BetterPhoto Q&A
Category: Photo Critique and Discussion

Photography Question 

Dawn Cagle
 

Image Quality Vs. Fast Action


I will be shooting my son's Tae Kwon Do belt testing this weekend, and I am having problems deciding on what type of film I should use. Obviously, I want the highest image quality that I can get, but he's fast and a slow film just isn't going to work. Any thoughts on film speed/brand? Thanks!


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April 09, 2005

 

Bob Cammarata
  If you can get close enough (and it won't distract his routine), use flash to freeze the action. A slow film will produce better prints in this scenario. If flash is not an option, a shutter speed of at least 1/500 sec would be needed to freeze what I'm assuming are some pretty fast moves.
Ideally, if you could access the arena early enough and test the lighting with your in-camera meter to see what ISO setting will give you access to that shutter speed at f-5.6 or f-8.
If the lighting is fairly bright, ISO/400 film should work. If the lighting is too dim to allow for those aperture/shutter speed settings at 400, set the dial to 800 and take another reading. If this works better, shoot everything at that setting and tell your lab to push-process the film one stop.
The ISO/400 films of today by either Kodak or Fuji will make great prints up to 8x10.


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April 09, 2005

 

Mark Feldstein
  Greetings Dawn: The type of film you use depends on a few things, but mainly the lighting you have (or don't have) to work with. If you've got ceiling fluorescents, they produce a color cast on transparency or color negative films. An FLD or FLD filter helps but may not completely eliminate the problem. Or, you can ask the lab to subtract out for fluorescents when printing. With black and white film, of course, the type of lighting isn't a problem.
If you can use some type of fill-in flash, and balance your shutter speed f-stop to record ambient light, you'll likely be able to stop action, and get some background illumination from the overhead lighting. A flash will help eliminate any color cast from fluorescents. Before you use a flash, talk to someone in charge of the event to make sure that's OK. If you're close enough, an on-camera flash should work fine. (Like 20' or less).
As to film types, you probably want something medium speed to achieve less grain and better color saturation. 400 speed will probably be more than sufficient. If it's pretty bright, 200 speed should work fine. I always like Agfa Optima or Fujipress color negative film, which is pretty versatile in its ISO range. Some folks like the Kodacolor Gold stuff, though I don't for a few reasons.
I also prefer ol' fashioned Kodak Tri-X Pan for black and white work shooting low light theatrical productions without flash, Fuji Neopan 1600 if it's darker, and if it's really dark, Ilford or T-Max 3200 speed. The Neopan can be rated at 3200 (pushed one stop) if you let the lab know.
Hope this is useful for ya. Have fun.
Mark


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April 09, 2005

 
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