I was shooting indoors today in the communal entrance to a block of flats. The camera is a Speed Graphic with 127mm f4.7 Ektar. It was so dimly lit I could see virtually nothing on the ground glass.
I had to make use of my iPhone as a compositional guide. I've written about it here:
http://www.theonlinedarkroom.com/201...g-in-dark.html
Not ideal! How do you guys get round this sort of thing? I'd be interested to know.
Obviously, make sure the aperture of your lens is fully open.
Maybe try using a flashlight to illuminate your subject while composing? Or if your glass itself is rather cloudy and dim, have it replaced with a newer, more transparent piece.
Try and arrive earlier in the day(if possible). Focus/compose earlier when more light is available, then wait.
If in a place where lighting is almost always low(like a chapel, cathedral(that lets you set up a tripod!), or otherwise), you might be somewhat "buggered" altogether...
Supplemental illumination would be handy(like a bright flashlight), but I'd imagine that you don't have a team of sherpas to haul around piles of gear/generators(or electrical cords), etc..
-Dan
I've been is this situation a few times, and asked where to control the lights, promising to respect any worshippers!Originally Posted by Daniel Stone
If you're shooting color film, be sure to ask about the lighting types, often diverse and mixed together.
Just asking can solve a lot of interior lighting issues.
This is a situation that makes you glad you have a brighter focus screen. My favorite is a Maxwell, but if your budget doesn't allow for that one of Steve Hopf's is very nice. I have recently photographed inside movie theaters with very little in the way of lighting—exposures in the 7-10 minute range—and never had a problem focusing. Is your current ground glass clean? It's amazing sometimes what soap and water can do.
The ground glass is probably as bright as that particular one can be. I gave it a gentle clean when I bought the camera early last year and it looks good. The lighting in this stairwell is natural. It comes from a window in the roof at the very top. Here's one I did in 35mm (scan of an unspotted print - sorry!) as a notebook shot when I was looking at the subject for the first time. Strange how bright it looks in this pic...
This is a Speed Graphic, soooo all you need to focus is enough illumination for the rangefinder for focusing, right? And if you can see anything the top mounted or wire viewfinder is going to work. To me, that's sort of the beauty of the Graphics, you have all these options to get the shot in so many different situations. I read in your blog that you didn't trust these compositional/focus aids? If you set up the camera properly they work really well. Before reflex viewing was popular all sorts of cameras used these tools very effectively, even multimillion $ movie productions (Mitchell BNC sidefinder). Even the viewfinders can work very well, you have a focusing scale on the bed and distance markings on the finder for parallax.
A trick I like for focusing in dim light is a Mini Mag light with the lens assembly removed, the pinpoint of light is easy to focus on, even on a pretty dim groundglass. Hit the corners of the frame with a flashlight to find the edges of the frame.
Nice pic, BTW. Well worth the effort!
one more use of iPhone in LFP! we can use it as reflected light meeter, digital viewfinder, sun path software , depth of field and camera calculator, clinometer, bubble level, timer and now this. recently i stumble upon some youtube video: hipster kid is skinning "analog 6" (as he called 120) using iPad and iPhone, you can imagine the rest ...
I bring along a couple of LED flashlights for these situations. Turn it on, place it someplace you need in focus, and focus on the light. When you can distinguish individual LEDs in the light, you're in focus. Other suggestions from the forum have included laser pointers, though I personally find the dot too small to use at any distance. I've used the flashlights at 30-40ft. My biggest concern, at the time, was how to place them without leaving footprints in the snow; I eventually settled on focusing a pretend scene off to one side, then panning the camera to the scene I wanted to shoot.
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