# ISO 400 for Night Bulb Shot



## Sleepy_Sentry (May 26, 2009)

I understand that for night shots, it is better to use a fast film like ISO 800 or 1600. However, I have some ISO 400 film and a tripod that I'd like to use to take a bulb shot of the night sky (I live near an air force base and would like to see what planes I can catch).

What kind of results should I expect? Will there be too much noise? Or does the film speed not matter at all since I'm using a tripod?


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## kundalini (May 26, 2009)

It's been a while since I've shot film, although I have a half spent roll of B&W in my Canon atm (I shoot Nikon digital), but if memory serves me well, you can easily push the film to ASA800 or even 1600 with additional grain. Just let the lab know before processing. Also, if you're on Bulb, then just expose for a longer time if at ASA400.

Someone will hopefully correct my mis-information.


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## Alpha (May 26, 2009)

The speed of the film is negligible for long exposures...and you won't catch anything fast with ISO 400 film. It's reciprocity failure you should be concerned about. You can loosely think of it as, after opening the shutter, the amount of time before you start getting diminishing returns on the length of exposure. 

What kind of film is this anyway? If it's black and white you can push all the way to 3200 if you like grain and don't want a super long exposure. If it's color you're going to be in trouble pushing it much more than a stop at night. If you want to shoot color print film at night I'd recommend Portra 800.


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