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which film to use

Discussion

4 replies
Posted by Michael Hackett on July 28, 2011 at 8:43 PM
I want to shoot the meteor shower tomorrow night with my old 35mm film camera. any suggestions on what slide film to use? I haven't shot film in ages and thought it might be a nice change of pace
Posted by Grant Collier on July 28, 2011 at 9:00 PM
If you're doing star trails, I'd recommend Fuji Provia 100F. Provia tends to be a little bluer than other Fuji films, so it gives the sky a more natural color, though you still might need to tweak the colors. However, for meteors, I'd recommend repeatedly doing shorter exposures around 30 seconds with your digital camera at a high ISO in hopes of catching a meteor in the shot. Meteors have to be really bright to be seen when shooting star trails, since the ISO has to be lower, and even then I don't think they're as dramatic as they are when you have the stars as points of light and the streaks by meteors.
Posted by Michael Hackett on July 28, 2011 at 9:08 PM
thanks Grant, I appreciate the tips on how to shoot. I think I'll try both film and digital since I now have 2 tripods. Now all I need is a location.
Posted by Mel Ladewig on July 31, 2011 at 2:55 PM
Michael,

I'd agree that Provia is the preferred and effectively only choice for long exposure night shots since E200 is gone. Most other films available today have reciprocity failure issues that make them problematic for long exposures. But like Grant was saying, you'll want your lens to be pretty open because that light from a meteor will be pretty dim in comparison to the stars.
Posted by Ken Wyatt on July 31, 2011 at 6:26 PM
You might also try a 50mm/f1.4 lens (or f1.8) for the max light for that "slow" film.