Jason Lay wrote:
> I put in ASA 800 and push the film 2 stops to 3200, then use my Elan II in
> the M mode (can set both apperature and shutter speed manually) and set the
> shutter speed to 4000, and f-stop as low as I can possibly get it...how
> would this affect my pictures...or am I trying to do too much
That's the one.
If you do this with color film what you will get is, not to put too fine a point
on it, crap. The loss of color fidelity and the enormous build-up of contrast
that will result from the necessary push-processing will likely make the results
unacceptable, perhaps even unuseable. About the best you can hope for with color
is Fuji's Provia 1600 (a transparency film), which I have tried exactly once
(for basketball) and found less-than-satisfactory. As for color negatives,
pushing Fuji NHG II one stop to EI 1600 is about as far as I would go. If you
need an EI of 3200, you'll have to go to black and white: try Ilford Delta 3200
and get it processed at a decent pro lab or learn to do it yourself in the
kitchen--it's not very difficult--using Ilford DD-X or Kodak Xtol (perhaps
diluted to 1:2 or 1:3). Fuji Neopan 400 can be pushed to 1600 with good
results--probably as good (or better) than using Neopan 1600 straight up. Delta
3200 @ 1600 is more grainy, but in an attractive way.
Beyond that, you're just going to have to face the fact that some situations
require fairly specialized equipment. If you can't afford to buy or rent that
equipment, the alternative is to learn how to have the limitations of the
situation work to your advantage--for example, bu shooting your skaters by
panning with a slow shutter speed, to get a deliberate blur. I have found 1/500
sec. adequate for ice hockey, and have even gotten by with 1/250 sec. in
less-than-ideal conditions, so I doubt you really need 1/4000 sec. for figure
skaters.
The bottom line is that if you fool with the ISO setting (which simply changes
the camera's metering), you need to compensate for that somewhere down the
line--usually in the processing. Although it is often remarked that color print
film has a lot of exposure latitude, this does not mean that you can simply
underexpose the film and get a good result. Underexposure is underexposure, and
color negative film responds much less well to underexposure than to
overexposure. If you process underexposed neg film normally, you will very
likely get prints that are flat and washed-out, with big grain. Pushing color
print film one stop gives adequate but not great results (and increases your
processing costs), but you'll probably end up with more useable negatives than
by simply underexposing and hoping for the best.
Sorry for the bad news. . . . :-(
fcc
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