Digital controls similar to 35mm?

Hi,
I'm fairly decided on getting a 35mm camera and traditional
slide projector. I'm still fairly unsteady with my knowledge of manual
controls. My digital camera has them, too, though I have not used
them.
Now, before I spend $8 on film and another $10 on developing to
see how my first wobbly attemps turned out, are the controls-- the f
stops, the faux film speed settings, etc., all very similar to those on
a 35mm camera? So once I practice and get results I like in digital,
the film should come out the same with the same settings?
thanks!
-Bernard

Bernard Arnest

Re: digital controls similar to 35mm?

...
Well, when I was in Prague on summer holiday in July, a couple of other
tourists handed me a Nikon D70 on Charles Bridge and asked me to take their
photo. I did, adjusting the aperture and shutter speed to suit me. My father
has a D70 so I am quite familiar with the controls of this camera though I
shoot Canon myself.
When I had taken the shot, I looked at the display to check the histogram
for exposure.
It wasn't there. It was a film Nikon, not a D70. I did not notice this until
I had taken the shot.
So, yes - at least for Nikon, the film and digital cameras are pretty darned
close in terms of handling and feel :)

Ståle Sannerud

Re: digital controls similar to 35mm?

Most digital cameras seem to be about 1/2 to a full stop faster than the
ISO number would suggest (per Chasseur d'Images tests, and in the case
of my 7D, the same...)
Otherwise DSLR's behave like slide film with a little more latitude on
the dark side. eg: where slide films have a latitude of about -2 to +2
stops (±1/3), digital in RAW is about -5 to +2 (maybe +2.5).
An exception is the Fujifilm S2/S3 which add about 2 more stops to the
high end by adding desensitized highlight sensors paired with each
"normal" sensor.
If you expose a film to the same setting as a digital shot, you should
expect underexposure in most cases. For sure, I meter my film shots
seperately from my digital shots and they are at least 1/2 stop in
difference.
OTOH, digital is invaluable in the studio for getting lighting right,
looking for flare, unexected shaddows, etc. ...just like Polaroid used
to be... but I meter the flash exposure with an incident meter for film.
My advice is that you use the spot meter of your DSLR (assuming it is so
equipped), and look for highlights, meter that and open up two stops.
Then examine the the histogram for the placement of the highlights and
adjust as needed. It's okay to let a highlight go over here and there
as long as it's a very small part of the composition.
Cheers,
Alan.
--
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Alan Browne

Re: digital controls similar to 35mm?

It's all pretty much the same as film. The higher the ISO (digital capture sensitivity) then
the higher the "noise" will be in the image, just like the higher the ISO of the film, the
grainier the image will be. Simply, digital chip replaces film, but generally all the same.
As far as the mechanics of camera type and build,
Leica R9 and the new digital back made for it, I'd love it if there were digital backs for
the Nikon F4s or F3-AF, which is all electro-mechanical and no lcd screen. You can get
that done in medium format too, with digital backs replacing film backs but I don't know
about "portable power" for them. That's expensive. But all (at least most) remains the
same in digital cameras, from point and shoot to D-SLRs.
--
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AAvK

Re: digital controls similar to 35mm?

If I read your question correctly...
If on your digital you set ISO, aperture and shutter to a particular set
of values, and that yields a correctly exposed photograph, if you then
use the same film speed, aperture and shutter on a film camera, will you
also get correct exposure?
In theory, the answer is yes. In practice the answer is maybe, but
probably not.
One big difference is that film (even slide) has a much higher tolerance
of over-exposure than digital does, whereas digital has a much higher
tolerance of under-exposure than film does. Some cameras may compensate
for this difference in their metering, resulting in different
shutter/aperture settings compared to what a film camera would meter. In
my limited experience though, most digitals (including canon, olympus &
pentax DSLRs) tend to over-expose, especially when shooting a contrasty
scene. I've found that to get an image with sunlit areas and shade
areas, that most digitals require a 2-3 stop underexposure to keep
highlights in control, whereas film keeps them under control at normal
exposure.
Recently I took a few shots of a waterfall, where the waterfall itself
was in shade, but next to it was granite rocks in full sun. I had a hell
of a job getting the highlights under control in the digital (Canon
S2IS). The meter was absolutely hopeless, recording great swathes of
solid white at the auto setting. Applying 2 stops of underexposure
compensation (the most it's menu would allow) wasn't sufficient, and in
the end I switched to manual, ignored what the meter said, resorted to
the "sunny 16" rule, and then found that I had to apply 3 more stops of
underexposure before the highlights appeared under control (I still had
a few bright spots, but they were no longer blooming and ugly). On the
film camera however, I knew from experience that B&W film using the
"sunny 16" rule would happily cope - this co-incided with what it's
meter said, and the resulting image was spot on, with bright but under
control highlights, and dark but still detailed shadows.
A little over 12 months ago, I went through a similar exercise with an
Olympus E300 and slide film in my Pentax. Once again the Pentax's auto
reading agreed with what theory said it should be, and gave a correctly
exposed slide with bright but manageable highlights, whereas the Olympus
needed around 2 stops underexposure to get the highlights back where
they should be.