Marking F stops on the manual exposure knob

[jaxshooter]

The exposure window in the VF that shows F stops. on my Elmo 1012 XLS has a broken microprism so I thought about marking the manual exposure dial to the appropriate stop.I've thought of several methods of doing this.One is to light a grey card to F 5.6,locking the auto iris on it,and mark the dial accordingly,eyeballing the iris changes through the film gate.Anyone else have any suggestions?

[gianni1]

Don't have batteries in mine at the moment, but the manual exposure dial still changes the f stops in the viewfinder of my Elmo 1012S-XL. I could do a sequence of the dial positions that sets it from 1.2 through 32 and Closed....


f32 is with the dial needle at 6:00 or 180 degrees.
f1.4 at 4.30.. sorry I don't have a protractor handy.


Gianni

[Joe Gioielli]

The idea seems sound, both I feel like we may be missing a variable.

Remeber, when you calibrate the lighting for the grey card, it is going to be calibrated to a certain film speed. So if you change film speeds, adjust stops accordingly.

good luck with it
Joe

[Mitch Perkins]

The exposure window in the VF that shows F stops. on my Elmo 1012 XLS has a broken microprism so I thought about marking the manual exposure dial to the appropriate stop.

Does dial position consistently represent fstop? I've found that sometimes, with some cameras, it depends on which direction you come at it from, [clockwise/counterclockwise], and even then the same externally visible setting does not indicate the same fstop every time.

Can't get in and fix the microprism?

Mitch

[jaxshooter]

Can't get in and fix the microprism?

Mitch

I had one of my engineers at the TV station I work for open it up and look at it.It was his consensus that it had been dropped.It would require a new microprism and someone to install it.Don't think it will be a cheap fix.

[super8man]

've thought of several methods of doing this.One is to light a grey card to F 5.6,locking the auto iris on it,and mark the dial accordingly,eyeballing the iris changes through the film gate.Anyone else have any suggestions?

You're kidding right? I mean, I know it is possible for people to have perfect pitch in singing but I can guarantee nobody can eyeball what the iris though the gate...perhaps I am missing something here.

Note, as long as you know your exact shutter angle, then you should be able to calculate the standard f-stop from a known light meter...of course, this will not take into account losses through the lens to the film plane but you would be close enough to try a test roll of reversal (not negative since there is too much play in neg)

[Mitch Perkins]

Can't get in and fix the microprism?

Mitch

I had one of my engineers at the TV station I work for open it up and look at it.It was his consensus that it had been dropped.It would require a new microprism and someone to install it.Don't think it will be a cheap fix.

How about confirming the accuracy of the internal meter thru testing, then when shooting, point, let meter "set", then lock and shoot "blind", so to speak?
After all, if the meter is accurate, seeing the reading is mostly a comfort issue...although it does teach one about fstop/illumination...

OTOH, maybe the dial *does* consistently represent fstop, and your original idea is the way to go.

Mitch

[jaxshooter]

You're kidding right? I mean, I know it is possible for people to have perfect pitch in singing but I can guarantee nobody can eyeball what the iris though the gate...perhaps I am missing something here.

Maybe not dead on,but since 5.6 is a halfway point,I could mark that on the side of the dial where it is.Finding that point by lighting a grey card to 5.6 via a LIGHT METER(sorry should have clarified that) and then pointing the camera at the card and locking the iris down.That's assuming of course that the camera's meter is in agreement with the hand held.

[jaxshooter]

[quote="Mitch Perkins
How about confirming the accuracy of the internal meter thru testing, then when shooting, point, let meter "set", then lock and shoot "blind", so to speak?
After all, if the meter is accurate, seeing the reading is mostly a comfort issue...although it does teach one about fstop/illumination...

OTOH, maybe the dial *does* consistently represent fstop, and your original idea is the way to go.

Mitch

That would be fine as long as I was shooting only film stocks that were cart keyed.Not sure what the Elmo's meter works with,but if I'm shooting,say E 64,my camera is going to think it's ASA 40 and thus underexpose the film.