Mark - you don't mention which camera, I presume the MZ-S? If so, two thoughts occur: 1. Had you accidentally overridden the ASA rating of the film? 2. In setting the bracketing, had you also turned the exposure compensation dial to 1 stop over? Either would appear to be consistent with your results.
guessing, but HTH John Coyle Brisbane, Australia ----- Original Message ----- From: "Mark Cassino" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Thursday, February 20, 2003 7:30 AM Subject: Cold Weather Problems > I went out to shoot the full moon setting over lake Michigan last > Sunday. It was 2F at the lake, with a very steady and strong wind > blowing. I shot two rolls for about 45 minutes from the top of an ice dune. > > The first roll was fine - it was Velvia and I bracketed in full stops. > Everything looks like it should. The second roll - E100VS - was a total > bust. Everything is over exposed - even the bracketed shots that were at > -1 stop are at least 1 stop over exposed, if not more. > > At first I thought I had either accidentally knocked the camera into manual > mode, or accidentally switched to spot metering. But neither seems to be > the case. Data imprinting shows both rolls shot in aperture priority. It > also shows the ISO for the E100VS correctly as ISO 100 and the camera was > set to evaluative metering for both rolls. > > The last frame on the Velvia shows shutter at 1.5 seconds, aperture at f13, > and exposure compensation at +1 (the over exposed shot in the bracketed > series.) The first frame of the E100S shows 3 (I assume that's 1/3rd of a > second), f13, no exposure comp. Given the differences in film speed (ISO > 50 vs 100) and exposure compensation (+1 stop vs none) it looks like the > exposures were made on the same basic light reading. But the E100VS is > grossly overexposed. Since I was shooting just before dawn it was getting > progressively lighter, and the data imprinting reflects this with shorter > exposure times as I worked through the roll of E100VS - but the film stays > consistently over exposed. The effects of bracketing in the over exposed > roll are also apparent, with some frames being less over exposed than > others. The last frame of the E100VS shows a shutter time of 1/6th of a > second, no compensation, indicating that it had gotten a stop lighter as > the sun rose - but that frame appears to be overexposed to the same degree > as the first frame on the roll. > > Any thoughts about what could have caused this? The meter appears to have > been working correctly, but the actual exposures seem to be way off. I > thought that the shutter maybe was sticking due to the cold, but in that > case it seems like the bracketing would have no effect and the exposures > would be get worse as it got lighter. I guess I imagine a sticking > shutter as just always shooting at one speed and not shooting at a stop or > two over the desired speed. > > Or could the film somehow be at fault? I can't see how cold could make > film be more sensitive, though. When I took the Velvia out of the camera, > the leader actually cracked, because it was so brittle from the cold. > > I did shoot 3 more exposures on another roll of Velvia after the roll of > E100VS - so far I have not shot out the roll to see how those frames came > out. That will probably provide an extra clue. > > Any thoughts about what the problem could be? The Mz-S has the battery > pack on it, and alkalines (fresh) in that. Could a voltage drop make the > shutter mechanism loose accuracy? > > - MCC > - > - - - - - - - - - - > Mark Cassino > Kalamazoo, MI > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > - - - - - - - - - - > Photos: > http://www.markcassino.com > - - - - - - - - - - > > >
