> I'm at a loss to understand how you can standardize on essentially > one emulsion and speed. How do you deal with a wide range of > light? If it's very bright or if you're shooting at dusk, can one > film speed/emulsion handle the different brightness ranges and > contrasts? Doesn't using 400 speed film limit your DOF options in > bright light?
Good question, Shel. Well, first, I did say "95% of my shooting", and, if I'm going out with the larger camera bag, by default (or intentionally, if I know ahead of time that I might be able to use it), I usually have a couple of rolls of Kodak Gold 100 and a couple of rolls of Kodak 400CN (yes, I know, that's still ASA 400 - <g>) in it. I also have a few rolls of Fuji 1600 in the freezer, if needed (but only for when I'm really desperate for photons). However, I do admit to using Fuji Superia 400 film almost all the time. A lot of this has to do with most of my shooting. 400 speed works well for indoor flash shooting (mostly informal portraits "on the fly") - it's "f/8 and be there" (only sometimes opening up the aperture for a more "determined" or more "studied" portrait). Outside, for wildlife shooting, I'd generally be using a fairly long lens, set wide open or close to it (for highest shutter speed possible), so that DOF is usually pretty meager anyway. I usually give up trying to get terrestrial wildlife shots when it starts to get dusky, and I don't spend much time trying to watch whales at night, either (Braille whale watches are none too popular - <g>). For macro shooting (and I'm mostly talking outdoors macro shooting), I generally am trying to close down the aperture a ways, to try to obtain as much DOF as possible, and Fuji 400 makes for a pretty good compromise between speed and print quality - I very rarely blow something up more than 8x12, say, anyway. If needed, I can usually rummage around in the bottom of one of the kit bags here to find various ND filters to use with most any of my lenses, if the light is too bright for what I want to do (which, because of the shooting I am usually doing, is not too often). Fred - 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 .
