bigalpha wrote:Awesome! I think what I really need help with is using the manual settings.
I also have a an old Vivitar manual camera that was given to me -- and I don't know squat about how to use it properly. I don't know what any of the numbers on the lens mean, things like that.
Numbers around the barrel of the lens are apeture settings in f-stops. Big number is small opening, small number is big opening. The camera (even a manual) should have a meter. Does it work? Meters figure out how much light you need (what f-stop to use, by getting a needle to swing inside a little box, or green or red lights to come on. You also have a shutter speed. This tells you how long the shutter will be open. The smaller the number of the f-stop, the shorter your focal length (i.e. the part of the picture which will have good focus (depth of field). The range of good focus at f.2.8 is much smaller (a few feet) than at f22 (practically to infinity).
Your job, should you choose to accept it: is to combine the shutter speed and the aperture to correctly expose the picture in terms of bright/darkness, and to get your subject into the sharpest focus possible.
Rule of thumb for outdoor photo during the day: f 5.6-8 for cloudy, F 8-11 for partly cloudy, F11-16 for bright sun and F 22 for snow or bright desert.
Shutter speed: 1/60 or 1/125 is standard for daylight shooting of non-moving objects. 1/250 for slowly moving objects, 1/500-1/1000 for stop action. Now, you realize as you go to a shorter shutter speed, you limit the light admitted, so you have to open the aperture to compensate.
You can also compensate by using different film speeds. 125 or 200 ASA is median and 'normal' -- 400-800 is for dim, totally overcast/evening. The faster the film speed, the shorter the exposure needs to be. Conversely 64 speed film takes longer exposures, and for 25, you better have a tripod.
Usually cameras are flash-synched at 1/30 or 1/60 of a second. This means you MUST set the camera to those speeds, and compensate for lack of light via a distance chart (usually dependent on flash rating which are found on most modern flash units) by changing the aperture size based on that chart. This is based on an 18% neutral gray reflectivity--i.e., some ambient light.
In a cave, using only artificial flash, you are furnishing the light. Usually I open the aperture an extra 1 or 2 f-stops from what the flash says and take multiple pictures. This does not apply in an alabaster or white walled cave, which has reflectivity of 18% or more. Also, if shooting an object less than 6 feet away, I don't compensate--there is enough flash you can use the numbers, but even so I will bracket a stop or two.
Buy lots of film. Practice above ground, so you can see what your camera does under different light conditions. Then take it caving.