theres a lot of light, but not enough for my cam?
Moderator: Andreas Wideroe
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theres a lot of light, but not enough for my cam?
Hi, I've been wondering about a probelm I've been having lately. On a cloudy overcast day, looking at a subject that has a full amount of light on it, my apeture cant be opened any further. the light meter in the cam shows those lines under 1.2 (those mean under exposed?). why would this be? Oh, by the way, the camera Im using is a Bauer 715 XL. I've already shot a couple rolls of film with this cam, both coming back perfect- so I don't think the light meter is broken. Every shot was in sunny weather though. I haven't tried to shoot anything when my reading was under 1.2. Anybody have any ideas of what/if there is a problem? thanks!
Suggest to compare the camera readings with those of a light meter. That way you won't waste film. Allow for a loss equivalent to 1 stop or so in the lens system. (note that this also affects the depth of field calculation.)
Sometimes camera exposure systems get a bit sticky at the bottom (wide aperture end).
Sometimes camera exposure systems get a bit sticky at the bottom (wide aperture end).
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Daniel McKay
- Posts: 15
- Joined: Sat Jun 14, 2003 7:31 am
- Location: Westchester New York
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Bauer 715xl exposure settings
I too have a Bauer 715xl and I've been trying to master it's exposure system for quite a while. It's tricky business for sure. Here are my theories, obvious ones first:
1) Are you sure that the double lines aren't for the f-stop completely closed(too much light)? the bauer has them on both ends of the meter, completely open and completely shut.
2) Is the manual f-stop wheel located in the little flip open top compartment set on it's notch for automatic exposure, rather than to the left or right locking it on one f-stop?
Now the more likely problem-
3) My meter has often given me surprising readings, usually not enough light in situations that should be fine. With the f 1.4 lense and a 200 degree shutter, it's pretty light sensitive, but by all means NOT the most light sensitive. If the scene was a pretty cloudy day, I'm not surpised at all that it said that the f-stop was completely open. I use two little cameras for my real low light stuff, a Canon 310xl with the f-1.0 lense and a minolta 401xl with a f-1.2 lense. These seemingly cheap little babies kick some low light butt, and are surpisingly sharp and crisp. But if money is too tight for another camera, go ahead and shoot the scene anyway if the light seems resonable. I've shot bands at clubs with the Bauer and Tri-X, where the light was really poor except for the spotlights on the musicians faces, and the meter read completely open(double bar). The background came out pretty jet black, but the people themselves came out quite good, a cool effect with a ton of contrast.
The meter is taking an average reading for everything in the frame and reports a setting that will make most of it exposed fairly evenly. A little too dark here and a little too light there dosen't always mean a bad exposure, just a different look.
Try zooming in on the most important part of the frame and taking the meter reading there, then lock the f-stop to that, zoom out again and shoot.
Hope that helps, Daniel
P.S. I said in an earlier post that I'll be uploading the 715xl/709xl english manual, It's taking a while to scan all 85 pages but it's still coming, hang in there.
1) Are you sure that the double lines aren't for the f-stop completely closed(too much light)? the bauer has them on both ends of the meter, completely open and completely shut.
2) Is the manual f-stop wheel located in the little flip open top compartment set on it's notch for automatic exposure, rather than to the left or right locking it on one f-stop?
Now the more likely problem-
3) My meter has often given me surprising readings, usually not enough light in situations that should be fine. With the f 1.4 lense and a 200 degree shutter, it's pretty light sensitive, but by all means NOT the most light sensitive. If the scene was a pretty cloudy day, I'm not surpised at all that it said that the f-stop was completely open. I use two little cameras for my real low light stuff, a Canon 310xl with the f-1.0 lense and a minolta 401xl with a f-1.2 lense. These seemingly cheap little babies kick some low light butt, and are surpisingly sharp and crisp. But if money is too tight for another camera, go ahead and shoot the scene anyway if the light seems resonable. I've shot bands at clubs with the Bauer and Tri-X, where the light was really poor except for the spotlights on the musicians faces, and the meter read completely open(double bar). The background came out pretty jet black, but the people themselves came out quite good, a cool effect with a ton of contrast.
The meter is taking an average reading for everything in the frame and reports a setting that will make most of it exposed fairly evenly. A little too dark here and a little too light there dosen't always mean a bad exposure, just a different look.
Try zooming in on the most important part of the frame and taking the meter reading there, then lock the f-stop to that, zoom out again and shoot.
Hope that helps, Daniel
P.S. I said in an earlier post that I'll be uploading the 715xl/709xl english manual, It's taking a while to scan all 85 pages but it's still coming, hang in there.
I just got my first roll with 715, back from Kodak 