MIchel wrote: > Do you find it a problem that the city lights will shorten the > exposure too much when trying to get the Aurora on film? I avoid city lights when shooting auroras. I prefer no signs of the "hand of man" in my pictures. I do, howewer, usually include parts of the landscape in my aurora images; I treat it as landscape photography. I don't go for those grainy and fuzzy aurora pictures usually published but aim for landscape images that can take enlargement. > When not using the OTF metering, do you have a preferred routine > for exposing, i.e. 5, 10, 15, 30 sec, f/1.4 sort of thing ? I determine exposure by using the LX then dial in that exposure on my 645n. I use exposure compensation on the LX; usually minus 2/3 stop because I don't want it to look light daylight; you need the night feel. I does depend though on how powerful the Aurora is. If its very bright I might not compensate at all because the meter treat it like any backlit subject and will give the desired "underexposure". The degree of compensation depends of course on the reciprocity characteristics of the film. I use the lens at F:4 because wider apertures don't give desired sharpness. The 645n is a totall hit and miss (mostly miss) affair because of film flatness problems that seems unsolveable (more of that in another post). > > And which emulsion(s) do you find gives better results? Kodak E100VS by a far margin. Give the most realistic colors due to its blue bias. The Aurora is very green (usually) but our brains compensate for it. By using a more neutral film the result is far greener than our brain experience the phenomena. The Ektachrome E-emulsion also have excellent reciprocity chracteristics also the way it renders blue yields punchy images. It also reacts well to pushing. At 100 ISO and F:4 shutter speed varies typically from 90s (full moon) to 245s. P�l - This message is from the Pentax-Discuss Mail List. To unsubscribe, go to http://www.pdml.net and follow the directions. Don't forget to visit the Pentax Users' Gallery at http://pug.komkon.org .
