Best ISO for Handheld, Indoors Like Museums

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Einton Newstein - 20 Sep 2004 07:05 GMT

Shooting museums or indoors like that. Table top tripod? Monopod?,
high ISO? or simply forget it?

I have used the tabletop tripod. It works, usually allowed, but too
restricted when talking about finding the right position and height. I
also have the fear that someone might step on my camera.

Havden't tried monopod, feel it's not much more steady than handheld,
maybe at most one stop better?

High ISO? seems I'll need ISO 800 or above, but then I don;t know of
any good color film with that ISO. Delta-400 or TMax-400 might be
good, but they are all B&W. Any recommendation for color films?

What would you use for such occasion?

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Rod Smith - 20 Sep 2004 15:29 GMT

> Shooting museums or indoors like that. Table top tripod? Monopod?,
> high ISO? or simply forget it?

I'd start with a fast lens. A lot of modern zooms are rather slow compared
to the fixed-length lenses of yesteryear.

I'd also consider the precise lighting conditions and subjects. Is this a
well-lit science museum, where you want to photograph dinosaur skeletons?
A dimly-lit history museum where you want to photograph 1800s knitting
needles? Those factors will favor different approaches. For instance, for
small subjects you might consider using flash, if it's permitted in the
museum.

Assuming a moderately to well lit museum with a range of subjects, I'd
probably bring two or three fast lenses and ISO 400 or 800 film. If I
thought it'd be a bit dimmer, I'd bring a small tripod. That's just me,
of course.

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Rod Smith, rodsmith@rodsbooks.com
http://www.rodsbooks.com
Author of books on Linux, FreeBSD, and networking

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ThomasH - 21 Sep 2004 00:16 GMT

> In article newstein_einton@yahoo.com (Einton Newstein) writes:
> >
[quoted text clipped - 3 lines]
> I'd start with a fast lens. A lot of modern zooms are rather slow compared
> to the fixed-length lenses of yesteryear.

Agreed, and since the objects does not move: consider also
Image Stabilization. Personally I believe that very sensitive
films (800, 1600) are too grainy to give a satisfaction on
anything with fine texture and detail. I was shooting recently
4/5 museums in Europe, albeit digital. The point though is
that we used ISO 100 for low noise images, f2/8 lens and
image stabilization. Very satisfactory with exposure times
down to 1/2 sec, handheld (Lumix FZ-10)!

I shot a lot of time in museums, usually using a small tripod
applied to door frames, walls etc. whenever this was permitted.
In one prominent example (Edo Museum in Tokyo) they explicitly
disallow the use of tripods. They accepted though the use of
the "foot sling"! Such contraption allows to shoot at 1/15 sec
with good result in most cases, if you can keep it steady.

> I'd also consider the precise lighting conditions and subjects. Is this a
> well-lit science museum, where you want to photograph dinosaur skeletons?
> A dimly-lit history museum where you want to photograph 1800s knitting
> needles? Those factors will favor different approaches. For instance, for
> small subjects you might consider using flash, if it's permitted in the
> museum.

Flash is a taboo in virtually 100% of museums (with art, at least.)
Possibly a museum of (say) military equipment and such will not
object, but these are rare cases. In some cases not harm to the
exhibition but also the annoyance factor to others motivates
museum to prohibit flash. E.g. Glyptothek in Munich.

> Assuming a moderately to well lit museum with a range of subjects, I'd
> probably bring two or three fast lenses and ISO 400 or 800 film. If I
> thought it'd be a bit dimmer, I'd bring a small tripod. That's just me,
> of course.

Same here, just an opinion! Happy shooting.

Thomas

> --
> Rod Smith, rodsmith@rodsbooks.com
> http://www.rodsbooks.com
> Author of books on Linux, FreeBSD, and networking

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Einton Newstein - 22 Sep 2004 06:45 GMT

I guess I'd give up the idea to shoot handheld.

I figured the lighting would require ISO-800 in order to shoot with f4
@ 1/32 sec. Here f4 is my lens's speed (medium format prime lens) and
1/32 sec is the speed I can barely hold steadily. But I'm not happy
with any film with ISO-800.

I'd go back to the table-top tripod. Or, maybe a good digital camera
is another solution.

> > In article newstein_einton@yahoo.com (Einton Newstein) writes:
> > >
[quoted text clipped - 46 lines]
> > http://www.rodsbooks.com
> > Author of books on Linux, FreeBSD, and networking

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Andy Davidson - 26 Sep 2004 08:45 GMT

[Einton Newstein wrote in rec.photo.film+labs]

> I figured the lighting would require ISO-800 in order to shoot with f4
> @ 1/32 sec. Here f4 is my lens's speed (medium format prime lens) and
> 1/32 sec is the speed I can barely hold steadily. But I'm not happy
> with any film with ISO-800.

There's a quick rule of thumb I was taught (which has no bearing on
whether it is safe to handhold in any given situation, but it might be
interesting nonetheless).

The reciprocal value of the longest focal length the lens is capable of
is the slowest you can handhold at safely (specifically for 35mm).

So if you are using a 50mm standard lens, you can hand-hold down to 1/60.

If you're using a 28mm lens, you can get away with handholding with one
less stop's worth of light at 1/30. If you're using a 200mm lens, you
will struggle to handhold at less than 1/250.

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Regards, Andy Davidson
http://www.fotoserve.com/ - Great value digital printing in the UK.

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DaveHodge - 26 Sep 2004 16:18 GMT

It is not a simple issue. Are you using a SLR with a moving mirror, or a
rangefinder camera? When I was using a Mamiya 645 I found that with a 55mm
lens I could hand hold 1/15 sec if I leaned against a wall. With my Fuji
GS645S (fixed 60mm) I can easilly hand-hold 1/8 sec. if leaning against a wall.
I never use anything faster than 400 speed film for interiors.

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Victor - 29 Sep 2004 01:46 GMT

> It is not a simple issue. Are you using a SLR with a moving mirror, or a
> rangefinder camera? When I was using a Mamiya 645 I found that with a 55mm
> lens I could hand hold 1/15 sec if I leaned against a wall. With my Fuji
> GS645S (fixed 60mm) I can easilly hand-hold 1/8 sec. if leaning against a wall.
> I never use anything faster than 400 speed film for interiors.

You got a steady hand there pal!

Vic

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