Why pics underexposed

[jnkberg]

This might be a really elementary question, but I've just begun working with my G2 and am wondering what I did wrong. I took two rolls over the weekend. One was Fuji Superia 400 and the other Ilford Delta 100. I metered and did exactly the same thing on both rolls. The color came out great and the B&W is all dark and underexposed. The B&W roll was taken in direct sunlight in a pool and I was getting readings of 500 at F11. If this is way off any suggestions as to why I was getting this reading? As a side note I didn't get the B&W developed on B&W paper. Would this make a difference?
Any help would be appreciated as I don't want to do this again.
Thanks,
Kristen

 

[patricio]

Kristen, did you set your ISO to 100 when you loaded the B&W film? Some film canisters don't have the DX coding on them that the G1 or G2 use to automatically set the ISO. This may be the reason your photos came out properly in colour but not in B&W.

Hope this helps.

Patricio

 

[jnkberg]

Thanks Patricio.
I didn't check the ISO because it was correct for the color film. I don't have a manual, can someone tell me how to manually change the ISO on the G2? Thanks! Kristen

 

[onore]

It is a little hard to determine without seeing the actual pictures, but my guess is the reflectivity of the water in the pool fooled the meter into thinking there was more light on the scene then there actually was. This caused the meter to stop down the exposure underexposing the film. The reason that the Superia came out all right may be simply due to greater exposure latitude or that the machine development was able to compensate in the making of the prints. You don't say how the blackand white was developed and that may also have something to do with it. Based on the sunny 16 rule, it sounds like the Delta was underexposed by a stop or a stop and a half.

 

[smartrav]

> This might be a really elementary question, but I've just begun > working with my G2 and am wondering what I did wrong. I took two rolls > over the weekend. One was Fuji Superia 400 and the other Ilford Delta > 100. I metered and did exactly the same thing on both rolls. The color > came out great and the B&W is all dark and underexposed

Should have used Kodak film like Txi-X. Works great in the Contax G2.

Seriously if the B&W negatives are all dark they are overexposed. Look a them closely there may still be a printable image. You will need to use a very high contrast paper like Kodak Polymax to print them.

Dave Former B&W Prod. Dev for Kodak now retired Contax user.

 

[lestout]

Kristen, With regard to manual setting of film speed: With camera on, press the button to the left of the LCD window and hold down until the ISO setting flashes. Then adjust the setting using the focus wheel. Depress the shutter release half-way to lock in the setting. If the film cannister has been decoded by the G2, then "DX" will appear in the window. Hope this helps.

 

[yogi]

When I got my G2 I was playing around with it to get used to it and accidentally forgot to change my ISO setting back to DX and left it at 100. Well needless to say my TCn-400 Kodak came out all black as well. So if you got it used the previous owner may have set it to 100. I'm not sure if it'll even take pictures if it can't resolve a DX code. I'd have to double check the manual. On my Nikon F100 any film that doesn't resolve DX code will cause the display to flash the "DX" error. Not sure if G2 does that or defaults to something else.

Either way follow Laurence's directions in the previous post to adjust the iso setting, or reset to DX.

 

[smartrav]

>Almon said: > > When I got my G2 I was playing around with it to get used to it and > accidentally forgot to change my ISO setting back to DX and left it at > 100. Well needless to say my TCn-400 Kodak came out all black as well.

I use T400CN all the time and set the ISO to 100. Negs are perfect.

Dave

 

[jnkberg]

Thanks to everyone for the advice. I'm going to shoot another role with the correct ISO and see if that makes a difference.
Kristen

 

[yogi]

> I use T400CN all the time and set the ISO to 100. Negs are perfect.

Dave<

Yes the negatives definitely looks useful, but the prints that came back didn't. I guess I could have asked the processor to pull process the film.

 

[smartrav]

> I use T400CN all the time and set the ISO to 100. Negs are perfect. > > Dave > Yes the negatives definitely looks useful, but the prints that came > back didn't. I guess I could have asked the processor to pull process > the film.

T400CN exposed in a Contax Camera is awesome. But you need to rate it at 100 or leave the auto ISO on and over expose by 2 stops. The latitude will cover anything and give you great negatives with outstanding shadow detail. I am prinitng right now a neg. I shot in a cave in the Canyon De Chelly 30 minutes after sundown. Exposure was for 4 minutes. Fantastic.

I would suggest if your prints didn't come back useful to print them yourself. But they should have given you great prints even if printed in a Noritzu minilab.

Dave