Greater than 1 Second shutter speeds

[Michael Hewson]

G'day forum - firstly I have learnt heaps from this forum as a 'newbie' in LF. Thanks to all. I have started for instance, to learn that tilt contributions to focussing is a ground glass adjustment and not a guess (yeah I know - silly me).

Secondly - my Nikon SW90 has a 1 second longest exposure and the usual B and T. My question is this - how do you more experienced people 'count off' any shutter speed greater than 1 second?

Do you, using T or B: - use the '1 cat dog', '2 cat dog' etc method?; - a second hand on a watch?; or - or something else?

I should think if you are using 2 or 4 seconds then you would want to be reasonably accurate? Not so?

I rarely had this to think about with my Nikon 35mm due to the choices of longer shutter timings with the lenses.

kind regards

[Deniz]

MR. Casio does it for me. alot of people use metronome to be able to keep an eye on the subject but i find that useless since there is not much you can do to the shutter if a persone or someone walks in to the frame. so i observe the usrronding to see if there is any possible problems then i trip the shutter at 10,20,30,40,50 or 0 and count from there... pretty easy.. never had a problem with 2-3 sec exposures. just dont panic out..

[Doug_3727]

Micheal, You can count one thousand one, one thousand two, etc. but also be aware of the reciperocity (I can't say or spell it right) on long exposures. Most modern books on Large Format have a section on it. I keep a copy in my bag and the car. I find that the longer the exposure the more latitude on the timing. I always shoot two negs and develop one to be sure I was on the money and if needed adjust for the second one. Good luck.

[Matt Miller]

I use a tiny metronome that fits in my ear. Works great. Takes no room in the bag. Sometimes I need to take a shot between wind gusts. I like to watch the scene to see if anything moves, so I can take a backup shot if need be.

[David R Munson]

I just look at the second hand on my wristwatch. Even at 2 seconds I'd say it's plenty accurate. Give it a few tries just firing the shutter to get used to the process before you burn film. I hardly even think about it any more.

[Jon_2416]

One-Ansel-Adams, two-Ansel-Adams...

:D

[jantman]

I use the second hand on my watch. It timed my exposures before I had a shuttered lens (and when I use barrel lenses) and also handles my darkroom timing needs when no clock is around.

You could get a cable-release exposure timer, B&H sells one, I think it's a Compur or something. Has a dial and a button, threads into cable release, times it. Someone could even make an electronic one.

As to reciprocity, I carry the Kodak, Fuji, and Ilford dataguides in my bag. If you don't have them, they'll send them for free.

[Bruce Watson]

http://www.photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=0089bK

[David A. Goldfarb]

I like the metronome. Set it at 120 and subdivide in your head to 240 beats per second and you'll be able to time even 1/2 sec. more accurately than most older shutters can do mechanically. Musicians need to be able to count even much shorter durations accurately to a precision of a few thousandths of a second.

[Sidney Cammeresi]

I use the second hand on my watch. Remember that even if you're off by half a second on a two-second exposure, that's only (roughly) a quarter of a stop. Not a big deal.

[David Flockhart]

Try a countdown timer from Radio Shack. You can place hours, minutes or seconds. You get an audio signal when the time is up freeing you from the need to watch (forgive the pun) the time every second. You can also start and stop them if the need arises for stopping the exposure for wind or other reasons. They also work int hedarkroom for timing developer or fixers, etc. Again, they simply free up the attention to timing.

[David Schaller]

I find that 2 seconds is the most difficult. I usually open up or stop down the lens to avoid the 2 second time. Otherwise, using my watch is just fine. Dave

[Tony Galt]

If the exposure needs multiple seconds why not just cock the shutter again and fire it until the desired exposure has been reached? Cocking the shutter shouldn't move the camera if tripod adjustments are well locked down especially if you wait a bit and let any vibrations die down. Of course, if the light it changing rapidly, this may not be practical.

[Colin Carron]

Given that many time exposures are in dim lighting (and not having thought of a metronome) I just practised counting seconds until it is about right. (Just One..two..three...so unimaginative!) I find I can get it right to within 10% or so for 30 second exposures which is near enough.

[Philippe Gauthier]

I look at my watch, like so many others. Exposures between 2-4 seconds are the most difficult, as small mistakes are likely to make a perceptible difference. I either try to avoid this time range (closing down a stop to get to 4+ seconds, for instance) or look at my watch for a few seconds before taking the shot, counting the seconds in my head and making sure my set is set on the watch - I want the shutter to open and close exactly when I count the next "click" in my head, watching the needle. Works fine for me; I've exposed several slides that way as well.

[neil poulsen]

I bought a digital stop watch for that purpose. I start at zero, synchronize my head to the ticking of seconds, and then trip the shutter at 10 seconds. For a 3 second exposure, I would release the shutter again at 13 seconds. Etc.

I would prefer an analog stop watch, so that I could watch the tenths hand come full circle. But, these are hard to find For a three second exposure, being off by a 1/3rd stop would equate to about 0.8 seconds on the long side and about 0.6 seconds on the short side. So, one should be able to at least be within a third stop. For a two second exposure, I would tend to trip the shutter twice with the shutter dial set to 1 second.

Of course, my digital stop watch doubles as a regular watch, which I never carry.

[Ole Tjugen]

I count. Click, one, two, three, click for four seconds. I have many years experience in keeping a steady 60 beats per minute - or any other beat for that matter. My counting is at least as precise as the shutters are at faster speeds!

[Todd West]

Most digital light meters have a programmable exposure timer. I've used my Gossen Digisix from 5 seconds up to 8 minutes since I don't generally carry a watch (the Digisix has a clock as well).





I find that 2 seconds is the most difficult. I usually open up or stop down the lens to avoid the 2 second time.





An even simpler method is to set the shutter to 1s and trip it twice. That way you don't have to compromise on depth of field.

[Leigh Perry]

I use the multiple exposure technique too, even for the odd times like 0.7" in which case I fire 3 x 1/4 second. If you subject is moving, such as wave motion on a beach, it leads to some nice effects too.