# Super confused about ISO 3200 Film.



## plaintastic (Oct 26, 2012)

Hi,

So for my next photography assignment for my college film photography class, we have to shoot in 3200 film. I have Ilford 3200 Delta.

I've been googling and reading on forums, but I'm still really confused about this film in terms of how I should use the light meter. My little Vivitar V3800N has a built in meter, but even when I set my ISO to 3200, it still reads most of everything under indoor light as relatively dark. I thought this was meant to be shot in low light? I don't want to decrease my shutter speed below 125, i.e. longer exposure because my photos will be blurry won't it?

I'm confused as to what I should point at when I evaluate the meter. For example, if I were to take pictures of street lamps in the dark, do I point at the lamps? how do i know that it's too bright or to dark? 

I'm planning to take this camera into a Halloween party indoors at night. I'm just worried there isn't enough light.

Example photos would be useful if possible. I just want to make sure that i'm not underexposing/overexposing these shots.


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## Compaq (Oct 27, 2012)

The Delta 3200 isn't an ISO3200 film. It's around ISO-1000, if I'm not much mistaken. The "3200" is its exposure index. Someone else will have to explain the relationship to you. The point is, if you expose it at ISO3200, you're pushing the film = underexposing it which is compensated by overdeveloping it afterwards.

Are you sure your meter is accurate? In any way, if you can spot meter, always meter off of _what you want to be properly expose_. So, if there's a person standing in a street lamp's light, don't meter the street lamp, but the person's face. This can be achieved by spot metering from a distance, or moving closer and filling the frame with the face, noting the meter's information, backing and up and shoot at those settings.

You can shoot the D3200 at 6400 as well, you're just pushing it further. This will give you a higher contrast negative, with less detail in the shadows and highlights. Just remember to push the entire film the same. Don't expose at ISO3200 for some shots and 6400 for some shots. You can only develop for one of those settings (unless you cut the film in two in the darkroom before developing, but that isn't the most practical thing to do).

I would think you must be prepared to go well below 1/125th of a second for your shutter speed. Which ss gives blur very much depends on the subject, your focal length and how steady you are. The basic rule of thumb is that if you're shooting at a focal length f=50mm, then you can "safely" use a shutter speed of 1/50th of a second. If f=28mm, then the slowest "safe" ss is 1/28th (1/30th) of a second.  Just remember that if your subject moves, you'll need a faster shutter speed to freeze that motion. Don't be scared to go slower than 1/125th. If I need to shoot at 1/30th handheld, I do so to get the shot I want.

Experience is alpha and omega when it comes to anticipating which settings to use, and when it comes to interpreting the scenery with your eyes. Maybe you could make notes of your camera settings (numbered with your frames respectively), and review after development. Then you'll get an idea of which settings were wrong and which were correct for the lighting situation you encountered that night. Might be a useful experience. This way you'll also get an idea of what your depth of field is at certain apertures. With digital, it's easy to learn this, but with film you need to note the aperture you used, develop and review your shots and study the depth of field.


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## compur (Oct 27, 2012)

plaintastic said:


> Hi,
> 
> So for my next photography assignment for my college film photography class, we have to shoot in 3200 film. I have Ilford 3200 Delta.
> 
> ...



Assuming you're not using a flash and/or tripod, you left out the most important bit of information, i.e., what lens are you using?

No matter what film you're shooting you'll need a relatively fast lens to shoot hand-held without flash or tripod while indoors under typical indoor lighting conditions.

Rule of thumb on minimum shutter speed is approximately "1 divided by lens focal length," that is, if using a 35mm lens then it would be 1/35 (actually 1/30 on most cameras). You can go lower using some sort of improvised support such as a chair, table, etc.  

As for shooting outdoors under street lamps, as always you would meter the subject which you wish to be properly exposed.  You would only meter directly off the street lamps if your subject were the street lamps. This type of lighting can be tricky and takes practice to get good results. A hand held ambient light meter helps a lot but you can get by with a gray card or simply metering off, for example, you own hand if you want to correctly expose for people shots. But, again, you will likely need either a relatively fast lens and/or flash and/or tripod for best results.


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