I just got a Sea+Sea MX10 and strobe....

[Tunicates]

...from Secondopsman ( cheers pete ) and got a few questions about its use, and film and stuff.....

I got it cos I like using film.
I like using very basic point and shoot cameras. Their limitations present a challenge. You can still take some cracking shots with them - well, some of them -
as long as you know what the limitations are first.

1. So apart from the fixed focal length, is there anything in particular I should know?

2. What film gives best results underwater? My guess is Velvia, but thats only from seeing it above water.

3. Has anyone got a red filter or any lenses they can pass on to me?

Cheers
TaM

[ChristianG]

Originally Posted by Tunicates are Mad

2. What film gives best results underwater? My guess is Velvia, but thats only from seeing it above water.

Spot on. If you didn't know it, Fuji have recently come out with a new version of Velvia 50, which this time really should be shot at 50 rather than 40 and developed at 50.

From all accounts it's as good as the original and there was NOTHING better than the original.

[Tunicates]

The MX10 only shoots at 100 or 400.

What'll happen if I shoot Velvia 50 at 100 and develop at 100?

Maybe I'll find out.....

[Mike Ward]

Shoot 50 ISO film at 100 ISO and all the shots will be a stop underexposed - too dark. On slide film that's a lot, on print film it isn't, but there are plenty of 100 ISO films out there, slide or print.

Unlike digital a red filter isn't likely to help much - it'll do a good job but only at a set depth (Give or take a metre or two).

Best advice is simply to get close. A wide adapter used to be available for the MX10 that would be useful - they turn up on ebay from time to time.

[ChristianG]

Originally Posted by Mike Ward

Shoot 50 ISO film at 100 ISO and all the shots will be a stop underexposed - too dark. On slide film that's a lot, on print film it isn't, but there are plenty of 100 ISO films out there, slide or print.

Ummm, Mike?

I forget now but in the good old days of the Nik V I often forgot to change the ISO counter and therefore got the film speed wrong. No doubt (I hope) you did the same, otherwise I'd feel even more a fool than usual. So I left it where it was (in my case I used Vevia 50 or a 100 ISO until Velvia came out with that speed film) and when I inevitably noticed my stupidity I kept the roll at that speed and told the developer to push, or pull, it.

That was actually pretty successful.

Frankly I can't remember when it was pushed or pulled, you'd remember because you always developed your own whilst I gave that up after a while due to a friend, sadly dead now, who was always a lot better at it than I was - even though E6 processing is a doddle. I guess that was partly because he did a lot of it and I only did my own, and we both know that fresh E6 chemistry is what it's all about.

Thank you, OP, for allowing me to, sigh, talk about the "good old days."

[Tunicates]

Your welcome Christian.

I was wondering because I've used 400 film but shot and developed it as 100 and pushed it a stop and it just came out a bit grainy.

Would the converse occur using 50 as 100?

Or am I wrong? I often am, so it wouldnt surprise me.

[Mike Ward]

My word - a discussion about film speeds and processing. Whatever next?

Any way, if you underexpose film (Tri-X at 1600 ASA instead of 400 was common for sports on our rainy, dull little island) then you push it in processing, which means extending the development time to compensate. The result is a negative that's almost as good but not quite, with bigger grain. Similarly if you over expose film you pull it, develop for less time, resulting in a decent neg with - depending on your film stock - less grain.

That's the theory, though colour neg films had so much exposure latitude that you'd get a decent print if the exposure was three stops out, and as for black and white, a good craftsman (Not me, I was always cr*p at it) could get a print from just about anything. Colour tranny was more pernickety, a stop either way was about it, erring on the under side for printing and over side for projection if necessary.