New Lens
16 April 2004

Today, in preparation for my trip to L.A., I picked up a Nikon 50mm f/1.8 D lens for my Nikon N75 at Competitive Camera.


I think the first roll of film I shot through it had some problems (maybe that it was $4 for 4 rolls at Eckerds—although the first roll from that box looks great), or Walgreen’s machine had some problems. Every photo seems to be pushed (overexposed), even on the shots that I purposely shot dark. This could be a result of a few things.


First, I have noticed that the new Fuji paper that Walgreen’s is using (and/or their new Fuji machine) has a great tendency to overexpose while it works it’s digital magic. Second, I have noticed that regardless of where I get the film printed, my camera has a tendency to meter so that overexposure happens. To fight this, I purposely underexpose many of my shots. I think the problem lies in the combination of cheap consumer developing (the machines are expecting bad shots and try to make up for over or under exposure) and getting the right metering. The first I can change by spending more cash to get my pictures developed somewhere more, umm, reputable. The second I can only change by proctice. Although my equipment isn’t the best, it should be able to take the quality of photos that I desire (and I have seen this quality out of it before). Out of the first roll, here are the only two I am proud of…



Riding on a Rail   

There are two more rolls that will be dropped off first thing in the morning. Most are night shots and time exposures, some with the new lens and some with my other lenses. Katie and I took a trip down to Galatyn Park in northern Richardson after dinner where I proceeded to take shots of the fountains, the train, and of course, her. I think the ones of her, as beautiful as she is, might just come out as the best ones of the group.

  1. You will always be fighting with the labs. One thing you can do (if youfeel confident enough) is to ask the printer to not perform any color correction or exposure compensation and to print them as true to the negative as possible. Sometimes they wont do it. Other times they will. When I was first learning, I became frustrated with the same thing that you are. I said to myself, "I'm purposely remembering most of the things I did to get the exposure that I think I wanted and then they go and screw it up by introducing their own choices into the equation." And that's when I started shooting slide film. And that's what put me right back in my place -- "yes... my exposure was decent... but it was FAAAAR from perfect". But at least, with the chrome, I had direct feedback in regard to my exposure mistakes. Soon, I was able to correct myself enough that I'd only ever mis-expose one or two in a roll. Of course... a new meter in a mew camera means learning again. But, the hard part is over after the first time. Great pictures, by the way. I really enjoy the railroad track image myself.
    — Jim    2955 days ago    #
  2. Jim -- I definitely appreciate all of your help and wisdom. Working through all of this is very interesting, but as you said, it is frustrating at times. The other fight is getting it from the print to the web for all to see. My scanner just isn't fulfilling it's part of the bargain. This, among other things that I noticed last night, gets me thinking that I want to save for a few months and go for a D70. Namely the availability to change ISO on the fly. I was shooting ISO 100 before dark for better clarity and still had 10 shots on the roll. I shot some long exposures (3-6 sec) last night to get through the 100, then went on to 400. Some of those 100 pictures I really hope come out, but I don't have too high hopes for them. We'll see in a few minutes, I'm going to go get them. I don't think I have a favorite of those two. I really like the color in the "scrap" photo, but I should have shot it at a higher aperture so that the background was less distinct.
    — justinm    2955 days ago    #