Guidance needed

[desmondjy]

I'm using a yashica 35 gsn and I've notice quite a number of my photos are "under-expose" and not usable. What i don't understand is that my aperture is wide open at f/1.7, auto shutter speed and the environment is not that dark at all. I'm using tri-x 400 @ asa 400.

This was taken in the train station

And this was taken indoor

Experts out there please help!

 

[raytoei]

hi,

i am no expert.

I downloaded your two pictures and adjusted the "Curves" in Photoshop.

They are a little dark but i wouldn't call it unusable.

There are many variables here. So I won't want to jump to conclusion:

* Shutter speed
* development
* etc

Why don't you try with manual speed instead of auto, to isolate the problem ?

 

[desmondjy]

Hi ray,

first off, thanks for your effort! The camera is aperture priority so i can't set the shutter speed. The thing is, i don't understand why it's still under-exposed during indoors even at f/1.7.

I'm wondering whether if there is a problem with the shutter at slower speed because it's perfectly fine shooting under the sun. And also, if i set the asa higher(Maybe 800) but still shoot with a tri-x 400, will it isolate the problem? btw i send my photos to photohub for development and scanning.

 

[raytoei]

hi. okay... good idea on the asa, but i think you should set it to asa 200, so that it till increase the exposure time.

eg. iso 400, room is usually f2.8 and 1/30
eg. iso 200, room is then f2.8 and 1/15

so that you if at iso 400 you get 1/30, now at iso 200 you'd get 1/15, ie. more light.

And you should develop it at iso 400.

Of course the other method, assuming that all your shots are indoor/night, then ask fotohub to push it a stop or two.

raytoei

 

[mikhail33]

Hi ray,

first off, thanks for your effort! The camera is aperture priority so i can't set the shutter speed. The thing is, i don't understand why it's still under-exposed during indoors even at f/1.7.

I'm wondering whether if there is a problem with the shutter at slower speed because it's perfectly fine shooting under the sun. And also, if i set the asa higher(Maybe 800) but still shoot with a tri-x 400, will it isolate the problem? btw i send my photos to photohub for development and scanning.

If it only happens with shots that you took indoors, it might be a problem with the lightmeter, because i have a om-1 that meters properly outdoors but if off by 1 stop indoors.

 

[bayusuputra]

sometimes, my MG-1 that i have sold away gave me this kind of underexposed, low contrast results, not all the time, but one or two per roll.. The thing is my MG-1 suffered from POD problem, so maybe the problem lies on that? POD problem can cause many things to happen.. easiest way to check is to listen for that distinctive clunky sound when you start to advance the film.. Or another problem i can think of is bad electrical contacts, which can also throw exposure off.. this has been a problem for some of the electro users, not a difficult thing to mend.. read up on yashica guy's website: http://www.yashica-guy.com/document/repair.html
if you need repair manuals, you can also get it online.. it's not that hard to find.. i found mine in just two google searches..

 

[desmondjy]

Ray:

Okay, i will try switching the asa to 200 for indoors and switch it back for outdoors. For the other method, pushing one to two stops when developing, does that mean asking them to develop at iso 200?

mikhail33:

Oh, why haven't i thought of that. If there is a problem with the lightmeter, will a CLA service solve it? If so, where can i find a expert for CLA?

 

[bayusuputra]

Ray:

Okay, i will try switching the asa to 200 for indoors and switch it back for outdoors. For the other method, pushing one to two stops when developing, does that mean asking them to develop at iso 200?

mikhail33:

Oh, why haven't i thought of that. If there is a problem with the lightmeter, will a CLA service solve it? If so, where can i find a expert for CLA?

for CLA, you can try camera hospital, sunshine plaza, ask for mr steven lee..

 

[desmondjy]

sometimes, my MG-1 that i have sold away gave me this kind of underexposed, low contrast results, not all the time, but one or two per roll.. The thing is my MG-1 suffered from POD problem, so maybe the problem lies on that? POD problem can cause many things to happen.. easiest way to check is to listen for that distinctive clunky sound when you start to advance the film.. Or another problem i can think of is bad electrical contacts, which can also throw exposure off.. this has been a problem for some of the electro users, not a difficult thing to mend.. read up on yashica guy's website: http://www.yashica-guy.com/document/repair.html
if you need repair manuals, you can also get it online.. it's not that hard to find.. i found mine in just two google searches..

I just checked and there is no clunky sound when advancing. I am doing some research on the electrical contacts that you told me cuz i never heard of it before and hopefully can fix it myself. Btw, did you manage to fix the POD problem?

 

[bayusuputra]

Ray:

Okay, i will try switching the asa to 200 for indoors and switch it back for outdoors. For the other method, pushing one to two stops when developing, does that mean asking them to develop at iso 200?

mikhail33:

Oh, why haven't i thought of that. If there is a problem with the lightmeter, will a CLA service solve it? If so, where can i find a expert for CLA?

for CLA, you can try camera hospital, sunshine plaza, ask for mr steven lee..

 

[chiif]

I suspect the battery is giving you the problem. As you can't find the original voltage battery for the yashica anymore, using the modern LR44 stack together will be too high for the meter. Since the meter has too high voltage, it will be more sensitive and thus set a higher shutter speed than it should.

You can try this: If you are using a ISO400 film, try shooting at ISO 100, it should compensate the metering by 2 stop. If it works well, then you should remember this setting and any film that you use, you can compensate by the same number of f stop. Hope that helps.

There is no hard and fast rule, just shoot more, trial and error and you should get better result...

 

[desmondjy]

I suspect the battery is giving you the problem. As you can't find the original voltage battery for the yashica anymore, using the modern LR44 stack together will be too high for the meter. Since the meter has too high voltage, it will be more sensitive and thus set a higher shutter speed than it should.

You can try this: If you are using a ISO400 film, try shooting at ISO 100, it should compensate the metering by 2 stop. If it works well, then you should remember this setting and any film that you use, you can compensate by the same number of f stop. Hope that helps.

There is no hard and fast rule, just shoot more, trial and error and you should get better result...

Yes, i'm using LR44 and i didn't know it will cause this problem. thanks for explaining mate! I will try that on the next shoot.

 

[desmondjy]

I suspect the battery is giving you the problem. As you can't find the original voltage battery for the yashica anymore, using the modern LR44 stack together will be too high for the meter. Since the meter has too high voltage, it will be more sensitive and thus set a higher shutter speed than it should.

You can try this: If you are using a ISO400 film, try shooting at ISO 100, it should compensate the metering by 2 stop. If it works well, then you should remember this setting and any film that you use, you can compensate by the same number of f stop. Hope that helps.

There is no hard and fast rule, just shoot more, trial and error and you should get better result...

Yes, i'm using LR44 and i didn't know it will cause this problem. thanks for explaining mate! I will try that on the next shoot.

 

[bayusuputra]

I suspect the battery is giving you the problem. As you can't find the original voltage battery for the yashica anymore, using the modern LR44 stack together will be too high for the meter. Since the meter has too high voltage, it will be more sensitive and thus set a higher shutter speed than it should.

You can try this: If you are using a ISO400 film, try shooting at ISO 100, it should compensate the metering by 2 stop. If it works well, then you should remember this setting and any film that you use, you can compensate by the same number of f stop. Hope that helps.

There is no hard and fast rule, just shoot more, trial and error and you should get better result...

for electro series, i believe they have their own voltage regulator, and many people from RFF stated that voltage between 5-6.5V should give no difference in meter reading, as the electro is designed to take batteries from 5-6.5V.. So i guess the voltage difference would not really make any difference.. If there is no "clunk"%2