Whoa... I learned a few additional things here: 1. This is a masterclass. 2. You have very steady hands. 3. You must've saved a lot of money using film coz you seem to have a very high hit rate!
Wow thank you so much for your kind comments! Thanks for watching. 1. I appreciate that so much! Glad you found it helpful 2. Haha I do the breath in technique on lower shutter speeds but TBH I don't like going below 1/30 for hand held. I would say 80% of my night photography is on a tripod though. 3. Thank you! I'd say I fortunately had a lot of trial and error on digital first before trying on film so I had a solid understanding of metering. I def don't like wasting shots!
I like the reciprocity timer app that computes the time and also works as a stop watch as you hold the shutter open. It even has a night setting where it goes to red back lighting.
I just received my 19mm 3.5 R Canon lens, which I have specifically purchased for night street photography. I have not shot film since I purchased my Canon AE-1 in the late 70's. As I was reorganizing my attic, I found it and the battery was still charged! a Kodak Photolife battery K28A made in Japan for Kodak... I purchased CineStill 800T film, and I am only waiting for a mechanical shutter release for the AE-1. My first shoot will be in the River Oaks district of Houston, where the extremely weathly live, and they always decorate their houses in incredible ways for Halloween and for Christmas. So much there are tours organized for the guests staying in Houston center. It is really a sight at night, some of the decorations run in the tens of thousand of dollars!
I feel the longer I watch youtube videos about photography, the more I come across videos/channels (i.e. this one) that are very helpful along the way!
Very valuable and inspiring presentation - I learned so many new things from your shared experience, even though I have also been shooting mostly film for the past 40+ years, and lately only black and white photography. So many beautiful images you present that I simply have no words to describe the aesthetic impact they evoke in me. If I can say one last word, it is simply BRAVO!
I thought this was an exceptional in-depth video. I'm a film photographer of 25+ years dipping back into trying some night photography and saw you'd tested many films. And i have to say you did a superb job 👍. When you got into the swing of it and a few filming nerves i think had subsided i couldn't believe the detailed information you went into. And explained it in layperson's terms. So beginners will do very well to understand it. Well done 👏
Thanks so much for watching and the kind comments! Especially coming from someone with so much shooting experience. I wish a lot of those film stocks were still available. Some of them are getting harder to find. Thanks again for watching.
Wow thank you for the compliment! Glad you found the video useful! One of my favorite things about photography is I feel like I’m always learning or relearning. It’s an endlessly interesting art form.
Thanks so much for the video, its helped me a lot to understand my night photography. Im still learning my camera its a Pentax K2DMD, but i take my sony a7s to estimate metering and TTArtisan hotshoe expsure unit. This technique works perfect in the day, but at night/low light i'm still struggling to expose, but every film its getting better so thanks for the tips!
Thanks for watching and glad you found the tips helpful! Yeah I do sometimes bring my Fuji digital cameras with me when shooting at night just to compare and check what the meter on a digital camera says. The only issue really is how light affects film vs a sensor and how reciprocity affects it. I tend to go with the mentality that more light is better especially on color negative because a lack of light on the negative equals less or no information. Hope you get some great captures!
Very cool review of your technique! I just got back into film after a friend gifted me all the 15 years expired Fuji Pro 160C & 160S from his refrigerator (20 rolls). Back in the day I would always use 800 for night but I never owned a tripod. I have a Minolta SRT202 but the meter is CDS (and almost 50 years old) which I think was average of the center/upper part of the image. Not the best for night. But I also have a Minolta Maxxum 7000i that has matrix, center & spot. So I think I'm going definitely use that to do some night exploring. Just need to get a tripod now.
Thanks for watching! Glad you found my techniques helpful. That's a great collection of film! I hope they are in great condition. I've shot some of the Fuji NPS which I think is the earlier version of the Pro 160S and loved it during autumn. Yeah 800 speed is great if you want to do handheld, but limited to the available light. I really enjoy the looks you get from tripod shooting more. Lots of great tripod options out there! Let me know how your night shooting goes.
Hey @zoalove! I gathered those by looking at all the individual film stock data sheets of the films I have shot. I would recommend Googling that based on the film you are shooting if it's not one of the those mentioned in the video. I think there are apps that do reciprocity calculations for you but I haven't used those because most of the film I've shot at night I try to stay within the limits of reciprocity of that film stock.
Great video! It’s funny, I’ve shot so much film in an urban night settings that I don’t even calculate for reciprocity failure. BTW I love the 6x9! I have an earlier 70’s Fuji GM670-the 67 camera with removable lens along with my late dad’s Nikon F2 he bought new in 1972🙏🏼
Haha yeah I think it can become second nature. Sometimes I’m slow and meticulous especially with slide film but with color negative I tend to shoot a little looser. Oh nice! How is that camera? I’ve thought about getting the 6x9 version with removable lenses but have heard it’s very heavy. The GW690 is pretty light for that large of a negative compared to say a Pentax 67 or RB67. Thanks for watching!
@@NathanTrimbach it weighs almost 1800 grams and while it’s an AMAZING camera, for the lens to be removed the dark slide has to be shut. The dark slide is kind of the Achilles heel of those cameras, the can malfunction easily. So I remove the lens from it VERY sparingly-only when I fly lol!
Hey Nathan, love the video! I see you shoot a lot of transparencies and thinking you should do a video on modern slide films. Did see that you've got a video or two referencing slide film but I think more slide info would be great! It's not very common to use and I think a lot of people are kind of afraid of it (in addition to the increased costs). Provia 100f seems to be in danger of being discontinued (or maybe is - can't seem to find a definitive answer) so you need to do your part to save E100 lol. No pressure.....
Hey Irvin! You read my mind! I have been thinking of making a series on each slide film I've shot and my experiences. TBH I was kinda afraid of slide film too when I first started but once I understood the limitations and see how beautiful it looks when it comes out I got hooked. (I'm also worried about Provia being discontinued too, I haven't been able to get any new Provia or Velvia for months).
This is an excellent video and I think I learned a fair bit from it, so I feel a little bad about making a negative comment but hopefully the comment can help make the next one even better. There were two things that really bugged me, the little oversights that were unnecessarily distracting. The D in DSLR stands for digital, that is just an SLR, this was distracting for the error but also just left me thinking I misunderstood. The cursor on the photos and graphics, really drags my eye away from the subject. The glitch at 19 is unfortunate but it was breif and didn't really distract me from the point the way the others did.
Hey thanks for watching the video and I'm glad you learned some things! Yeah I totally hear you on a few of those mistakes. I started talking about getting my first DSLR at the beginning before getting back into film and it's just a bad habit calling the N80 a DSLR so thanks for the call out! I know I caught the cursor after the upload too. I keep catching little things I'm working on as I create these videos so I hope to keep polishing / ironing them out. Anyhow I do appreciate the feedback and hope it didn't distract too much. Cheers!
Yeah if I'm going for a brighter image I'm going for a Zone 7 or 8. If I'm going for a darker image a 3 or 4. Drop off into the shadows is much faster at night. Also depends on if it's color negative or slide film. Sometimes I bracket more half stops brighter with color negative vs slide there's less forgiveness but more overall reciprocity to deal with.
Yeah....focusing on the XA is not easy especially at night. The rangefinder patch isn't super bright. The cheat code is to set it to the focus on the orange 8 and the aperture at orange f5.6 (if it's light enough). That should get most things in focus (unless close up). TBH I ended up selling my Olympus XA to get the Olympus XA2. It uses 3 scale focus settings and ends up being a much simpler camera to use rather than constant fiddling around. Overall, a camera with more controls is going to be best for night.
I never meter when doing night photography such as fireworks. I just pick the shutter speed and f stop and Let Er Rip. A DSLR is not a film camera. You have that listed as in your metering chart. Do you have the common N80 problem. Where your film doesn't advance but does still fire? I have it and trying to find out to remedy it. It seems the auto Nikons have these quirky problems over other brand auto focus cameras.
Yep I meant to say/write SLR and made a brain fart. That approach might work for bright light sources like fireworks, lightning. But if you want precision a light meter is key.
I just noticed the second half of your question. I have had one of my N80s do this. Seemed like a shutter problem or maybe a double exposure error? TBH I have owned multiple of those bodies in the last decade since I can usually pick one up for less than $100. I currently own 3 so I can have different film stocks in or do my comparisons.
Hope you enjoyed this video on shooting film at night. Let me know if you have any questions or want to see more videos on tips or showing me shooting film at night on location. (Also, whoops about my editing mess up at 19:00! My zoom in effect didn't render 😬)
Whoa... I learned a few additional things here:
1. This is a masterclass.
2. You have very steady hands.
3. You must've saved a lot of money using film coz you seem to have a very high hit rate!
Wow thank you so much for your kind comments! Thanks for watching.
1. I appreciate that so much! Glad you found it helpful
2. Haha I do the breath in technique on lower shutter speeds but TBH I don't like going below 1/30 for hand held. I would say 80% of my night photography is on a tripod though.
3. Thank you! I'd say I fortunately had a lot of trial and error on digital first before trying on film so I had a solid understanding of metering. I def don't like wasting shots!
I like the reciprocity timer app that computes the time and also works as a stop watch as you hold the shutter open. It even has a night setting where it goes to red back lighting.
Great tip! I’ve used it a couple times but most of the time I try to stay within the reciprocity of the film stock.
I just received my 19mm 3.5 R Canon lens, which I have specifically purchased for night street photography. I have not shot film since I purchased my Canon AE-1 in the late 70's. As I was reorganizing my attic, I found it and the battery was still charged! a Kodak Photolife battery K28A made in Japan for Kodak...
I purchased CineStill 800T film, and I am only waiting for a mechanical shutter release for the AE-1.
My first shoot will be in the River Oaks district of Houston, where the extremely weathly live, and they always decorate their houses in incredible ways for Halloween and for Christmas. So much there are tours organized for the guests staying in Houston center.
It is really a sight at night, some of the decorations run in the tens of thousand of dollars!
Thank you for actually explaining your methodology, which not all 'shooting at night' videos does in-depth!
For sure! Glad I could help. I try to be as detailed as I can so if someone is interested and new to it they have a good base of knowledge to try.
New to film… listened to your video while working and without evening watching you taught me a lot. Very well explained, do you podcast?
Hey Cullen, thanks for watching and I’m glad you found it helpful! I don’t have a podcast but I have thought about it.
My man you just don’t miss. This channel is a treasure.
Oh wow thank you so much for the high praise! I appreciate you
Bro, this video was fire!!!
Thanks man! I appreciate you
the most coherent and informative video on the topic I've seen so far, thank you!
Thank you! I appreciate that!
Very insightful video!! Thank you the breakdown of the styles of shooting and the film.
I feel the longer I watch youtube videos about photography, the more I come across videos/channels (i.e. this one) that are very helpful along the way!
Thank you! My goal for this channel is to inspire, educate and share my love of photography. I’m so glad you find it helpful! Cheers
Very valuable and inspiring presentation - I learned so many new things from your shared experience, even though I have also been shooting mostly film for the past 40+ years, and lately only black and white photography.
So many beautiful images you present that I simply have no words to describe the aesthetic impact they evoke in me.
If I can say one last word, it is simply BRAVO!
Thank you so much! I appreciate your kind words especially from someone who has so much experience shooting.
I thought this was an exceptional in-depth video. I'm a film photographer of 25+ years dipping back into trying some night photography and saw you'd tested many films. And i have to say you did a superb job 👍. When you got into the swing of it and a few filming nerves i think had subsided i couldn't believe the detailed information you went into. And explained it in layperson's terms. So beginners will do very well to understand it. Well done 👏
Thanks so much for watching and the kind comments! Especially coming from someone with so much shooting experience. I wish a lot of those film stocks were still available. Some of them are getting harder to find. Thanks again for watching.
Great video man and beautiful images!
Thank you so much for watching and the positive comments on my images!
Great video, very well organized, very informative, very helpful.
Glad you enjoyed it and found it helpful! Hope you get some great night photos.
I'm already an experienced photo taker, but what a great video. I watched the whole thing and learned quite a bit.
Wow thank you for the compliment! Glad you found the video useful! One of my favorite things about photography is I feel like I’m always learning or relearning. It’s an endlessly interesting art form.
Thanks so much for the video, its helped me a lot to understand my night photography. Im still learning my camera its a Pentax K2DMD, but i take my sony a7s to estimate metering and TTArtisan hotshoe expsure unit. This technique works perfect in the day, but at night/low light i'm still struggling to expose, but every film its getting better so thanks for the tips!
Thanks for watching and glad you found the tips helpful! Yeah I do sometimes bring my Fuji digital cameras with me when shooting at night just to compare and check what the meter on a digital camera says. The only issue really is how light affects film vs a sensor and how reciprocity affects it. I tend to go with the mentality that more light is better especially on color negative because a lack of light on the negative equals less or no information. Hope you get some great captures!
@@NathanTrimbach Thanks nathan!
Very cool review of your technique! I just got back into film after a friend gifted me all the 15 years expired Fuji Pro 160C & 160S from his refrigerator (20 rolls). Back in the day I would always use 800 for night but I never owned a tripod. I have a Minolta SRT202 but the meter is CDS (and almost 50 years old) which I think was average of the center/upper part of the image. Not the best for night. But I also have a Minolta Maxxum 7000i that has matrix, center & spot. So I think I'm going definitely use that to do some night exploring. Just need to get a tripod now.
Thanks for watching! Glad you found my techniques helpful. That's a great collection of film! I hope they are in great condition. I've shot some of the Fuji NPS which I think is the earlier version of the Pro 160S and loved it during autumn. Yeah 800 speed is great if you want to do handheld, but limited to the available light. I really enjoy the looks you get from tripod shooting more. Lots of great tripod options out there! Let me know how your night shooting goes.
This was so inspiring...i cant wait to do it for myself ❤
Glad you enjoyed! Hope you get some great night shots
@@NathanTrimbach could you give me an advice where to watch for reciprocity charts or ist yours complete so far in this Video?
Hey @zoalove! I gathered those by looking at all the individual film stock data sheets of the films I have shot. I would recommend Googling that based on the film you are shooting if it's not one of the those mentioned in the video. I think there are apps that do reciprocity calculations for you but I haven't used those because most of the film I've shot at night I try to stay within the limits of reciprocity of that film stock.
It's me :)
Strong ambiance in the photos!!
Thanks for watching Pierre! I appreciate your POV
Fuckin knocked this topic outta the park. 👌👌
Great video! It’s funny, I’ve shot so much film in an urban night settings that I don’t even calculate for reciprocity failure. BTW I love the 6x9! I have an earlier 70’s Fuji GM670-the 67 camera with removable lens along with my late dad’s Nikon F2 he bought new in 1972🙏🏼
Haha yeah I think it can become second nature. Sometimes I’m slow and meticulous especially with slide film but with color negative I tend to shoot a little looser. Oh nice! How is that camera? I’ve thought about getting the 6x9 version with removable lenses but have heard it’s very heavy. The GW690 is pretty light for that large of a negative compared to say a Pentax 67 or RB67. Thanks for watching!
@@NathanTrimbach it weighs almost 1800 grams and while it’s an AMAZING camera, for the lens to be removed the dark slide has to be shut. The dark slide is kind of the Achilles heel of those cameras, the can malfunction easily. So I remove the lens from it VERY sparingly-only when I fly lol!
Great Video. Very Informative. Thank you for doing this.
Thank you! Glad you found it was helpful
man, this is great, dude.
Thank you! That means a lot!
Great to see a fellow Minneapolis photog! Great video
Great to see love from Minnesota! Thanks for watching
Hey Nathan, love the video! I see you shoot a lot of transparencies and thinking you should do a video on modern slide films. Did see that you've got a video or two referencing slide film but I think more slide info would be great! It's not very common to use and I think a lot of people are kind of afraid of it (in addition to the increased costs). Provia 100f seems to be in danger of being discontinued (or maybe is - can't seem to find a definitive answer) so you need to do your part to save E100 lol. No pressure.....
Hey Irvin! You read my mind! I have been thinking of making a series on each slide film I've shot and my experiences. TBH I was kinda afraid of slide film too when I first started but once I understood the limitations and see how beautiful it looks when it comes out I got hooked. (I'm also worried about Provia being discontinued too, I haven't been able to get any new Provia or Velvia for months).
Fantastic tutorial.
Glad you liked it!
Great video!
Amazing video - just subscribed, thanks!
Thank you! Glad you enjoyed it
Love your images!
Thank you so much! :)
you had me at 'cheese curd tacos'
Haha I mean they are delicious but might take a day to recover 🌮
Nice! Thanks. But something wrong with "DSLR 35mm Film" ;-)
Haha yeah....I'll never make that mistake again. Thanks for watching!
This is an excellent video and I think I learned a fair bit from it, so I feel a little bad about making a negative comment but hopefully the comment can help make the next one even better. There were two things that really bugged me, the little oversights that were unnecessarily distracting. The D in DSLR stands for digital, that is just an SLR, this was distracting for the error but also just left me thinking I misunderstood. The cursor on the photos and graphics, really drags my eye away from the subject. The glitch at 19 is unfortunate but it was breif and didn't really distract me from the point the way the others did.
Hey thanks for watching the video and I'm glad you learned some things! Yeah I totally hear you on a few of those mistakes. I started talking about getting my first DSLR at the beginning before getting back into film and it's just a bad habit calling the N80 a DSLR so thanks for the call out! I know I caught the cursor after the upload too. I keep catching little things I'm working on as I create these videos so I hope to keep polishing / ironing them out. Anyhow I do appreciate the feedback and hope it didn't distract too much. Cheers!
great video man.
Thanks for watching! Glad you enjoyed it
Which cable release do you use with the GW690? I can’t find one that works with my GW690, maybe it’s just my camera.
I've got just a standard screw on type of cable release. They have them on Amazon or if there's a camera shop near you usually a bin of them.
@ It must be my camera, I bought 2 off Amazon and neither works. Thanks.
@@Joel4JC Oh bummer! Sorry to hear that. Hope you find one that works.
When you spot meter for only highlights or only shadows, which zones are you targeting? 3, 5, 7?
Yeah if I'm going for a brighter image I'm going for a Zone 7 or 8. If I'm going for a darker image a 3 or 4. Drop off into the shadows is much faster at night. Also depends on if it's color negative or slide film. Sometimes I bracket more half stops brighter with color negative vs slide there's less forgiveness but more overall reciprocity to deal with.
Cool vid but not sure why you keep calling your Nikon N80 a DSLR. The D stands for Digital
Yeah that’s my bad! Meant to just say SLR. Thanks for watching!
Yep the DLSR thing threw me too!
@carlrichards5250 sorry! I’ll for sure be more careful next time. Hope you enjoyed!
@@NathanTrimbach yes I did enjoy and am
now subscribed!
How do you focus your XA? I always struggle with it because it’s very difficult to see.
Yeah....focusing on the XA is not easy especially at night. The rangefinder patch isn't super bright. The cheat code is to set it to the focus on the orange 8 and the aperture at orange f5.6 (if it's light enough). That should get most things in focus (unless close up).
TBH I ended up selling my Olympus XA to get the Olympus XA2. It uses 3 scale focus settings and ends up being a much simpler camera to use rather than constant fiddling around. Overall, a camera with more controls is going to be best for night.
I never meter when doing night photography such as fireworks. I just pick the shutter speed and f stop and Let Er Rip. A DSLR is not a film camera. You have that listed as in your metering chart. Do you have the common N80 problem. Where your film doesn't advance but does still fire? I have it and trying to find out to remedy it. It seems the auto Nikons have these quirky problems over other brand auto focus cameras.
Yep I meant to say/write SLR and made a brain fart. That approach might work for bright light sources like fireworks, lightning. But if you want precision a light meter is key.
I just noticed the second half of your question. I have had one of my N80s do this. Seemed like a shutter problem or maybe a double exposure error? TBH I have owned multiple of those bodies in the last decade since I can usually pick one up for less than $100. I currently own 3 so I can have different film stocks in or do my comparisons.
Hope you enjoyed this video on shooting film at night. Let me know if you have any questions or want to see more videos on tips or showing me shooting film at night on location. (Also, whoops about my editing mess up at 19:00! My zoom in effect didn't render 😬)
Question. How are you using film in a DSLR. I think you mean SLR as DSLR means Digital Single Lens Reflex.
Yeah that was a typo / brain fart! Thanks for watching.