Yashica Electro 35 GTN - Overexposed film

Overrank

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As an example of how much you can overexpose colour negative film and still get a usable image. The following were on AgfaVista Plus 200ASA (Poundland Film) with a Yashica Electo 35 GTN. Unfortunately at some point in my bag the lens had been knocked from AUTO to FLASH (and I didn't check), so I shot a whole roll at 1/30s at f/1.7 :-) And it wasn't a 1/30s kind of day.

Luckily I managed to recover it (mostly) in scanning, the first three are example from that roll, the last one was from the next roll when I realised what I'd done (so was AUTO exposed).

(And all the time the overexposure light kept going off and I kept ignoring it, thinking it was trying to get 1/2000s )



BT Tower, Fitzrovia, London
BT Tower, Fitzrovia, London



Statue of Mahatma Gandhi, Tavistock Square, Bloomsbury, London
Statue of Mahatma Gandhi, Tavistock Square, Bloomsbury, London



Tavistock Square, Bloomsbury, London
Tavistock Square, Bloomsbury, London





Senate House,  AKA "The Ministry of Truth", Bloomsbury, London
Senate House, AKA "The Ministry of Truth", Bloomsbury, London

The colours in the overexposed roll had a blue cast, but otherwise could be recovered. Given that they were something like 5 - 7 stops overexposed I was quite suprised, some of the other Tavistock Square photos have a very dreamy out of focus element.
 
That's cool, Overrank, thanks for posting. Was just listening to the latest FPP today, and they talked a bit about pushing film (they're not fans). Mike opined that if you only need a stop or two, just shoot at box speed and let the film's inherent latitude take care of you -- fix it in post, as it were.

Aaron
 
Ha-ha, this wouldn't happen if you were shooting digital :-P

Interesting experiment though.
 
You'll possibly remember the wonderful newspaper photographer Jane Bown who allegedly only ever used one exposure setting - 1/60th at f2.8 - whatever the lighting/conditions. (And almost always an 85mm lens.)

Jane was famously uninterested in the technical side of photography and ok, she always shot B&W film which has a fair amount of latitude as we know, but it show what you can get away with, using film.
 
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You'll possibly remember the wonderful newspaper photographer Jane Bown who allegedly only ever used one exposure setting - 1/60th at f2.8 - whatever the lighting/conditions. (And almost always an 85mm lens.)
Not only 85mm.



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Jane was famously uninterested in the technical side of photography and ok, she always shot B&W film which has a fair amount of latitude as we know, but it show what you can get away with, using film.
She probably was a nightmare for her printers :)

--
 
Ha-ha, this wouldn't happen if you were shooting digital :-P

Interesting experiment though.
Ah, yes! Experiment........ that’s the word

I have done this deliberately in the past, metering plus and minus 8 stops or so, and it’s surprising what you can get away with. I’ll have to see if I can present them in a concise way
 
Ah, yes! Experiment........ that’s the word

I have done this deliberately in the past, metering plus and minus 8 stops or so, and it’s surprising what you can get away with. I’ll have to see if I can present them in a concise way
Eight stops!!! That's crazy. I remember I accidentally shot Portra 800 in ISO 100 or ISO 80 because I was shooting Superia Reala before it. That said, Portra 800 looked marvelous when shot at ISO 80 or 100! I was so worried I told the lab owner I shot at the wrong ISO, and he told me not to worry about it, because Portra 800 has a lot of latitude and he is right.
 
Ah, yes! Experiment........ that’s the word

I have done this deliberately in the past, metering plus and minus 8 stops or so, and it’s surprising what you can get away with. I’ll have to see if I can present them in a concise way
Eight stops!!! That's crazy. I remember I accidentally shot Portra 800 in ISO 100 or ISO 80 because I was shooting Superia Reala before it. That said, Portra 800 looked marvelous when shot at ISO 80 or 100! I was so worried I told the lab owner I shot at the wrong ISO, and he told me not to worry about it, because Portra 800 has a lot of latitude and he is right.
I was slightly out, it was plus/minus 7 stops. See below for the output. This is autoexposure on the scanner, I haven't adjusted the mid point or colour (the image is a white-grey-black grey card).

Scanner - Plustek 8200i, Silverfast Ai, Agfaphoto VistaPlus 200ASA
Scanner - Plustek 8200i, Silverfast Ai, Agfaphoto VistaPlus 200ASA

I've not included anything underexposed at more than 4 stops because the grey just merges into the black.
 
Well, I probably wouldn't use it overexposed for more than three stops from the result. Though it's nice to map out the color shift. Thank you for doing that. It can be used when people wants more bluish results (or to balance off if the lighting is way too warm)
 
Well, I probably wouldn't use it overexposed for more than three stops from the result. Though it's nice to map out the color shift. Thank you for doing that. It can be used when people wants more bluish results (or to balance off if the lighting is way too warm)
I often use a stop or two overexposure deliberately, and certainly with older (out of date) film it can help. I think those scans make it look worse than it actually is in real life - the first set of photos were somewhere between 5 and 7 stops overexposed and a lot of that can be pulled back in the scanner (which I didn’t try to do in the test photos).
 
Well, I probably wouldn't use it overexposed for more than three stops from the result. Though it's nice to map out the color shift. Thank you for doing that. It can be used when people wants more bluish results (or to balance off if the lighting is way too warm)
I often use a stop or two overexposure deliberately, and certainly with older (out of date) film it can help. I think those scans make it look worse than it actually is in real life - the first set of photos were somewhere between 5 and 7 stops overexposed and a lot of that can be pulled back in the scanner (which I didn’t try to do in the test photos).
I often overexpose 1/3 to 1 stop myself as it improves the look quite a bit (in my opinion). I personally wouldn't go that far as 7 stops, as I don't control my scans usually, but people can certainly do it with some precaution.
 

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