Fast film and slow lenses

[James Steven Beverly]

I axed this question in annother post was give great resoures for film questions but never really got this one answered. I have a somewhat early Konvas 1m w/ mostly Lomo slow lenses will fast film work in this camera?

[David Mullen ASC]

I axed this question in annother post was give great resoures for film questions but never really got this one answered. I have a somewhat early Konvas 1m w/ mostly Lomo slow lenses will fast film work in this camera?

 

Why would the lens on the camera affect whether a stock works in the camera? It's two separate issues.

 

If anything, being only able to use a slow lens may make using fast stocks unavoidable from a practical standpoint, but there is no reason why a camera would only run a slow stock but not a fast one, or vice-versa. A few 16mm cameras need to run double-perf stocks instead of single-perf stocks, but the speed of the stock doesn't physically affect the ability of it to run through a camera, nor would the lens on the front of the camera hinder the film stock mechanically in some way.

[James Steven Beverly]

Why would the lens on the camera affect whether a stock works in the camera? It's two separate issues.

 

If anything, being only able to use a slow lens may make using fast stocks unavoidable from a practical standpoint, but there is no reason why a camera would only run a slow stock but not a fast one, or vice-versa. A few 16mm cameras need to run double-perf stocks instead of single-perf stocks, but the speed of the stock doesn't physically affect the ability of it to run through a camera, nor would the lens on the front of the camera hinder the film stock mechanically in some way.

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I missundersood what Fast meant. I thought, for some some reason, that fast film meant it was more light sensitive and therefore need lenses capible o a wider range of f-stops. Thanks for clearing that up.

Edited January 29, 2006 by Capt.Video

[Max Jacoby]

I see your username is well chosen, your position maybe less so.

[Brian Drysdale]

A fast film is more light sensitive, but there's no restriction on the lenses you can use. You just need less light to correctly expose the film at a particular stop. It's like applying gain to a video camera and there are trade offs for this extra sensitivity: with a video camera you get more noise and using film you get more more grain.

[David Mullen ASC]

A fast film IS more light sensitive, so if you are shooting in bright sunlight, you will probably need ND filters because you won't be able to stop down the lens (whether a fast or slow lens, most don't go down farther than f/16) far enough to expose correctly. You may take out your meter and it will say to shoot at f/32 for example. Well, your lens only stops down to f/16, so you need some ND filters (or you need to use slower film.)

 

Your question is whether a slow lens would make it impossible to use fast film -- the opposite is true, a slow lens (one that cannot open wider than f/4 let's say, like an old zoom) will almost demand that fast film be used when shooting in low light because you can't open the iris any wider.

 

I think you just need to think things through more carefully:

 

A fast film is more sensitive to light and will probably be TOO sensitive in bright light without ND filters to compensate. A slow film is less sensitive to light.

 

A fast lens allows you to shoot in less light because you can open the aperture wider.

 

A slow lens limits your ability to shoot in low light UNLESS you compensate by using faster film (or add more light).

[James Steven Beverly]

I see your username is well chosen, your position maybe less so.

 

If you mean the DP description below my handle, I 'm not sure how the "of Photography " got on there. I'm a director , writer, actor , video editor and a producer-theatrical and video, but I am definately NOT a DP, grip or gapher. These are things I feel I'm lacking in and am trying to learn in order to be a BETTER director. I am a novice at film, have worked 3 films as a grip, and assisited a gapher on 1, but I have done a lot with video and edited a feature shot on video as well as many other thing. I actually have spent a lot of time on this board trying to learn the things I don't know about film, which would probably fill a library. So your correct, I should change that entry on my profile. It's just something I haven't gotten around to doing yet, but be that as it is. The information you gentlemen have provided thoughly answers my questions. I passed up a deal on some fast film I now know I should have bought. Thanks to your instruction, I won't let that happen again

Edited January 29, 2006 by Capt.Video