Here's something for all you "available dark" shooters.
I'm going to be shooting a nighttime mountain biking event next Saturday
night. It involves four bikers at a time going down a purpose-built course at
night, under floodlights. No, I'm not going to enter and strap the 15mm to the
handlebars ;)
As you might imagine, having a GN48(m) handle-flash go off at you when
you're going down rough terrain at 50mph in the dark is not healthy. Fast
film is the only option here, unless I use an IR flash which I just don't have
the time to set up and experiment with (plus IR film is too expensive here).
I'm currently wondering what kind of film would be best. The biggest
problem is that I don't know how bright those lights are going to be. In other
words, I have no idea how fast I'll need to rate my film :) I am thinking about
rating as high as I can, and if I have any excess speed I'll use it to stop the
lenses down a bit further for extra DOF, or absorb it into a time-freezing
shutter speed.
The glass I'll be using is the SMCP 50mm f/1.2, FA 100/2.8 macro, and FA*
24/2.0. I'll be using a K2 for its nice big bright finder, and a Z-1p for its
motordrive and the remote possibility that its AF might actually work
acceptably well (plus I can actually read its viewfinder information in the
dark!).
I'm going to want some reasonably action-stopping shutter speeds (although
I'll do a few slower shots for effect); 1/125 or faster would be great if I could
get it. But I have no way of knowing the light beforehand so I'm just going to
have to be as prepared as I can.
Just to be clear, I am not expecting fine-art images that'll go to 20x30.
Golfball-sized grain is perfectly acceptable to me in this situation.
I'd rather use a B&W film as it won't result in an annoying yellow/orange
cast in my prints (depending what type of lights they use). T400CN will be
easier for me to handle but I'll have to crazily underexpose it. I can have any
C-41 film pushed up to two stops (at no extra cost!) if necessary, but the
recent thread on pushing C-41 is a little off-putting, even though I'm not being
critical about image quality (can I underexpose a 2-stop pushed film by
another two stops and not piss the printer off?<g>).
I'd appreciate any advice on how well the high-speed C-41 films (eg PJ800
which I can get cheap at the moment) can handle 2-3 stops of
underexposure, or how T400CN will handle 3-4 stops under, with or without
pushing.
I have a lab in mind that will handle B&W and if I remember correctly they
aren't terribly expensive for developing and 6x4 proofs. If this option is
useable I'll definitely go for the really fast B&W films (the guy in the shop
recommended Neopan 1600, but they also sell Kodak and Ilford 3200), and if
I'm lucky I might even be able to close the aperture a little ;)
Cheers,
- Dave
David A. Mann, B.E.
email [EMAIL PROTECTED] * http://www.digistar.com/~dmann/
"Why is it that if an adult behaves like a child they lock him up,
while children are allowed to run free on the streets?" -- Garfield
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