I'm curious about what type of film to use for good close ups. I have a Canon AE-1 and a 50mm macro lens and model in N scale. I've noticed some of the film I use in kind of grainy. Any advice?
Rule of thumb is tower the ISO number the less the grain but you trade off speed (it takes longer for the exposure). I expect you will be wanting prints? Try one of the Kodak or Fuji 100 ISO films and see if you like the results. Whilst on film, does anyone know if Kodak still produce their standard films favouring the red side of the spectrum and Fuji the green? It's been a while since I have used film...
If you are going to use a Macro lens, I assume that you are going to take photos of inanimate objects (train scenes perhaps ) ? If you have not done much close up photography using a strobe, or other artificial lighting you will find exposure to be a little tricky. Normally, open the apreture a full 2 stops more than the exposure meter tells you. Like Gary said, the lower the ISO (ASA to you who have been out of photography for a while) the cleaner the image. If you can photograph your subject out in natural sunlight, use the lowest ISO you can find if you plan to severly blow up the photos. I have to agree with Gary that ISO 100 is a good middle ground film. ... And Gary, I don't know about the red vs. blue question. Maybe someone at your local camera shop would know.
Thanks, guys. I take most of my photos outside on a small diorama. There's a couple of shots in my Rail Images file. I don't have any photo lamps yet, but I'll have to get some when I eventually get a layout going. I bought a roll of Fuji 400 X-TRA film. Maybe I'll try that and then get something a bit slower. I don't mind as I use a very slow shutter speed to help with the depth of field.
John, the 400 film will be overkill outside in daylight. Indoors it's great keeping in mind what Bill noted above regarding exposure - it will be short with 400 but your depth of field can be at it's maximum. Outdoors, have a try with 100 and since you will be taking photos of a static subject, use a tripod and remote shutter release and play around with the various settings. Bill, the question regarding colour preference of the films comes from years back. Kodak was better for human subjects and Fuji for nature due to the colour shift. They may well be so much alike now it's of no matter. I need to keep the white balance in check these days...
Having suffered through 20 years of trying to get model photographs of publishable quality through 35mm equipment - this is the #1 reason why my work has been 'stealth' until the last year or so. God only knows I tried. A macro lens will get you a decreased focal point. It will not get you depth-of-field. To get 'good' depth of field, you must shoot F22 and long exposure times, to get excellent depth of field you're talking pinhole lens. Combine the F22 with a tripod, and a macro lens, and haul the whole works outside with ASA100 slide film, and my only 'victory' was the Hickory Valley RR spread in July 95 MR. That looked good.... but..... I could NEVER get the lighting balance, etc. right on the bigger layout stuck in the basement. MR kept giving me tips, I kept blowing film.... Until digital. It just 'works'. IMHO, seriously, pitch the whole works if you're trying to shoot inside, go digital with a high, controllable F-stop (mine only goes to 11 and I get good results with a tripod and Super Macro settings). The magazines will now accept digital. It's just so much less frustrating. In case you think I'm a traitor, I carry two cameras on railfanning. The 'Digital', which is nice for recording throwaway and detail stuff, but the old 35mm comes out on all the action shots and the 'wall quality' scenes. I still never leave the 'real' camera at home. But I completely gave up on 35mm in the basement.
Me too Gary .. thanks. I had to drag out my old 35mm SLR last month to photograph some evidence of an accident scene. I had almost forgotten how to use the darned thing! Using ISO-100 Kodacolor, I had a difficult time remembering how to capture a subject located in shade with a bright sun background. It made the metering system go bonkers, so I just resorted to using a strobe. It worked just fine. John .. have ever heard of the "balance" system for taking photos with different ISO film and esposure(s) ? If you have not, it might be worth your time to explore that system. It takes a little math but it comes in handy at times. Talk to your local photography shop expert, or take a class at your local city or community college. It's fun!
John: When I used my Canon A-1 SLR with 90 MM macro lens, I used a point light in doors with an F stop of 22. I used Fuji film ASA 100. When you move outside you can still use the same Fuji film. Now I exclusively use a Nikon Coolpix 4300 digital camera.
