Shooting Fomapan 100 on a Sankyo - how will the internal light meter read it?

[Graeme Cole]

Who has experience shooting with Fomapan R-100 on a Sankyo ES-44XL, please? I have a project coming up and, being of little cinematography brain, have developed some worries.

The main one is this:

1. I am planning to use the internal meter but the camera apparently only recognises ASA 40 or 160. What will the 100 meter to?

The other:

2. The 85 filter mechanism seems weird to me: the filter is in place unless you keep the filter flap lifted or are using Type G film, in which the filter is automatically removed. What effect will this have when shooting R-100?

[Joerg Polzfusz]

Hi!

The cartridge is notched correctly. Theoretically, the filter should be automatically removed by the cartridge. You should check whether the camera really has a sensor for the tungsten-/daylight-notch.

As you can see in the text on the second image, the film will not be exposed correctly, as it’s either 40 or 160 ASA, but no 100 ASA.
Unfortunately, the manual says that the camera has been designed for the Ektachrome 160G. And that Ektachrome 160G was notched incorrectly by Kodak as 100D. Hence, I‘m 95% sure that it would be exposed as 160 ASA. You would have to verify this by checking the sensor‘s position. See http://www.peaceman.de/blog/index.ph...w-and-improved

Good luck!

[Graeme Cole]

Thanks, Joerg! I'm going to use that notch measurer on the cartridge next week when I get my hands on it.

Assuming it does meter at 160, how much should I adjust the internal light meter's reading to get a correct manual exposure?

As you can see in the text on the second image, the film will not be exposed correctly, as it’s either 40 or 160 ASA, but no 100 ASA.
Unfortunately, the manual says that the camera has been designed for the Ektachrome 160G. And that Ektachrome 160G was notched incorrectly by Kodak as 100D. Hence, I‘m 95% sure that it would be exposed as 160 ASA. You would have to verify this by checking the sensor‘s position. See http://www.peaceman.de/blog/index.ph...w-and-improved

Good luck!

[Joerg Polzfusz]

Fomapan R100 is 100/21° ISO.
160 ASA are 160/23° ISO.

So there’s a difference of 2 DIN = 2*1/3 f-stop. As the Fomapan is relatively forgiving, you might be able to get good results by permanently pressing the camera‘s „+1“-button (sometimes labeled „BLC“ or „backlight“).

[Graeme Cole]

Great, thanks Joerg!

[Shane C. Collins]

Joerg is correct, use the backlight button if your camera has one. If you're shooting in bright sunshine, a neutral density filter screwed onto the front of the lens can help. ND filters not only drop the exposure, they help the camera from trying to overexpose film too much. Also lower f-stops in sunny weather always look better when projecting film. Sharpness and contrast will improve in this regard. But, also remember you still want to use the backlight function even with a ND filter in place. I do this every time I shoot with Ektachrome Super 8 color reversal film 7294. I like the results exposed at a lower ASA, compared to the box speed of 100 ASA. I've never shot Fomapan, but I'm sure it looks nice for Super 8 shooting! I have shot Tri-X in the past, and had great results! The first time I used that film it turned out nice! However, the second cart I shot I allowed the #85 orange filter to slide down in front of the lens. The results on screen were not as impressive as the first cart shot the normal way. The orange filter appeared to make the film darker, and I lost some contrast as a result.