Just wondering how long exposure times are inside an abandonment and with what speed film. Basically, how often do you need to shoot with a tripod.

I think it isn't really possible to tell you exposure times, but I think more often than not (much more) you'll need a tripod.

Is apperture not important to you?

i would guess that my average exposure time is around 30 seconds. with a standard deviation of well over 30 seconds.

The speed of film that you'd use depends on whether having shorter exposures is more important to you than not having grainy photos. I personally shoot with 100 to avoid grain. There are generally dark areas in abandonments, and those areas are generally cool looking, so you'd definitely want a tripod. And yes, exposure time depends on how wide your aperture is as well as how dark the area you're shooting is, so we can't possibly tell you what to use.

Nonsense. Two seconds precisely. Not even 1/100 second more or less or you'll ruin everything!

This is why you are the master.

dsankt, aurelie
I know aperture size and film speed impact exposure times. I was wondering how long (on average, for you) you expose for.

If you want numbers to estimate or whatnot, figure f4 or 5.6 and 400ASA

yokes I think it isn't really possible to tell you exposure times, but I think more often than not (much more) you'll need a tripod.

Ok

digital_me i would guess that my average exposure time is around 30 seconds.

Damn you, dark placesss

Use the Force.

Posted by TicTac dsankt, aurelie I know aperture size and film speed impact exposure times. I was wondering how long (on average, for you) you expose for. If you want numbers to estimate or whatnot, figure f4 or 5.6 and 400ASA

To elaborate on what others have said already, and joking about 2 second exposures aside, abandoned buildings have all sorts of different levels of lighting. Some have great big open windows. Some are basements with the only incident light being available from dim light filtered down through a stairwell. If you are shooting film, your best bet for consistent results is to invest in a light meter capable of metering in extreme low light conditions (Go go Gossen?) and then do a series of test exposures with the film that you are choosing to use to calculate in various conditions how reciprocity failure impacts the metered exposure time.
If you ever change film, you will need to redo the tests as each film has different (sometimes radically different) characteristics.

Is there a particular Gossen you like?

I have an old Luna Pro? I think and it's the only one I've ever tried. Works great, though!

Posted by EatsTooMuchJam I have an old Luna Pro? I think and it's the only one I've ever tried. Works great, though!

Bring the tripod. You'll frequently find places that you have to lightpaint, or are only getting sunlight through vines on a dirty window down the hallway.

Posted by AnAppleSnail Bring the tripod. You'll frequently find places that you have to lightpaint, or are only getting sunlight through vines on a dirty window down the hallway.

Why are you telling ME that?

Posted by TicTac Damn you, dark placesss

30 Seconds is a good minimum when shooting sheetfilm and using decent apertures in low-light. I find it's common to use exposures between 2 and 10 minutes with ASA-100 film between F/8 and F/16. On a SLR you have the advantage of optimal performance at say F/4 or F/5,6 so you don't have to stand around waiting as much If you're a wanker using a pinhole camera or getting Star Trails several hours is possible. I vaguely remember someone mentioning a 96-hour exposure for an indoor pinhole shot. o_O

... or even longer yet! There's a photographer around who shoots year-long exposures of construction sites and the like.

Posted by TicTac Damn you, dark placesss

that was a joke. note the bit about the standard deviation? i'm pointing out how useless your question is. you're asking something which cannot be answered in a meaningful way.

while making photographs during explorations, i have used such diverse shutter speed/aperture combinations as 1/8000 with f/22 and 1 hour with f/4.

go out an make a lot of photographs. do so in lots of situations. if you can start with a digital camera, it will make the going much less painful early on. eventually you will learn to figure a good exposure in a certain situation.

edit: forgot this was the film board so i'll add some film specific stuff

print film is much easier to start with than slide film because it has greater exposure latitude. ±2 stops in some cases. obviously the best option is developing your own because then you can have the negatives in about 40 minutes and you can do your own pushing and pulling without paying through the arse. one hour photo is fine too.

pick one or two films and stick with those. this is especially important as its a bitch to remember the reciprocity failure curves for more than a couple films at a time. my usual rule of thumb is to overexpose by one or two stops depending on how the scene is lit etc. this is for exposures 15 s to maybe 2 min or so. anything beyond that i tend to wing it and hope that exposure latitude bears with me.

Posted by digital_me print film is much easier to start with than slide film because it has greater exposure latitude. ±2 stops in some cases. obviously the best option is developing your own because then you can have the negatives in about 40 minutes and you can do your own pushing and pulling without paying through the arse. one hour photo is fine too.

Just to add onto this, black and white is nice and easy to do at home. C-41 (Colour neg film, or Black and white C-41) is not so much. All you need for black and white developing is a bathroom (which you make light tight) or a black bag, a patterson tank, something to measure chemistry with, a thermometer and chemicals.

Depending on how serious you are about your negs, the basic setup is developer, stop, fix, wash. But if you want to ensure your negs last, then you'll want developer, stop, fix, wash, hypoclear, wash, photo-flo.

I'm not sure what prices are like elsewhere, but I know the one hour photo at Wal-Mart was like $6 or $7 last time I was there. It's definitely getting pricey...but that's why I only shoot B/W film, since I can develop and print at home.

Posted by shadowedsmile I'm not sure what prices are like elsewhere, but I know the one hour photo at Wal-Mart was like $6 or $7 last time I was there. It's definitely getting pricey...but that's why I only shoot B/W film, since I can develop and print at home.

the trick with c41 at one hour photos is to get the development and then either no prints no scans (will cost you < $2.00) and scan yourself (if you have a film scanner) or just get the photo cd (shouldbe < $5.00 for one roll of film) and no prints. no prints is the important part because they gouge you there and you don't need those dinky little prints anyway.

Posted by digital_me the trick with c41 at one hour photos is to get the development and then either no prints no scans (will cost you < $2.00) and scan yourself (if you have a film scanner) or just get the photo cd (shouldbe < $5.00 for one roll of film) and no prints. no prints is the important part because they gouge you there and you don't need those dinky little prints anyway.

hehe, I work at a CVS and this is pretty true. 4x6 prints aren't bad, but they add up quick. Just developing is pretty cheap tho.

Anyway, thanks for the replies. I've got a light meter (Calcu-light XP) which is reported to be very accurate in very low-light environments, and a tripod I trust to hold my cam steady for about minute (it's a tad wobbly, but it collapses down so small!). For exposures longer than that, I'll just cross my fingers

I'm heading off to Eastern State Penn tomorrow (paying to get into an abandonment, what is this world coming to?? ) and I'll shoot a few rolls there. Should be a good mix of bright and dim areas

[Edited for ramble-removal]