Film speed

[ShaggyFord 0]

Is there a big difference in using 200 spd vs. 400 spd. I know 200 is for outdoors and 400 for indoors. I'm just trying to find out if either would be better for freefall, besides the price.

[Deuce 1]

Freefall is usually in bright light, so go with the lower ASA to get less grainy prints. We use 200 for our tandems and AFF work.

[diablopilot 2]

I find 100ASA fine for almost all daytime skydiving work.

If MCGowan pops his head in here he can tell you why he prefers 100 over 200.... I cant remember what the explanation was, but it made sense at the time.

I've used 400 for low light skydives, but cost and image quality make it my secondary choice.

Of couse digital rules my world now....

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You're not as good as you think you are. Seriously.

[quade 3]

You can purchase a wide variety of film speeds for either "daylight" or "indoors" (aka tungsten).

Indoor or outdoor film has less to do with the amount of light than it does the color temperature of the light.

Resources:

http://www.schorsch.com/kbase/glossary/cct.html

http://cybaea.com/photo/color-correction.html

http://plugin.artdesign.ru/

quade -
The World's Most Boring Skydiver

[ShaggyFord 0]

Thanks guys

[prost 0]

We use 200 speed film for all the student video at my drop zone with good results. It is a low enough speed not to be grainy when enlarged but is also fast enough for cloudy days. 400 is just not quite as sharp and is not needed for skydiving pics.

[jmfreefly 0]

I believe, actually, that the chemical makeup is actually almost the same, and you can usually push one film speed (100->200, 200->400), and, to most people's eyes, there is no noticable difference. It just requires processing the film at the pushed speed, not the original speed (I have had processing places screw that up more than once).

There are skydiving applications that call for 100,200,400 etc. speed film. Speed is a always going to be a tradeoff for film grain. In the 4x6 world, you wont see a whole lot of difference in film grain.. (for say 400 speed vs. 200 speed) larger prints are more noticable.

For sunny days, I shoot 100 speed for tandem students, because of both cost, and because sometimes they will send me an enlargement back as a thankyou. I also shoot a F1.8 lens, so I can often deal with a slower speed film (at the tradeoff of depth of field, of course).

j

[genoyamamoto 0]

Quote

Freefall is usually in bright light, so go with the lower ASA to get less grainy prints. We use 200 for our tandems and AFF work.

I didn't realize people still used 200 speed film. When I used to use film, the extra grain in 200 wasn't worth the extra 1 stop in speed from 100 and the difference in grain between 200 and 400 is negligible. But then again I wasn't using it to take photos of people falling from the sky.

Gotta go... plaything needs to spank me
Feel the hate...
Photos here

[Deuce 1]

Gene, it's cause our video concession buys the film in bulk, and some days it's cloudy. In general, for customers, we want the biggest depth-of-focus we can get.

Then again, the only time I shoot film is for tandem customers, and 200 is a safe bet. That 10D is where it's at.

[jeremyneas 0]

100 for working nonsense

200 for cloudy days

50 for projects