Pentacon six (need advice)

[dashbodz]

Hi i recently acquired a pentacon six from a fellow Csnapper.

Ran my first roll(Kodak portra 160 VC).

Was very excited about it until i saw the neg. all severely over and underexposed.

i guess i was overexcited and got the setting wrong. was using an iphone app(Light Meter) as a meter. so i am not sure was it the app tat gave e wrong reading.

i shoot some of the the test in midday hot sun at f2.8 , 1/1000,iso 160.(was excited to see awesome bokeh shots)


I hope i can get some advice from fellow MF user's recommendations regarding how to shoot my next roll in order i can get a better understanding of the camera.

I hope your replies will cheer me up as i am sad now(was so excited bout the first roll )

 

[lkkang]

Hi i recently acquired a pentacon six from a fellow Csnapper.

Ran my first roll(Kodak portra 160 VC).

Was very excited about it until i saw the neg. all severely over and underexposed.

i guess i was overexcited and got the setting wrong. was using an iphone app(Light Meter) as a meter. so i am not sure was it the app tat gave e wrong reading.

i shoot some of the the test in midday hot sun at f2.8 , 1/1000,iso 160.(was excited to see awesome bokeh shots)


I hope i can get some advice from fellow MF user's recommendations regarding how to shoot my next roll in order i can get a better understanding of the camera.

I hope your replies will cheer me up as i am sad now(was so excited bout the first roll )

I do not own an iphone, so .. cannot comment on that.
I normally use the good old Sunny F16 rule, and it have served me well years after years..

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunny_16_rule

 

[clipper79]

Hi i recently acquired a pentacon six from a fellow Csnapper.

Ran my first roll(Kodak portra 160 VC).

Was very excited about it until i saw the neg. all severely over and underexposed.

i guess i was overexcited and got the setting wrong. was using an iphone app(Light Meter) as a meter. so i am not sure was it the app tat gave e wrong reading.

i shoot some of the the test in midday hot sun at f2.8 , 1/1000,iso 160.(was excited to see awesome bokeh shots)


I hope i can get some advice from fellow MF user's recommendations regarding how to shoot my next roll in order i can get a better understanding of the camera.

I hope your replies will cheer me up as i am sad now(was so excited bout the first roll )

With such intense noon light, 2.8 is just too wide/bright. Infact I hardly shoot wide in bright noon light. Usually around f4 – f8.
I would suggest getting a proper light meter instead of using the apps on the iphone. There are a lot of cheap 2nd hand ones in the market.

 

[pinholecam]

You can always compare your Iphone app readings to your DSLR 1st to make sure that the Iphone app is reliable before committing.
I use a crappy Canon 590 to meter, though I might switch to an android app (If I can find one).

However, it does not seem right when you say you used metering (the app) and got very over/under results. Even with my crappy sunny16 estimate, we should be 1 to 1.5stops out only, well within the exposure latitude of the film. A meter of some sort should be better that this. You also mentioned f2.8, 1/1000, iso160 under midday sun, which does not work out right.
By the sunny16 rule, you should be using f16, 1/160, iso160.
Working that down to f2.8, you'd get 1/5000 at iso160 (don't think the Pentacon6 has that).

 

[catchlights]

can you tell use how you take meter reading with the iphone?

yes, understand the sunny f16 rule, you can depend on it, even you use a lightmeter, you can use basic daylight exposure to do cross reference to confirm the reading.

 

[oceanpriest]

I do not own an iphone, so .. cannot comment on that.
I normally use the good old Sunny F16 rule, and it have served me well years after years..

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunny_16_rule

+1 for sunny 16

 

[paapoopa]

maybe you can post some of the pictures to show how under or over expose..

if you are shooting black and white and using the light meter app from iphone, chances are you shouldnt be way off in your exposure..
which leds me to
have you check the shutter of your p6 when you purchase it? p6 is famous to have shutter issues, mostly starting with 1/125...
open your film back and start checking all the speed and pray that you dont have an bad shutter p6.

 

[catchlights]

by TS description is noon day sun, the camera exposure is set by him, more than two stops away from the Sunny f16 rule.


to test the accuracy of the camera shutter and aperture, he need a "real" and workable light meter, a gray card/color chart, and transparency film. tripod as well.

 

[plato]

Hi dashbodz,

I have a lightmeter app on my iPhone as well. However, I find that it is only usable if you don't have extreme lighting conditions, e.g. midday hot sun. It tends to give more accurate exposure readings in low contrast situations. Like the others, I would strongly recommend a dedicated light meter. If you are tight on cash, then maybe use another camera with a light meter to measure the exposure before taking the shot. Good luck!

Hi i recently acquired a pentacon six from a fellow Csnapper.

Ran my first roll(Kodak portra 160 VC).

Was very excited about it until i saw the neg. all severely over and underexposed.

i guess i was overexcited and got the setting wrong. was using an iphone app(Light Meter) as a meter. so i am not sure was it the app tat gave e wrong reading.

i shoot some of the the test in midday hot sun at f2.8 , 1/1000,iso 160.(was excited to see awesome bokeh shots)


I hope i can get some advice from fellow MF user's recommendations regarding how to shoot my next roll in order i can get a better understanding of the camera.

I hope your replies will cheer me up as i am sad now(was so excited bout the first roll )

 

[dashbodz]

Thanks guys for the replies really appreciate it.

I am using an app called "PocketLightMeter" after reading the comments is just did a quick test with the app and my dslr. and the app managed to give accurate reading on both the test shots when cross refereed to my dslr. so now at least i know it ok indoors. i will take shots tar outdoors and compare.

Also today during lunch time i went out and did more test shots with various settings using the sunny 16 and the app. lets see tmr how they come out.

Btw here are the negs. from the first roll. the thing that intrigues me that some of them don't even have the empty gaps in-between them. like the on 2 of the pics the black part fades into a sudden gradient with lines in it?

 

[pinholecam]

Can they be light leaks?

 

[lkkang]

wah !

sibeh jia lat leh... :sweat: :sweat: :sweat:

 

[dashbodz]

wah !

sibeh jia lat leh... :sweat: :sweat: :sweat:

so how is it the camera???

 

[eugolino]

You can always compare your Iphone app readings to your DSLR 1st to make sure that the Iphone app is reliable before committing.
I use a crappy Canon 590 to meter, though I might switch to an android app (If I can find one).

However, it does not seem right when you say you used metering (the app) and got very over/under results. Even with my crappy sunny16 estimate, we should be 1 to 1.5stops out only, well within the exposure latitude of the film. A meter of some sort should be better that this. You also mentioned f2.8, 1/1000, iso160 under midday sun, which does not work out right.
By the sunny16 rule, you should be using f16, 1/160, iso160.
Working that down to f2.8, you'd get 1/5000 at iso160 (don't think the Pentacon6 has that).

Yup, PinholeCam seems to be right. you should be shooting 1/5000 or faster at 2.8. After handling more than 3 damaged Pentacons, and getting them serviced overseas, one thing about the P6 is that shutter speeds above 1/125 tend to be actually slow. 1/250, 1/500, 1/1000 seem to be all about the same (at least when I test on my Dresden-serviced ones), with the top speed just a whiff faster than the rest.

Possible to use the lens with a 58mm ND filter (if you are using the 80/2.8 biometar)? Anyhow, I realize that this lens sweet spot is really at F4. Very nice isolation from bg.

 

[lkkang]

so how is it the camera???

I suspect the shutter speed can be something wrong.. suspect only.

 

[dashbodz]

Yup, PinholeCam seems to be right. you should be shooting 1/5000 or faster at 2.8. After handling more than 3 damaged Pentacons, and getting them serviced overseas, one thing about the P6 is that shutter speeds above 1/125 tend to be actually slow. 1/250, 1/500, 1/1000 seem to be all about the same (at least when I test on my Dresden-serviced ones), with the top speed just a whiff faster than the rest.

Possible to use the lens with a 58mm ND filter (if you are using the 80/2.8 biometar)? Anyhow, I realize that this lens sweet spot is really at F4. Very nice isolation from bg.

I suspect the shutter speed can be something wrong.. suspect only.

yep using the 80/2.8 bimetar. hmm F4 aye

hmm let see tmr how it goes i did a few test today with diff shutter speed and F stops of the same subject.

 

[paapoopa]

Yup, PinholeCam seems to be right. you should be shooting 1/5000 or faster at 2.8. After handling more than 3 damaged Pentacons, and getting them serviced overseas, one thing about the P6 is that shutter speeds above 1/125 tend to be actually slow. 1/250, 1/500, 1/1000 seem to be all about the same (at least when I test on my Dresden-serviced ones), with the top speed just a whiff faster than the rest.

Possible to use the lens with a 58mm ND filter (if you are using the 80/2.8 biometar)? Anyhow, I realize that this lens sweet spot is really at F4. Very nice isolation from bg.

hi , do you mind sharing how and where you get those pentacons service overseas?
is it better? does it solve all the problems?

 

[eugolino]

hi , do you mind sharing how and where you get those pentacons service overseas?
is it better? does it solve all the problems?

Well i searched ebay.de and found one seller in Dresden. Told the seller to get it serviced (CLA'ed) and it cost me additional $110 Euro. Am thinking of selling it because I have got another working body... Hmm...Anyway I have to "exercise" it regularly to ensure mechanisms are not creaky. Not a problem considering how sexy the camera is...

 

[Joohander]

my iPhone lightmeter has been serving me pretty well in tricky light situations but as Plato mentioned, extreme situations tend to be kind of difficult to handle.. definitely +1 for sunny 16, it's kind of basic actually! if it's sunny out, f/16 + shutter = ISO and adjust accordingly. all the best for your next rolls!