Tips on how to expose / rate film

[@_lowcountry]

HAVE HEART!! This is a great breakdown of how exposure on film works. When I first started I was so meticulous about trying to get perfect exposure and never took the film’s latitude into consideration. Now I’m much less worried about being precise and realized as long as it isn’t super underexposed it will be fine. Gonna try your tip about pushing film soon too.

[@therealsirrobin]

Thank you Rene! 🤘

[@Dre_On_Film]

Rene Fierro HAVE HEART FOREVER!

[@Klemenswichmann]

i thought the same thing :D

[@nathan_woodgate]

Very nice explanation, thank you 👍🏼📷

[@MrBillboeing]

Great informative video guys ! Many questions answered, thanks for that.

[@therealsirrobin]

Thank you.🙂

[@windyadiyatna7912]

i've learn much from this video. thankyou sir robin

[@TheAgam96]

Great! But if I overexpose portra 400 and shoot it at 100... Do I have to develop it like a 400 or a 100?

[@orngpeelr9017]

Late to the party here (and perhaps you have now found your answer), but you would generally just develop it at boxspeed.

[@MC-hr1py]

What do you meter for when exposing three stops over? Would you just let your cameras light meter decide when looking at a scene or do you meter for shadows and then add two or three stops?

[@jasonzy425]

Wonderful video! Is there a video on the photos you shot portra 400 at 50? They look really great!

[@JakeTheBear1]

Wohh! This has got me confused ever since I started using film thank you for the great explenation!

[@therealsirrobin]

Thank you Jake, glad it helps you out.👌

[@leeo.alexander2324]

This is really good. I am from the old school of film. Started in 1977 when stationed in Germany. I had two photographers that worked with me at the local photo lab on post. I used a Canon F1 and a Mamiya 645. I got my medium format for an unbelievable price of $360 for a complete system because it was mispriced by the sales-person. I did not have a light meter and the medium format camera was only a prism to view through. I used the "Sunny 16" rule with TX. Learned a lot and enjoyed every moment of my photographic experience.

[@bfs5113]

I started out around the same time with a Nikon F2A and then added a 500 C/M. Luckily, both had meter prisms to make metering easier, even many of us probably could read the EV of the scenes, without a meter anyway. 😊 Nevertheless, most of my time was concentrating on getting the exposure right, learning the art of seeing and composition. Those were the fun parts of my journey and having a wet color darkroom for processing & printing, just to complete the learning experience.

[@itsthatsoftwhite]

Thank you for another great video. Was exactly what I was looking for recently. Cheers!

[@AbdullahChakmakchi]

I watch this so many times. It all make sense. Wish I learnt this ages ago. I started shooting film in 2019. So I am still learning and enjoying the process. But quick question I have Ilford HP5 I'm shooting it at 200 but will develop at box speed would that be ok? I am only doing it so I don't underexposed the film. Thank You 😊

[@cdl0]

The advice in this video is excellent, and very well explained. Film is highly non linear, or "organic", to use the term in the video, making it more like human vision, except the human eye does the clever trick of having both slow, fine-grain colour and super-sensitive black-and-white film on the retina simultaneously. Ivan is right to point out that there are fewer options with film. This is a good thing, because it allows the photographer to concentrate on the composition instead of fiddling with camera settings. Film cameras always came with a brief, simple booklet, half of which was about operating the camera, and half of which was about how to take good pictures. In other words, this meant simply load the film, set the metering to be a bit overexposed, compose, focus, and take pictures! Now with a modern digital camera you get a 130-page paperback book with every menu option described in tedious detail, and not a word on how to take good pictures. By page 16, you have lost the will to photograph anything.

[@ivan_osorio]

Turned out really great, Robin! This was a really fun one to shoot, hahaha. I hope it clears some of the questions I've seen people ask around; we did what we could to cover the basics, and hopefully everyone can continue their studies and practice from here. Good luck, people :)

[@songlianmangsonglianmang2744]

How about say you overexpose Portra 400 two stops and develop normal because I like that pastel look. But then again, I like the contrasty pushed looks. So, would it work if I push two stop overexposed but push one stop to retain that light pastel look while having that slight contrasty picture

[@joiesong]

Thanks for your helpful advice! Take good care of yourself.

[@therealsirrobin]

Thank you! 🙂

[@thomasdomise7407]

Thank you! Really nice vidéo with a lot of really good information :-) Small questions about the examples shown, when you mention "Ilford HP5+ 400 @1600" , @1600 refers to the exposition or the development (or both)? Same for Portra 400 @50, @50 refers to the exposition only and developed normally? Thanks again for your help ;-)

[@therealsirrobin]

Thank you Thomas! HP5 I meter for 800 and develop @1600. Color negative films are developed normally when not pushed which I only do occasionally when shooting at night.

[@thomasdomise7407]

@@therealsirrobin Thank you very much for your reply ;-)

[@marcotp9]

Thank you! Do you need to tell the lab if you overexposed (like you would do when pulling) or not?

[@therealsirrobin]

No, you don't need to!

[@quite1enough]

really really nice explanation, thanks! it's a pity that there's no possibility to change iso mid-roll (that's why I love large photography more lol)

[@adventureStaley]

Great stuff. On point!

[@therealsirrobin]

Thank you!

[@SinaFarhat]

Thanks for the tips on exposing/rating film! I have found that slide film has some level of recoverability in the shadows, but it still much more recommended to get it right in camera! Also since I develop and scan film for a friend I have learned the trick to develop an expired iso 400 roll as 1600 in order to get the most from those frames and this has enabled me to get really nice and bright frames! Keep up the good work and stay sane!

[@therealsirrobin]

Thank you Sina!🙂

[@agylub]

Completely wrong. If you are using expired 400iso film you should overexpose it by 1 stop for every 10 years past expiry. So if it is 10 years expired rate it at 200iso. If 20 years then rate it at 100iso

[@SinaFarhat]

@@agylub You seem to be very sure of yourself there! The 1 stop per 10 year method is a good starting idea! However, some expired films are more resilient and don't get affected that much even if they are old and expired, for example, my freezer stored 1980-2000 slide films are such a case where I don't compensate for their age, shoot at stock speed, and get bright and great colours developed slides! Also regarding my method of applying 2 extra stops in the development method, if I want to shoot an expired roll and have iso 400 light available I will do so and enjoy the roll knowing that I can shoot handheld and get good shutter speeds, this allows me to enjoy the moment and in development get good and bright negatives via 2 extra stops! As a reference, I develop films for a friend and he sometimes gives me odd expired roll that hasn't had any compensation because he used a compact camera with no option to do say +2, and when I develop those rolls and give it extra time in the developer I give his frames the best possible result as one could give them!

[@agylub]

@@SinaFarhat yes. But the 10 year rule certainly doesn’t apply to frozen stock and you didn’t mention changing development. My angle comes from running a Kodak certified C41 lab in the 80’s. Different emulsions increase their Base+Fog density differently. I recently shot some 22yo Fuji 160 at 40 iso and it was spot on.

[@SinaFarhat]

@@agylub Good points and thanks for the info and feedback :)

[@dreamarchist]

(This time an english comment, not a german one, hehe) Well, Robin... my anticipation was just satisfied. ;) It was really nice to learn something new even for me and I guess I'll shoot the rest of the roll of Portra 400 in my Mamiya 645 as a 100 or even 50 ISO - it just looks fantastic. Maybe I'm going to overexpose the Fuji C200 in an Olympus XA and the Kodak Gold in my Nikon F3 by two stops - because why not?^^ PS: Take this for your choice of the shirt -> ❤️ Ein PPS, dass dann doch noch auf deutsch ist: frohe Ostern dir bzw. euch noch und bleib(t) fit! :)

[@therealsirrobin]

Haha, thank you! Sure, if you have enough light, go for it!!! 🤘

[@niceblades33]

Should I overexposed black and white film? Or is it mainly for color ??

[@therealsirrobin]

It's very similar.

[@peirs]

Great explanation thanks alot :)

[@stuartflipflops]

Question: Does an overexposure approach also apply for a Porta-look with 35mm Kodak Gold Plus 200 or Ultramax 400? PS My one exposure mistake was using the light meter pointed straight ahead, i.e. underexposure from the influence of the sky. So switched to pointing down ~30-45 deg - okay now.

[@datboidadl4111]

Sick Have Heart shirt dude, very informative video

[@therealsirrobin]

One of my favorite bands ever! 🤘

[@JoseCharata]

Hi, thanks for your channel, it's a pleasure to watch. About how to exposing film, i think you get only the empiric side, not the "cientific" side. The exposure should be undestood as the most important part of the process, if you don't have a good negative a very good scanner can save you until certain limits, but if you expose correctly relative to the middle grey (18% grey) that your light meter will try to put your scene, your negative will be much better. ;)

[@larsj5964]

Great video, So in other words: shooting a B&W 400 film, meter for 200. Then if you like to push just do it during development?

[@cdl0]

Yes.

[@AndreLieberher]

super informative already but why isn't the aperture talked about in this video sir?.. (I'm new to film photography and am excited to learn).

[@therealsirrobin]

Thank you! It's because you could have a similar effect on the exposure by changing the shutter speed instead of adjusting the aperture. 👌

[@erikleypoldt8275]

So if you push film are you overexposing the film? Pull underexposing?

[@cdl0]

Pushing and pulling is about development; over- or underexposure is what you do with the camera. So, for example, if you decide to push a film by two stops, then you would nominally underexpose the film by two stops, but leave the film longer in the development bath so it behaves as if it were four times as sensitive to light as the manufacturer's rated speed printed on the box. However, it is nearly always better to overexpose film than underexpose it, so in this example, you would likely want to underexpose the film by one stop instead of two stops.

[@Enginecastgaming]

Are you still in Bangkok? If you're still in Bangkok, do you still go out and shoot? I shoot around Bangkok but i'm in quarantine right now. I really wanna do a photowalk with you some day!

[@therealsirrobin]

No, I am not in Bangkok anymore.

[@DanaPennington]

I'm just here for your awesome collection of hardcore band shirts.

[@aantonic]

i really dont like scanning negatives, i like them printed on paper in darkroom, thats the real film photography where computer doesnt get involved. Overexposed negatives just need to be projected on paper with enlarger longer time. But then more grain comes too. But you have more time dodging and burning unlike underexposed negatives, where time is to short to project on paper

[@lamenza3]

Good! love from Brazil

[@stuartflipflops]

JMO yet I believe you would look artistic in a Stetson Open Range hat or similar vs the ball cap.

[@davidmb2587]

I used to overexpose C41 film 1 or 2 stops but recently I stopped doing that. Now I use my in camera's light meter (M6) or a spotmeter and deliberately put my measured exposure on a certain 'zone' or where I think it belongs on the exposure scale. Since then, my time editing in Lightroom decreased and I got the 'real' (intended by the manufacturer) exposure. No color shift, no coarse grain only the beauty and characteristics of the film. Just overexposing to be on the safe side is lazy and I think with the increasing cost of film we shouldn't 'guesstimate' our exposure. It was Nick Carver who convinced me the importance of this. He has a good course on exposing for film. Just my 2 cents.

[@therealsirrobin]

David, that is totally subjective. Like I mentioned in the video , I prefer the look of overexposed film over shot at box speed. Why not make use of the great latitude of film?

[@davidmb2587]

​@@therealsirrobinYeah, I understand that you can use this as a creative tool. But when it falls apart it's a pity of all the time and effort. Portra is great for that but I started to use cheaper films and then it goes bad very quickly, with color casts as a result (when overexposing 4 stops for example). I don't overexpose 'always' anymore but try to use as much of the films latitude. Anyway, it's the subject that matters the most. Your channel is great. Thanks, Robin.

[@dubhd4r4]

Underexpose C-41, just convert to BW. I found out what the M to X switch does on my Yashica TLR the hard way.

[@martinmuller5531]

Have Heart 🙌🏻❤️

[@therealsirrobin]

🤘

[@ironvhs]

Great video\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ great guys

[@therealsirrobin]

Thank you!

[@charliezielinski5334]

nice shirt! yeah man

[@therealsirrobin]

🤘

[@DmakProductionsTempe]

Nice, you cover some good tips in the video production industry! We enjoy what you talk about, keep going. Anytime you're in Arizona let us know. If you'd like, message us @dmakproductions on Instagram and we can connect. You kill it!