My camera

[Stuart]

It would certainly do that, Stuart. Check with your camera manufacturer, Pentax has RAW processing programs supplied with the camera and the same should be so for yours.

Canon had the same John - I had all the disc's. Alas I've not seen them since I moved a few years back. I'm sure I can always pick some up somewhere.

[speedgraflex]

I miss shooting with film. I was spoiled by having a lab in walking distance of my home. Maybe we all were spoiled by this. My favorite 35mm camera has to be the Contax series—both the pocket size and the larger versions have the most strikingly beautiful glass lenses ever made. Shooting with a Canon body adapted to a Contax lens has to be one of the best ways to combine the digital and analogue mediums. You can still find cheap as chips glass on the used market and set up your camera quite easily.

[Stikpusher]

Like Humbrol enamels, or vinyl record albums, I’m a die hard film photography fan. I took photography classes in Jr High and High Schools. There is something just so special about film photography. Black and White film is such a wondrous medium for achieving different looks. Slow ASA film, fast ASA film, orthochromatic, panchromatic, lens filters, etc… Mind you I can now freely admit that I don’t have “the eye” for any classic photography shots, it is still a medium that I admire.

[cbaltrin]

It would certainly do that, Stuart. Check with your camera manufacturer, Pentax has RAW processing programs supplied with the camera and the same should be so for yours.

What John said Stuart. Plus, you may watch of few videos on exposure/metering on that video site. Those rocks in the foreground look like a perfect baseline to take a light meter reading from. There is also a trick you can use to get a good exposure using the palm of your hand. Apparently, no matter your complexion, all humans have the same relative light reflectivity on the palm of their hand. So if you take a light meter reading from a grey card and then a reading from the palm of your hand in the same light, you can memorize the difference and use that to help you 'in the field'. so assuming ISO and Aperture are constant, and a grey card reading says 1/100 of a second and my hand reading says 1/50 of a second, just meter from your hand and double the shutter speed. Now, I have to admit, I 'saw this on TV' but have not tried it yet myself. I am going to try it in the near future though... Now this method assumes the light hitting your hand is the same as the light hitting your main subject. So if you are standing in the sun and your subject is in the shade, this would not work.

[speedgraflex]

Stuart!

There are two concepts at work here—the first is the creation of a “single generation image” and the second is one entirely dependent on developing or processing. Both concepts have their place depending on the final vision of the photographer. One of my best assistants was a photographer from Turkey who trained as a fashion photographer (dependent on processing) but switched to my single generation style when he worked for me. I prefer to spend less time sitting in front of a computer and more time in the field.

My best advice after looking at the image would be to improve lens-to-sensor interface. The advantage of shooting raw is avoidance of in camera processing which is a very great advantage if you need the ability to make changes. However a vintage glass prime plus digital sensor will cut down on the processing time, in some cases eliminating it. Making 4,000 images during a shoot and being asked to print half of them creates an enormous time sink. I would rather split the shoot on two cards, shoot raw on one and plain vanilla jpg with the other, then run them both through Lightroom-VSCO to develop if needed.

[Duke Maddog]

This is all great information. I love the old Minolta cameras. Back in High School, I shot pics for the yearbook. I was a new student in that school, so when the yearbook director asked for candid photos with lots of faces, I was able to get lots of faces. He was so impressed with my work that for graduation, he gave me the camera that I used throughout the year to shoot pics. He said it was one of the best yearbooks he ever put out.

I still have that camera.

[speedgraflex]

Congratulations on those positive film memories and a wonderful recognition of your talent, Duke!

[Stuart]

It would certainly do that, Stuart. Check with your camera manufacturer, Pentax has RAW processing programs supplied with the camera and the same should be so for yours.

What John said Stuart. Plus, you may watch of few videos on exposure/metering on that video site. Those rocks in the foreground look like a perfect baseline to take a light meter reading from. There is also a trick you can use to get a good exposure using the palm of your hand. Apparently, no matter your complexion, all humans have the same relative light reflectivity on the palm of their hand. So if you take a light meter reading from a grey card and then a reading from the palm of your hand in the same light, you can memorize the difference and use that to help you 'in the field'. so assuming ISO and Aperture are constant, and a grey card reading says 1/100 of a second and my hand reading says 1/50 of a second, just meter from your hand and double the shutter speed. Now, I have to admit, I 'saw this on TV' but have not tried it yet myself. I am going to try it in the near future though... Now this method assumes the light hitting your hand is the same as the light hitting your main subject. So if you are standing in the sun and your subject is in the shade, this would not work.

That's really interesting John, I'll look into that. tbh, most of the time I just have it set to P or AV, I don't tend to bother too much with manual but I can change that. Exposure's always been my weak point in photography, I've always been far more interested in composition. Never thought to look on youtube though, that's a good suggestion.

It's strange though, years ago I found an old Zenit 35mm SLR in the attic with a non-functioning light meter. I used it for well over a year just using the Sunny 16 method, with a pretty good success rate. I've never really been able to translate that to digital.

Do you use the in-camera meter or do you use a separate light meter?

[cbaltrin]

I think you were asking me Stuart
I only use in camera meter.