film photography help

So I finally bought ddavidv's pentax km setup, and I just finished my first roll.
I took a couple shots shortly after I loaded it without remembering to change the film speed setting=/
then I changed it to the correct setting (400) because that's all CVS has=/ and finished it out with 20+ shots at the correct setting.
Is the entire roll still ruined or will it just be the first couple shots that weren't set to the correct speed?
I could care less about the first few shots because I was just messing around and figuring everything out but I took about 15 photos after work today and I'd really like to see how they turn out. I know you can "push process" it or whatever if you're developing it yourself and did the whole roll on the wrong setting, but I'm going to be taking it to CVS tomorrow and I'm really hoping that it'll just be the first few shots that are screwed and the rest are perfectly fine, so I can see if they turn out the way I think they will.

Also, it really sucks having glasses when you have to use a viewfinder, esp when the light meter arrow is either out of focus because of your vision, too dark, or the whole viewfinder reflects your face back at you and you can't see what you're trying to shoot

In reply to corytate:

Your exposures for the first few shots will be off, but the rest of the roll should be fine.

They make some big rubber..uh...gaskets for the viewfinders that help out when wearing glasses. I'm not familiar with the exact model you're using, but many SLRs had the option of a diopter viewfinder, allowing you to shoot without glasses. Is the KM like a K1000? I shot quite a bit with the latter many years ago.

afaik the KM is like a k1000 with way less features.
and I'll have to look into the rubber thingy, seems a lot cheaper than a different viewfinder, and I'm in this thing on a budget lol.
I spent around 1/3 the price of the whole kit (filters upon filters upon filters, a flash, the body, three lenses, an awesome case for the body +49 lens, and a really cool leather bag for the whole shebang) on just film and batteries the other day, and I only got two rolls, some AAs and some AAAs

I'm really glad the whole roll shouldn't be shot! I think I'll post some here if any of the shots are decent; I've gotten some pretty decent shots with digital before, and a couple accidentally cool shots with a point and shoot film cam, but this is my first SLR (and probably the first photo camera I've cared about)

also: thank you! Glad I got a really quick response

I had to look up the KM, as it's not one of the more common models, but FWIW it is actually more like a K1000 with a few more features, specifically a self-timer and DOF preview.

There's tons of stuff on the web about getting started with film photography; I'm sure you've found some of it already. My advice would be to keep it simple at the beginning: one lens and one film emulsion until you feel relatively comfortable with them, then start to branch out. Bracket your shots (take several of the same subject with different exposure settings) to see how the film reacts to more or less light.

In my experience, you can learn way more about photography shooting film than you will digital, provided you're looking at it as an educational experience. Be methodical and you'll quickly start to climb the learning curve.

thats exactly why I wanted to get into film, to learn how everything affects the outcome.
and I've been messing around with different settings on most of the photos, we'll just see how it works out today when I get my first roll back=]

What was the film speed setting when you shot the first few frames? If it was like 100, then you've overexposed by a couple stops, which will give you a really dense negative and a washed-out looking print. If you were lucky enough to have it set at 200, they shouldn't be too bad.

You can still buy film at CVS? I thought they dropped that years ago. All I see lately are single-use cameras.

Happy shooting! I need to blow the dust off my old rig and take a few shots. I've got a roll of TMX in it right now, and an old roll of Infrared I meant to shoot years ago.

02Pilot wrote: In my experience, you can learn way more about photography shooting film than you will digital, provided you're looking at it as an educational experience. Be methodical and you'll quickly start to climb the learning curve.

This is right on. Focus on the mechanical process of exposing before your worry about composition. That way you develop habits that will allow you to get the shot the way you want it when the opportunity presents itself. I'd suggest burning a whole roll of film taking the same photo with equivalent exposures to learn the effects. f2.8 @ 1/200, f5.6 @ 1/100, f8 @ 1/60, f11 @ 1/30, f16 @ 1/15, etc. Remember that film has a very narrow range for proper exposure. All the above settings are the same amount of light as far as the film is concerned, but you'll see a variation in depth of field, ability to stop motion, and so on.

Enjoy! It is a great hobby. I'd encourage you to work in B&W and learn to process your film and print yourself. It is simple and you will understand so much more than if you just have a lab do all your work.

I've done that with my old Minolta X700. Camera seemed to adjust for it and unless you're a pro you won't hardly notice it. I am nowhere near being a pro.

Mezzanine wrote: I'd suggest burning a whole roll of film taking the same photo with equivalent exposures to learn the effects. f2.8 @ 1/200, f5.6 @ 1/100, f8 @ 1/60, f11 @ 1/30, f16 @ 1/15, etc. Remember that film has a very narrow range for proper exposure. All the above settings are the same amount of light as far as the film is concerned, but you'll see a variation in depth of field, ability to stop motion, and so on.

If you're going to try this, pick a scene that will help you differentiate the effects. Try something with objects in the foreground, middle distance, and background, and with some movement; a city scene with traffic or a some sort of moving water would be ideal. If you've only got a static subject in a narrow focal plane you won't see much difference.

As to film exposure tolerance, it depends what you're shooting. Negative films, color and b&w, are pretty tolerant these days, with a few exceptions. Learning how films behave is part of the process, but I'd suggest you start with something quite tolerant - both Fuji and Kodak consumer color print (C-41) films are very tolerant of overexposure (less so of underexposure), cheap to buy and cheap to process. If you want to go to traditional b&w, Kodak Tri-X is the standard as far as I'm concerned, and is also very forgiving.

And don't forget to take notes. Get in the habit of recording the particulars of every exposure.

Mezzanine wrote: Remember that film has a very narrow range for proper exposure....

Not sure I agree with this... maybe slide film which is borderline extinct.

02Pilot wrote: As to film exposure tolerance, it depends what you're shooting. Negative films, color and b&w, are pretty tolerant these days, with a few exceptions. Learning how films behave is part of the process, but I'd suggest you start with something quite tolerant - both Fuji and Kodak consumer color print (C-41) films are very tolerant of overexposure (less so of underexposure), cheap to buy and cheap to process.

This is more like it. Since you mentioned buying your film at CVS I'm going to assume it is just regular C41 color print film. Color print film has a huge exposure latitude (tolerance of incorrect exposure). This is what they put in disposable cameras, and those things use the same exposure (something like F8 @ 1/50) for everything. As mentioned overexposure is better than under, and I remember back in the day we always set our meters to 200 when using 400 speed color print film.

Try not to over think things and have fun. My first SLR was a Pentax back when every camera used film. Good cameras and lot of lenses that can be picked up used on the cheap.

02Pilot wrote: As to film exposure tolerance, it depends what you're shooting.

I should clarify- ALL film has a very narrow exposure tolerance compared with the human eye. E-6 the least lattitude (as SEADave alluded), B&W the most in my experience, but different trade-offs in each case like contrast, grain structure (especially if pushed or pulled), color rendition, etc. Film certainly has flexibility in exposure, but for a newb to film, I think it is a good idea to focus on getting the exposure right first. He can screw with exposures that would be considered outside of a particular film's latitude and experiment after he's mastered the fundamentals.

What 02Pilot says about subject selection is very important, and an omission on my part.

the roll I just gave to cvs was b&w (processed like color though, so c41?)
and I did make a point to do numerous shots of the same thing just to mess around.
I plan on setting up a little dark room when we move (soon) to learn the developing side of things too.
I may post a couple of the photos here tonight if they turned out decent

If you just want to develop B&W film as opposed to also doing the enlarging and printing chemically, you don't need a darkroom.

What you need is a light tight bag, a film can opener, a film development tank and some chemicals. Oh, and a timer and an accurate thermometer. That's pretty much it for "real" (as in, non transparency and non-C41 B&W film).

Which reminds me, I need to order some chemicals and some more B&W film...

What I tend to do is to develop the film and run it through my decent quality film scanner. That works pretty well and if you're really into it you can also get special grey scale inks to do inkjet prints.

All chemical is nicer but our current house can't accommodate a proper temporary darkroom without some additional work.

weird light problem on the right hand side of the first couple shots here, I think maybe I shouldn't have used the flash on those?

I got a couple that I kinda like, I'm hoping the color shots turn out better though. Some of them would have been better with a cooler car=] lol

whatchoo fink?
I had a full roll of 24 but a lot of them seemed either pretentious or lame or both lol.

Did I understand correctly when you said you used flash on some of those shots? The exposure is off like that because your shutter speed was set higher than your sync speed. Most cameras of that vintage sync at 1/60...that means that the shutter is fully open for the duration of the flash at that speed. That camera uses a shutter curtain that travels side to side, which is why you see more exposure in one part of the image.

My advice: stay away from flash until you have exposure basics covered.

As for the images, I'm pleased to see that your subject matter is not dead center in the frame. Judging by those three images, you have a good starting point for composition.

Shoot more!

Mezzanine wrote: Did I understand correctly when you said you used flash on some of those shots? The exposure is off like that because your shutter speed was set higher than your sync speed. Most cameras of that vintage sync at 1/60...that means that the shutter is fully open for the duration of the flash at that speed. That camera uses a shutter curtain that travels side to side, which is why you see more exposure in one part of the image. My advice: stay away from flash until you have exposure basics covered. As for the images, I'm pleased to see that your subject matter is not dead center in the frame. Judging by those three images, you have a good starting point for composition. Shoot more!

Thank you for the knowledge and the encouragement!
I definitely will keep shooting, I discovered I really enjoy it.

In hindsight I should have done back to back flash/no flash of the same shot to see how the flash changed things. I believe I actually used flash on every single photo I posted here lol.
I have a chart somewhere of where the flash syncs and such, I'll look through it and try to understand it, still trying to get a handle on all the terminology and such.
Now I need to focus on filling up my color roll, then buying another b/w roll to fill, etc etc

I can't see your pictures for whatever reason, but regardless I second the advice given: put away the flash and forget about it until you've gotten more proficient with the basic functions of the camera. Right now it is an unnecessary complication.

My recommendation is to buy about a dozen rolls of the same exact film and start shooting in a deliberate, methodical way, as has been described earlier. You tend to go through it rather quickly when you're shooting exposure setting tests and bracketing everything.

I took enough shots today to fill up my color roll, except the film didn't feed because it popped out of the little slot and didn't advance. Doh!

corytate wrote: I took enough shots today to fill up my color roll, except the film didn't feed because it popped out of the little slot and didn't advance. Doh!

Ha! Newb. You won't likely repeat that mistake. Feel the film when you use the advance lever. It definitely turns more easily without film on it. Pay really close attention when you make the first two or three advances to get to frame #1. You'll get the hang of it quickly.

I'm enjoying following along with your progress. I used to teach this stuff, and you are checking all the boxes for common mistakes. I'm not picking on you- I think it is good that you are learning from these errors early on. You'll be an expert in no time!

Mezzanine wrote:

corytate wrote: I took enough shots today to fill up my color roll, except the film didn't feed because it popped out of the little slot and didn't advance. Doh!

Ha! Newb. You won't likely repeat that mistake. *Feel* the film when you use the advance lever. It definitely turns more easily without film on it. Pay really close attention when you make the first two or three advances to get to frame #1. You'll get the hang of it quickly. I'm enjoying following along with your progress. I used to teach this stuff, and you are checking all the boxes for common mistakes. I'm not picking on you- I think it is good that you are learning from these errors early on. You'll be an expert in no time!

Thank you, I'm getting more excited over this stuff than I have been over anything in a long time. We're going to the park tomorrow with the dog and I should be able to get some shots of her chasing ducks lol

color shots, I'm not too happy with the rest of the roll, should have switched lenses. And I'm going to stick with b/w for a while now. and cars=] lol

Can't see any of your photos, just some little white boxes.

4 good shots off a roll is not bad actually. 35mm film just looks great. I think your shots look very good actually. Keep it up!