I have also used the LX for long time AE night shots, up to probably 4 or 5 minutes and I have also wondered whether Pentax has built in some compensation for the reciprocity error that no doubt exists for such long exposures.
As the Impresa is a print film and from your description of the 'milky look' I guess that you judge camera exposure from the prints that you got - which might not tell you the true story... What you have to keep in mind, is that the camera exposes for an 'average grey' exposure and for a typical night shot you do not want this, usually. In a scene with a lot of 'black night' and some bright spots the camera meter would probably be mistaken by the black and overexpose - to keep the night impression you would need to correct the exposure by -1 or so. Now with print film this becomes even worse, as the printer will 'automatically' underexpose (leave grey) the areas that you exposed to be plain black. Correct prints from such a negative you will only get after complaining - or if you pay for a hand print up front. Sven -----Ursprungliche Nachricht----- Von: Stephen Moore [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Gesendet: Donnerstag, 26. Februar 2004 17:28 An: Pentax List Betreff: LX: Long exposures on auto A question for the LXers: What's the longest (ballpark figure) successful exposure you've made using the LX's automatic, direct-metering mode? Although I've grown to trust the AE mode in conventional photo situations, around New Year's I tried out its low- light capabilities for the first time. I was using Konica Impresa 50 and a Vivitar Series 1 105/2.5 macro at f/8 to shoot the Christmas tree and some of its ornaments. During the day, with tree lights on and some daylight selectively let in through drawn drapes, the LX was choosing exposures on the order of 10-20 seconds and producing very good images. After dark, however, using only the tree lights, times were running to 4-5 minutes, sometimes more. Also tried some whole-tree shots, using a flashlight to paint the tree and selected ornaments. All these shots came back with a severe case of that milky underexposed look (but, in tribute to the Impresa 50, not at all grainy.) The light-painting shots were better, but still spoiled by the underexposed background. So, did I run into reciprocity failure? Is there any way to let the LX still do its thing yet avoid the problem? Any other LX-specific low-light tips would be much appreciated. Thanks, Stephen Moore
