macandal
19-Dec-2009, 14:49
On, Monday, Oct 26, I decided to confront my fears and use my F2. Loading the film, one of the many concerns I had, turned out not to be an issue at all. It was so easy... I did it in my changing bag. Two color and two black and white. A non-issue.
So then I got the camera ready, put it in the tripod and all that and went outside my apartment complex. Once there--a bright, sunny San Francisco day--I set the camera down. There wasn't much to photograph. It's a simple street, with two rows of building and homes, cars parked, so I aimed the camera at one of the few trees there. My expectations were simple: I just wanted a correct exposure. I didn't even want a sharp image, fuzzy would do, I just wanted the exposure. I followed some instructions I'd been given, however, and this I should've figured out before I went outside, I didn't know how to cock the shutter. I took a reading with the meter, set the exposure on the lens and--first hurdle--put the film (holder) on the camera. This isn't very easy to do because you don't want to break your camera, and, truth be told, it seems as if you're about to break it when you load the film. After some minutes, I figured it out and was ready, but, like I said, I didn't know how to cock the shutter, so, "I took the shot". I say "I took the shot" because I didn't really take anything--since the shutter wasn't cocked. Two sheets of film wasted. Time for the B&W. I took the first one. Remember how you are reminded not to open the shutter once you load the film? I opened the shutter after I had loaded the film. (However, now that I got the exposures from the lab back, I realize that there's something there. What I did, is beyond me. I don't know how good of an exposure it is because I didn't get a print ($$$).) Then the time came for the final shot. I got everything ready, and since I'm not afraid of touching all the buttons and all the levers, I moved something on the lens and voila, I thought: "Oh my god, I just c*cked the f*ucking shutter!!!" and I quickly took the shot. Well, I got the film back today and I'm glad I was able to figure this out. See the result in the attachment below.
I know it's not the shot to end all shots, but I was able to reach my goal: get a perfect exposure.
So then I got the camera ready, put it in the tripod and all that and went outside my apartment complex. Once there--a bright, sunny San Francisco day--I set the camera down. There wasn't much to photograph. It's a simple street, with two rows of building and homes, cars parked, so I aimed the camera at one of the few trees there. My expectations were simple: I just wanted a correct exposure. I didn't even want a sharp image, fuzzy would do, I just wanted the exposure. I followed some instructions I'd been given, however, and this I should've figured out before I went outside, I didn't know how to cock the shutter. I took a reading with the meter, set the exposure on the lens and--first hurdle--put the film (holder) on the camera. This isn't very easy to do because you don't want to break your camera, and, truth be told, it seems as if you're about to break it when you load the film. After some minutes, I figured it out and was ready, but, like I said, I didn't know how to cock the shutter, so, "I took the shot". I say "I took the shot" because I didn't really take anything--since the shutter wasn't cocked. Two sheets of film wasted. Time for the B&W. I took the first one. Remember how you are reminded not to open the shutter once you load the film? I opened the shutter after I had loaded the film. (However, now that I got the exposures from the lab back, I realize that there's something there. What I did, is beyond me. I don't know how good of an exposure it is because I didn't get a print ($$$).) Then the time came for the final shot. I got everything ready, and since I'm not afraid of touching all the buttons and all the levers, I moved something on the lens and voila, I thought: "Oh my god, I just c*cked the f*ucking shutter!!!" and I quickly took the shot. Well, I got the film back today and I'm glad I was able to figure this out. See the result in the attachment below.
I know it's not the shot to end all shots, but I was able to reach my goal: get a perfect exposure.