to compensate like that at all.
Yes, and those data sheets also mention the corresponding filter to use under various lighting conditions. For example, the data sheet for Portra 800 says to use a Wratten 80A filter and meter for ISO 200 under 3200K Tungsten light. The 2 stop adjustment is for light transmission of the filter, not the color of the light in the scene. The deep blue color of the filter does not let much light pass through.@@LearnFilmPhotography
@@BryHong usually the lab that scans my films use a noritsu ls600 which can correct the white balance correcting the blue tint on tungsten film. You can see a little bit of blue on greens, especially grass between their tiny shadows. I just correct it using digital post and it's great I don't even worry about using any filter at all
One more tip with Fomapan films : their actual speeds are lower than what the box says. - Foma 100 is 64 ISO - Foma 200 is 125 ISO - Foma 400 is 250 ISO With that in mind, Fomapan are actually good films, contrary to what most people say :)
@@Xisbrezatsgzormd you can, but IMO it's more convenient to set the ISO directly to the desired value (set for the entire roll). Exposure compensation should be used for what's it intended for : correcting exposure for specific scenes (like backlit portraits).
Very nice tips! I had already seen some of these tips, but the Reciprocity Failure calculation was completely new for me. Thanks a lot for sharing your knowledge :D
Great video and tips! Thanks. Question. If for nighttime photography I set my Kodak Tri-X 400 35mm box speed to 200 or even 100 for one photo, can I changed my ASA back to the box speed of my film (400) or (200) depending on if it’s night or day, and the given lighting situation, for all subsequent shots on the roll of film? I heard that once you set your ASA to a certain value, it has to stay at that value for the entire roll of film? Is that true or not? I shoot with a Nikon F (1972 model year).
You can change the ISO in the middle of the roll on that camera. That's a very normal thing to do since sometimes you need to change the way the camera meters the scene to get proper exposures when the subject is backlit. The only cameras that can't change the ISO mid roll are some of the low-end point and shoot cameras from the 80s and 90s.
I just shoot wide open (f2 or faster) at what I can hold handheld shake free (1/60th) and get the shot with pretty much any film. Of course you need faster film when it gets super dark.
That's definitely an easier way! And you can get an f/2 or wider aperture on many 35mm SLR cameras with changeable lenses. But unfortunately, it's tough to get that wide of an aperture on medium format, which I use primarily. Only the 80mm (50mm equivalent) has an f/2.8 max aperture. the rest of the lenses are slower. The other reason to shoot slower speeds is for flexibility. Film doesn't capture shadow details well, so if you want a little more information in the shadows, you need to slow it down. But it obviously depends on the lighting situation. Some cities are brighter than others.
@@LearnFilmPhotography For me it’s more a question of mood. Yes I’ll loose shadow detail but the image will have the feeling of being an actual dark scene at night, not that hyper real, clean feeling you get from long exposures. As for medium format, there are some lenses and a lot go to f2.8, with that and Portra 800 you can basically still do what I said. Especially since you gain about a half stop to a stop more shadow latitude on medium format because the noise floor is much lower.
@@Armitage01101 Not necessarily. A lot of them are excellent or the film is grainy enough to cover that up. It’s almost never been a problem with the lenses I’ve used. Depth of field can be challenge though, absolutely.
meter for highlight, then add stop or two. Unless you are shooting longer exposures like 5 seconds or more, I was able to get away with just adding a second or half a second more to my 2-3 second exposures.
That will definitely help reduce the contrast in the images. It just depends on how bright the lights are compared to the surroundings, but in most cases that should be enough!
No problem! This one has always worked for me - with the only exception being Lomo Purple through an ND filter. Film like that seems to suffer worse, but there unfortunately isn't a technical data sheet to get the right values.
Avec les films lumière du jour, et un certain savoir faire ( loi de la réciprocité )pour le bon temps de pose. Avez vous pensé au film type lumière artificielle, qui est vraiment très bien pour les sujets nocturnes.
It does if you want information in the shadows. If you want to isolate that subject in the light, then letting the shadows fall off can make a much better image. That said, you can always remove the shadows in Lightroom or Photoshop (the darkroom can be a little tougher, but still doable), but you can't bring them back. So if you're confident in your composition, or if you need a faster shutter speed to freeze some action, then let those shadows fall. If you need a bit of safety, then meter for the shadows.
Nothing better than CineStill 800t for Halloween! Being the only high speed tungsten balanced color film, you'll have the best chance at capturing sharp images in low light, and especially under dim street lamps or indoor lights.
If your camera is completely manual, then you just change the shutter speed. Usually changing the ISO is just another way to think about the exposure setting. So you would change ISO on your light meter, or you would do a manual calculation after the reading.
I still don't understand how when I look at sample night photos of say Cinestill 800t, I see lots of shots with moving subjects, people, cars, etc. And no blur, and no flash. How? Even some other youtubers walking around at night and snapping without a tripod. I'm missing something.
The secret is the light! In the city, even under street lights with CineStill 800t, it's pretty easy to get a fast enough shutter speed for hand holding - especially if you're using a 50mm f/1.8 or similar prime lens. They may underexpose by a stop or so, but that film can definitely handle it.
I'm taking pictures with reflx lab 800t film, a cheaper version of cinestill I would like to know if all these precautions are valid for point-shoot shooting my camera is a point-shoot.
These tips are definitely valid for a point and shoot camera as well. It can be harder to get a proper exposure at night with one of those cameras since they don't always give you enough control. But so long as you know approximately what look you're going for and make sure your subject is in the light, you'll come away with great photos. If you can use a tripod, that'll definitely help, too.
@@LearnFilmPhotography at the moment i am without a tripod , but i am trying to find the best conditions many of my photos were taken in well lit places.
So If I use a 800 iso film, I shoot it as a 200 iso film. Measure in the shadows. Should I also make the calculations or do I measurements instead of 2 stops? I'm confused 😅
Silbersalz 500T is actually Kodak Vision 3 500T, which is what CineStill 800T is made from. So those are actually the same films, except Silbersalz won't have the halations because it still has the remjet layer.
None of my cameras have a built in light meter, so I don't physically do that. But I do often overexpose the images to capture more information in the shadows. If you don't have manual control or exposure compensation, then changing the ISO on the camera is the next best way to get it to overexpose.
I honestly like the photos that are "mistakes" just as much as the corrected ones. Both are super cool.
same!
yea, they are so moody, pictures are like paintings, they dont always need to be so crystal clear, imo
This is a great video but I do have one correction at 2:36. This is partially true. Adjusting for 2 stops is because most data sheets recommend using an 80A or 80B filter which takes away 2 stops of light hence the need to adjust the ISO by 2 stops. If you don't use the filter then you don't need to change the ISO.
I’m slowly getting back into photography and was so curious on how to navigate bar/night club lighting. Film is so underrated so this was definitely helpful
I have been shooting on film at night a lot and I have a lot of tips/knowledge I can fill in.
1: I never meter for the shadows at night - because the "shadows" at night are simply black. There could be some skyglow etc, but usually you don't actually want to capture it and having black areas of your images are what tells the viewer the context of it being at night. - instead I meter for middle grey, choosing an area of the image that I want correctly exposed. Usually every shot has an area that you want the viewer to "read" and that contains texture.
2: Night shots in general are very high contrast and it is expected that you will end up losing details in the highlights. What I mean by this is that if you are taking photos of lit signs etc, you pretty much have to choose between exposing in a way to being able to read the sign on the photo, or being able to see the things around it well. The extent of this depends on the contrast and lighting of the scene but expect any scenes where there is only one source of light to fall into this effect. The difference between the sign and the area lit by it is just too great of a dynamic to capture, even if you can see it well.
3: Use a tripod. I use a tripod for around 95% of my night shots. Even high Iso films like Portra 800 or Cinestill 800 struggle to capture most scenes well just because there is realistically so little light. You have to shoot wide open at like 1/30 - 1/60 at the best of times. Just remember to have your camera well secured so that it really dosent move while taking the shot. A mm move of your camera over the course of your exposure will blur it. In general tripods allow you to do a few things. Stop down to get sharper images, capture darker scenes in general, capture motion and light trails of moving objects and also importantly; use lower iso films.
4: Night photography can be done on all films - if you have a tripod. The main thing with different films is their colour renditioning and reciprocity failure. Since most artificial light has a lower CRI (colour rendering index) than daylight, it usually causes colour casts and spikes of different colours, mainly greens. Thats why a lot of indoor and night shots look muddy and green. Cheaper films have a bigger tendency to do this so thats why I prefer Kodak Portra over lets say Kodak Gold. Cinestill 800T shifts the entire spectrum towards the blues, so greens end up being cooler and more pleasing, hence why it is used that much. Also regarding Cinestill and the 2 stop difference - as mentioned in other comments this maybe only applies if you wish to filter yellow light with blue filter for daylight films, I haven’t really noticed that much of a difference between the Portra 800 or Cinestill 800 sensitivity to yellow light sources.
5: Be careful of lens flare, especially on retro lenses. Keep any bright sources of light well outside of your composition (unless you want them on the photo ofc), as they will bleed heavily and light streak your shots. If you ever get “ghosts” coming in from the sides, thats probably because there was a streetlight or something just outside your frame which flared in the lens. I have been surprised at how hard it is to nail this because you generally cannot see the flare when you look through the viewfinder, or only very faintly. I do use 1970s lenses though.
Hope this ends up changing the game for someone. Feel free to ask about anything, there's definitely more I could develop (no pun intended) further.
my quick and dirty trick with a built in light meter is to just aim the camera at the darker area and set the shutter speed, then frame my shot and take the photo.
As long as it isn't a selenium cell, or older light meter, this is by far the best and fastest way for sure - so long as you also factor in reciprocity failure.
Someday I will have a camera with a reliable built-in light meter, but today is not that day.
Great Vancouver shots! Some great advice. I love shooting Delta 3200 and Portra 800. Many cheers fellow Vancouverite!
I love that my Olympus OM2 SP has a spot meter built into the meter. Very helpful.
Great tips man!
2 stops of ISO adjustment for shooting under tungsten light? That would only be true if you are using a blue filter on the lens to compensate for the color shift. If you're planning on adjusting the color balance in post you really don't need to compensate like that at all.
This is what the technical data sheets say for Kodak and Fuji daylight balanced films.
Yes, and those data sheets also mention the corresponding filter to use under various lighting conditions. For example, the data sheet for Portra 800 says to use a Wratten 80A filter and meter for ISO 200 under 3200K Tungsten light. The 2 stop adjustment is for light transmission of the filter, not the color of the light in the scene. The deep blue color of the filter does not let much light pass through.@@LearnFilmPhotography
Yes
exactly right, there was a fair amount of misinformation in this video, or at least not entirely accurate.
@@BryHong usually the lab that scans my films use a noritsu ls600 which can correct the white balance correcting the blue tint on tungsten film. You can see a little bit of blue on greens, especially grass between their tiny shadows. I just correct it using digital post and it's great I don't even worry about using any filter at all
I was so scared I couldn’t take pictures at night on B&W Fomapan film because due to work I can only go photo hunting at darker hours. Thank you!
Fomapan is an awesome film at night! Love the classic grain of that film.
One more tip with Fomapan films : their actual speeds are lower than what the box says.
- Foma 100 is 64 ISO
- Foma 200 is 125 ISO
- Foma 400 is 250 ISO
With that in mind, Fomapan are actually good films, contrary to what most people say :)
@@stratocactusis it? Never heard 😮
Hmmm, can i adjust by changing exposure compensation on the camera itself?
@@Xisbrezatsgzormd you can, but IMO it's more convenient to set the ISO directly to the desired value (set for the entire roll).
Exposure compensation should be used for what's it intended for : correcting exposure for specific scenes (like backlit portraits).
Very nice tips! I had already seen some of these tips, but the Reciprocity Failure calculation was completely new for me. Thanks a lot for sharing your knowledge :D
Great video and tips! Thanks. Question. If for nighttime photography I set my Kodak Tri-X 400 35mm box speed to 200 or even 100 for one photo, can I changed my ASA back to the box speed of my film (400) or (200) depending on if it’s night or day, and the given lighting situation, for all subsequent shots on the roll of film? I heard that once you set your ASA to a certain value, it has to stay at that value for the entire roll of film? Is that true or not? I shoot with a Nikon F (1972 model year).
You can change the ISO in the middle of the roll on that camera. That's a very normal thing to do since sometimes you need to change the way the camera meters the scene to get proper exposures when the subject is backlit. The only cameras that can't change the ISO mid roll are some of the low-end point and shoot cameras from the 80s and 90s.
@@LearnFilmPhotography Thanks. Again, that’s great info! Very helpful.
3:39 I love this little market by english bay. One of my personal fav places to shoot at always, for some reason.
It's such a unique spot! One of my favorites as well.
I did learn a lot. Thank you
Thanks for this. I enjoyed many of your images that you shared in this nicely done video.
Thanks for that! Glad you enjoyed it!
Thank you ))) Nice video )))
I just shoot wide open (f2 or faster) at what I can hold handheld shake free (1/60th) and get the shot with pretty much any film. Of course you need faster film when it gets super dark.
That's definitely an easier way! And you can get an f/2 or wider aperture on many 35mm SLR cameras with changeable lenses. But unfortunately, it's tough to get that wide of an aperture on medium format, which I use primarily. Only the 80mm (50mm equivalent) has an f/2.8 max aperture. the rest of the lenses are slower.
The other reason to shoot slower speeds is for flexibility. Film doesn't capture shadow details well, so if you want a little more information in the shadows, you need to slow it down. But it obviously depends on the lighting situation. Some cities are brighter than others.
@@LearnFilmPhotography For me it’s more a question of mood. Yes I’ll loose shadow detail but the image will have the feeling of being an actual dark scene at night, not that hyper real, clean feeling you get from long exposures.
As for medium format, there are some lenses and a lot go to f2.8, with that and Portra 800 you can basically still do what I said. Especially since you gain about a half stop to a stop more shadow latitude on medium format because the noise floor is much lower.
Older lenses are pretty bad at F2/F1.4/F1.2. The DoF is also razor thin.
@@Armitage01101 Not necessarily. A lot of them are excellent or the film is grainy enough to cover that up. It’s almost never been a problem with the lenses I’ve used. Depth of field can be challenge though, absolutely.
Occams razor; go with the simplest thing; wide open and what you shoot slow.
So helpful, earned a sub
There is also Kodak 500t, the motion picture film
Cinestill 800t is exactly that. Overpriced version of Kodak vision 3 500t with remjet removed. You get get like 3 rolls for one cinestill
Night Recipe - ISO100, 15 seconds F8 or 11. Portra
meter for highlight, then add stop or two. Unless you are shooting longer exposures like 5 seconds or more, I was able to get away with just adding a second or half a second more to my 2-3 second exposures.
That will definitely help reduce the contrast in the images. It just depends on how bright the lights are compared to the surroundings, but in most cases that should be enough!
@@LearnFilmPhotography Yeah so far so good, no one method fits all
Thanks a lot for the formula to increase the exposure time for the Schwarzschild effect
No problem! This one has always worked for me - with the only exception being Lomo Purple through an ND filter. Film like that seems to suffer worse, but there unfortunately isn't a technical data sheet to get the right values.
Thank you, very informative
Avec les films lumière du jour, et un certain savoir faire ( loi de la réciprocité )pour le bon temps de pose. Avez vous pensé au film type lumière artificielle, qui est vraiment très bien pour les sujets nocturnes.
Great video! Does the metering for shadows still apply if your subject is under the light/lit well?
It does if you want information in the shadows. If you want to isolate that subject in the light, then letting the shadows fall off can make a much better image. That said, you can always remove the shadows in Lightroom or Photoshop (the darkroom can be a little tougher, but still doable), but you can't bring them back.
So if you're confident in your composition, or if you need a faster shutter speed to freeze some action, then let those shadows fall. If you need a bit of safety, then meter for the shadows.
Any more film roll’s recommendations that bring out orange and grey for halloween?
Nothing better than CineStill 800t for Halloween! Being the only high speed tungsten balanced color film, you'll have the best chance at capturing sharp images in low light, and especially under dim street lamps or indoor lights.
So I have to adjust the iso on the camera (mine is completely manual and doesn't read the iso code)?
If your camera is completely manual, then you just change the shutter speed. Usually changing the ISO is just another way to think about the exposure setting. So you would change ISO on your light meter, or you would do a manual calculation after the reading.
GREAT VIDEO! SUBBED!!🤘🏾🤘🏾
I still don't understand how when I look at sample night photos of say Cinestill 800t, I see lots of shots with moving subjects, people, cars, etc. And no blur, and no flash. How? Even some other youtubers walking around at night and snapping without a tripod. I'm missing something.
The secret is the light! In the city, even under street lights with CineStill 800t, it's pretty easy to get a fast enough shutter speed for hand holding - especially if you're using a 50mm f/1.8 or similar prime lens. They may underexpose by a stop or so, but that film can definitely handle it.
@@LearnFilmPhotography Thanks! I guess I should get out there and give it a shot!
There’s an app for a light meter ??
Yes! There are a few really good ones. My favorite is Light Meter by WB Photo
I'm taking pictures with reflx lab 800t film, a cheaper version of cinestill I would like to know if all these precautions are valid for point-shoot shooting my camera is a point-shoot.
These tips are definitely valid for a point and shoot camera as well. It can be harder to get a proper exposure at night with one of those cameras since they don't always give you enough control. But so long as you know approximately what look you're going for and make sure your subject is in the light, you'll come away with great photos. If you can use a tripod, that'll definitely help, too.
@@LearnFilmPhotography at the moment i am without a tripod , but i am trying to find the best conditions many of my photos were taken in well lit places.
Reciprocity failure is a hard mistress..........
Fuji Acors and 400H no need to add reciprocity failure up to 2min.
I didn't know the same also applied to Pro400H. I thought this was only for Acros.
@@LearnFilmPhotography I read it somewhere, tested and it worked.
💯
So If I use a 800 iso film, I shoot it as a 200 iso film. Measure in the shadows. Should I also make the calculations or do I measurements instead of 2 stops? I'm confused 😅
I just want to say that Cinestill 800T is NOT the only tungsten film on the market. I've been using Silbersalz 500T and it is amazing
Silbersalz 500T is actually Kodak Vision 3 500T, which is what CineStill 800T is made from. So those are actually the same films, except Silbersalz won't have the halations because it still has the remjet layer.
Are you switching iso on the camera multiple times within one roll?
None of my cameras have a built in light meter, so I don't physically do that. But I do often overexpose the images to capture more information in the shadows. If you don't have manual control or exposure compensation, then changing the ISO on the camera is the next best way to get it to overexpose.
That was not a good explanation of reciprocity.
Fair enough, how would you explain reciprocity failure?
Cool video, lots of misinformation.
Cinestill 800t is garbage.
But nice take.