 Jason |
How to improve colour saturation? I am currently using a Minolta Dynax 404si with a Tamron 28-200mm AF XR (IF) lens. I recently took a few rolls of shots at the beach using a Hoya circular polarising filter with ISO400 Kodak Max film. I am told that the Tamron lens and polarising filter "sucks-up" light, hence, have to compensate on a slightly longer exposure. I assumed that the ISO400 film would compensate for this rather than manually adjusting the exposure. Unfortunately, the shots were grainy and overexposed with bad color saturation. Is it due to the film? camera? lens? inaccurate metering by the camera? or what? How do I improve this?
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Jon Close |
How did you determined exposures? The exposure compensation when using a polarizer is +2 stop: For example 1/500 @ f/8 without the filter would be 1/125 @ f/8 - or some equivalent exposure - with the filter. The through-the-lens metering of your slr should not have required any compensation for the filter. It adjusts automatically since it is reading less light when the filter is in place. Re your results - While an overexposed photo would look pale and washed out, it should not look "grainy." Generally if your results are grainy and with bad color saturation it is due to UNDERexposure. Check your negatives. If they are dark/dense then you may have overexposed. If they are "thin" with little detail, then they were underexposed.
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Peter K. Burian |
Jason: To keep this simple, don't worry about the lens or filter. Your camera's light metering system considers those when calculating the exposure. It will automatically compensate with a longer exposure when necessary. Unless your subject is white (like a closeup of a bride) you should get decent exposures using the camera's Honeycomb metering system. If your subject is white, or you are including a lot of BRIGHT sky, sand or surf, try this. Set +1.5 exposure compensation factor. That will help. Otherwise, do not worry about the exposure. I can see no reason why you are getting a lot of grain and poor color saturation. If the ISO on your camera is set to ISO 400 when using ISO 400 film. Don't overcomplicate the issue of trying to get nice pics. Try again, using Program mode and Honeycomb pattern metering. Shoot some average subjects - without a lot of bright sky or a large white area. Unless your camera is malfunctioning, I'll bet you'll get great photos. Cheers! Peter Burian
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Jason |
Thanks for the replies guys. Was trying out the spot / AE lock button and noticed that the metering is different e.g. Shutter speed-1/45; Aperture-11 (normal focussing) vs. Shutter speed-1/90; Aperture-16 (using spot / AE lock)although I am focussing at the same point. Is that normal?
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Peter K. Burian |
Jason: Yes, that can make a major difference. Honeycomb metering evaluates the entire scene, and ignores ultra bright areas. AE Lock/Spot metering bases the entire exposure on the tiny area at the center of the frame. If that tiny area is a mid-tone (grass, gray card, a tanned face, etc.) no problem. But if that area is white or black (or close to it) you will get serious under or overexposure. Cheers! Peter Burian
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