Wednesday, October 22, 2008

ISO 400

This last case that we just filmed was pretty darn sweet. I think the biggest dose of awesomeness came when the client gave me an old camera that he had bought at an antique store.  Its an Olympus OM-1n. I did a little wiki reading about the camera and it was a pinnacle for film SLRs. It started this with a huge reduction in size, weight and noise. 

The camera works...at least it sounds like it does. I have 400 ISO black and white film loaded and I am ready to take some photographs. I think the beauty of film cameras is that one can double or triple expose on the same piece of film to create some really nifty shots. Thats kinda what I am aiming to use this. Only thing that sucks is that I am used to the digital camera metering the light for me. This allows me to pick the appropraite settings to properly expose the photo. Without metering one runs into a chance of over or under exposing the photograph. 

Now the camera does have the capabilities of doing it but it requires a battery that I cannot find. Bugger....Well I figure I can go with my guts. Not guts no glory, right? So I am gonna take my digital SLR and set it to ISO 400...then I am gonna set it to manual and see what aperture and shutter speed I need in a given amount of light. I figure if I do this enough times I can get the hang of naturally figuring out what aperture and shutter speed I need to expose a photo.

Anyone have any halloween plans? We are stopping by Long Island this weekend for an event that we are throwing. Its at Kaitys Bar...the same place where we filmed our season 1 episode. We are throwing an early Halloween Bash. I am going as an old school journalist. I have the camera and the hat that would work great.

12 comments:

cindy said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

OK, this always posts as "anonymous" but this is lin, one of the grrrrls who does the PRSAS on MySpace. Anyways,my grandma had a camera like that AND she had a box camera, one of the first cameras ever put out by Kodak to the public. If I can find it, as I am sure it is in my mom's attic, I will gladly give it to you since you are the camera fanatic! Not sure if it would work, lol!
So the camera you are now experiemnting with is very very cool. Looking forward to seeing the magic.
As for halloween, dressing up the doggie and giving out treats. Have a Mike's for me at Kaity's eh?

Anonymous said...

Looked around some. According to this site

http://www.camshop.co.uk/Details.cfm?ProdID=114&category=

The camera uses the following

Battery used/Power Source (Metering): 1.35 volt mercury battery JIS H-D type; MR9 (National H_D, Toshiba H-D; Eveready or UCAR EPX625, Mallory PX625, or equivalent)

which means if you go to this site

http://209.250.87.105/ShopSite/battery-search.html

and search for EPX625

You should be able to use either one of the batteries that come up in the search.

Eeek

Anonymous said...

I shall be spending my halloween in my childhood graveyard

Anonymous said...

There are a few companies around that make a 1.35v Zinc-Air replacement battery for your camera (Wein manufactures the MRB625). Check around at your local camera or battery stores. Mercury batteries for your camera are still manufactured and sold in Canada ;) Enjoy your Halloween Celebration!

Anonymous said...

Ahhh the fun of metering. :)
In my first hand me down film camera I used for photo classes my meter was broken. So I had the fun of teaching myself how to trust my gut on shutter speeds and such. But I did in time pick up a cheap but useful light meter.
It takes some patience to work with a camera with a non working meter. But if you don't get your battery...well I have faith you'll get it all figured out. :)

Film is a dying art. Everything is quick now a days with digital, which is nice, digital can do some amazing things. But there's something about film I love dearly. My heart with always be with working with film. Plus dark rooms are the bomb!! lol.

And Halloween..well I'll be in Toronto seeing friends

Anonymous said...

Have you considered investing in an external light meter? Try ebay. I think I prefer my 35 mm to my digital, only because it has so much history behind it and it takes more blood, sweat, and tears to get it to do what you want without the luxury of photoshop (well, maybe not blood). I love sandwiching negatives together during printing to get ghost-like images. Anyhoo-
Halloween: I'm handing out candy for the neighborhood kiddos and maybe going to see "The Haunting of Molly Hartley" afterwards.
xo-
Miss Eden

Hannah said...

That's really cool about the camera. I always go to garage sales looking for old cameras in the summmer :]

P.S. Speaking of cameras, what model is the termal cam that you guys rent? My friend and I are thinking of investing in one for the small paranormal group we have, but it's hard to get good reccomendations for one.

Thanks!

Anonymous said...

The camera sounds like a fun, mini adventure... I hope ya get it up and running! As for Halloween, I'm heading to a party at my friends house she rents just off campus in the next state over to reunite with the "gang". lol. Have a Happy Halloween yourself!

Anonymous said...

Hey
I would try getting a meter on ebay or a local pawn shop. Although I am surprised that it doesn't have a built-in one. But one note F16 is sunny 16 so, use f16 in sunlight outside, and since you are using 400 speed film, shutter at 150-250? That way it would be just slow enough to bring in the light, then just fast enough to keep some of it out. I am sure you know your apetures...but any old library book would have something on that kind of camera. Good luck..I have a brownie, fell over and broke so, now it's a GREAT paper weight... never got to use it. BOOOOOOOOOO!

Anonymous said...

I have an old Olympus as well that I (permanently) borrowed from my dad. Once I figured out its quirks and got down sunny 16 it was true love. Once you get rolling with yours your won't want to put it down--have fun!
-A

Anonymous said...

Glad you're enjoying the camera. Charlie will be happy to know that! :)