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Thread: Metering for Aero Ektar/Speed Graphic & ND Filter Help

  1. #1

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    Metering for Aero Ektar/Speed Graphic & ND Filter Help

    Hi - I need some help and suggestions on how to get consistent exposure readings. I am shooting cars with an Aero Ektar Lens on a Speed Graphic. Mostly b&w film. The whole point of the Aero Ektar is to use it wide open for the shallow depth of field. Stopping it down defeats the whole purpose, obviously. I am shooting outdoors in bright sun for the most part. I have some solid ND filters as well as a variable. Very often I need a fraction of a stop or less than the next full stop up or down to maintain the 2.5 aperture. The Speed Graphic is limited on shutter speeds as well - 125, 250, 500, 1000. I have tried holding the ND filter over the incident meter, but as I move it closer and further away the readings jump up & down by at least a stop (sometimes more) I have tried using a wide cardboard tube behind the filter and sticking the meter under it only to get another set of readings (often wildly different from just the filter) Any incident reading with 2.5 as the aperture gives ridiculously high shutter speeds, obviously. The variable ND does not have marked stops, it rotates freely. But I am able to dial it in to where either of the above methods gives me a usable shutter speed.
    What am I missing here? Without knowing exactly how many stops I am working with, it’s hard to calculate the compensation for the ND.
    Should I get a spot meter and try one/both of the above methods on the highlights and then shadows and then go with the average?
    I am open to experimentation and I am bracketing like hell as well. But some of my exposures are way off.
    Thanks!

  2. #2

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    Re: Metering for Aero Ektar/Speed Graphic & ND Filter Help

    Why meter through the filter? If you know the filter factor you can meter normally and then adjust shutter speed/aperture. If you don't know the filter factor, meter a subject with and without the filter held against a reflected light meter's cell. Same subject, same distance, same illumination. You can't prevent light from finding its way to an incident meter's dome.

    If you need to adjust shutter speed by a fraction of a stop and are using negative film, set shutter speed to the closest speed to the one required and shoot away. The film's exposure latitude will let you get away with several stops exposure error.

  3. #3

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    Re: Metering for Aero Ektar/Speed Graphic & ND Filter Help

    Dumb question, but I have an incident meter. Is that the same thing? Thanks.

  4. #4

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    Re: Metering for Aero Ektar/Speed Graphic & ND Filter Help

    Establish a filter factor, find your new EI setting for your film speed, adjust your meter ISO for your new EI, and meter/shoot away...

    Steve K

  5. #5

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    Re: Metering for Aero Ektar/Speed Graphic & ND Filter Help

    Nice. How do I establish the filter factor when using a variable ND? The Tiffen ND only has dots for markings. I don’t understand that part. Thanks!

  6. #6
    Tin Can's Avatar
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    Re: Metering for Aero Ektar/Speed Graphic & ND Filter Help

    Do you know Sunny 16, most here do and can use it reliably

    I shot 35mm outside for decades with no meter

    Film used to come with Sunny 16 guide ON every box of 35mm film

    https://medium.com/@efaja/the-ultima...1-f8f524a785eb

    Even if I have a meter I always guess first then use the meter to continuously train myself
    Tin Can

  7. #7

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    Re: Metering for Aero Ektar/Speed Graphic & ND Filter Help

    Quote Originally Posted by urnem57 View Post
    Dumb question, but I have an incident meter. Is that the same thing? Thanks.
    Incident meters measure light falling on the subject. Reflected light meters measure light reflected by the subject. What a reflected light meter measures depends on light falling on the subject and the subject's reflectivity. A reflected meter will see a large difference between, for example, a wall painted white and a sheet of black velvet. An incident meter won't.

  8. #8

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    Re: Metering for Aero Ektar/Speed Graphic & ND Filter Help

    Quote Originally Posted by urnem57 View Post
    Nice. How do I establish the filter factor when using a variable ND? The Tiffen ND only has dots for markings. I don’t understand that part. Thanks!
    Read the manual. If you don't have the manual, ask Tiffen for help.

  9. #9

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    Re: Metering for Aero Ektar/Speed Graphic & ND Filter Help

    That article is useful, thanks. But The Aero Ektar Lens needs to be used at 2.5 (wide open) It’s figuring out the process to maintain that aperture.

  10. #10
    Tin Can's Avatar
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    Re: Metering for Aero Ektar/Speed Graphic & ND Filter Help

    If 2.5 is YOUR ruie, not mine and I have the exact same setup, you could add light

    The Speed was used mostly by Newspaper men and they often shot a powerful flash bulb with any shot, which helped make the exposure constant in any light, day or night

    You have MADE your film exposures tough to do

    Why?
    Tin Can

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