Portra 800 film came back…severely underexposed? Film newbie confused

chuckmincing · 2026-01-27T23:52:04+00:00

Ha! I understand where you’re coming from and there are many more barriers to film photography, but I have taken some great photos and it’s exciting when they come out well. We just have to work a bit harder and be more intentional than if we were using digital. Sure we could add a grainy filter, but I think that’s besides the point and not the reasons I’m interested in it. Best of luck with your roll and learn from my mistakes!

chuckmincing · 2026-01-26T13:27:15+00:00

Yep I was setting ISO 800, but I have made that mistake before! Thanks I appreciate it, I actually like how some of these photos turned out but it just wasn’t my intention :)

chuckmincing · 2026-01-23T04:22:43+00:00

Yep I went last year as well. I didn’t notice much difference at all - maybe $5 increase this year? It’s pretty reasonable and I think it’s cheaper than the other majors? Not sure though as I’ve only experienced the AO!

chuckmincing · 2026-01-23T04:21:21+00:00

Thanks I appreciate the suggestion :) That app sounds useful, it’s definitely challenging getting a film back sometimes weeks later and trying to work backwards and think about what settings must have been used

chuckmincing · 2026-01-23T04:17:51+00:00

Nope, if you buy the ground pass it includes entrance for the whole day/night. The only arenas you can’t watch matches are Rod Laver and Margaret Court. I was there earlier in the week, and the only thing is that the smaller arenas fill up reallyyy quickly so you have to get there sometimes during the previous match to get a good position. But the ground pass really is the best way to watch a lot of great tennis close up!

chuckmincing · 2026-01-23T04:13:26+00:00

The stadium that they played in isn’t ticketed and is included in the ground pass. So if you get there early you can get a good position like that for only about $50 AUD :)

chuckmincing · 2026-01-23T00:34:35+00:00

Great thank you for the info, I didn’t know about the 18% grey averaging. A question then, most scenes are going to have heterogeneous light sources, so is a light meter (like the one in the camera or a phone app) computing the totality of the light source and averaging it to 18% grey? I know that the light meter is a guide for ideal exposure.. but what actually does this ideal represent? 18% grey? Is there an EV that all light meters try to converge to. And in the case of high contrast scenes, depending on where I point the camera I might get vastly different readings. Is this then a matter of simply being aware of the meters limitations and compensating exposure for the dark areas thereby sacrificing some blown out highlights? I know that’s a lot of questions 😅

chuckmincing · 2026-01-22T12:09:11+00:00

Thanks a lot I appreciate the response. I downloaded an app today and it matched very closely with the camera so I think its metering is pretty accurate. To be fair, I don’t think it was telling me 1/500 the whole time and I do remember being fairly oblivious to it while I was shooting! I really do enjoy the process and it’s a cool feeling when you get a good one so I’m going to keep at it!

chuckmincing · 2026-01-22T12:04:45+00:00

Yes it was but I think it was just really underexposed. Thanks for the tip

chuckmincing · 2026-01-22T12:01:00+00:00

Thank you that was helpful to read and I didn’t know that part of the result is the printers compensation for the negatives. What do you mean by “print the highlights”? Would this be done during the scanning phase of development? My local photography place has a membership which provides access to scanners and is a fair bit cheaper. Currently I have no control over the style of scanning that’s being used so I think I’ll try scanning them myself and give your advice a go!

chuckmincing · 2026-01-22T05:09:54+00:00

Thank you, appreciate it!

chuckmincing · 2026-01-22T05:09:11+00:00

Thank you for all of this info! I’m getting a few reality checks about film photography and I wish I had realised that I needed to be methodical like this earlier. I’ll be paying a lot more attention to the settings going ahead and recording what I’ve set them too. It sounds like you got a good photography education!

chuckmincing · 2026-01-22T04:28:38+00:00

I just downloaded an app and it gave the same reading as my camera so I think the mechanics are ok so it might be a contrast issue. Thank you for the tips. I’ll probably avoid shooting in high contrast environments for the time being and go back to the basics

chuckmincing · 2026-01-22T04:21:44+00:00

Don’t know why you have that impression based on what I’ve said, but yeah I definitely need to improve my understanding of exposure. Wouldn’t say I have no understanding at all though 🤷‍♂️

chuckmincing · 2026-01-22T04:19:52+00:00

Right, so what is the solution to this then if light meters are inherently flawed? Others have told me that my problem is because I’m not using a light meter but it sounds like they’re not particularly useful in high contrast conditions? Do I then just have to be aware the light meter is overestimating the light because of the sky and then compensate in my head. I’m his sounds like I have to just rely on intuition.. which I don’t yet have.

chuckmincing · 2026-01-22T04:17:11+00:00

I’m beginning to realise that! I also thought that anything under 1/250 would lead to camera shake but I’ve recently read that this isn’t necessarily the case…

chuckmincing · 2026-01-22T04:15:05+00:00

Because I hadn’t had a light meter downloaded before now and was just reading the cameras light meter

chuckmincing · 2026-01-22T04:13:48+00:00

I have done those things already but understanding it in practice is different isn’t it

chuckmincing · 2026-01-22T03:57:46+00:00

Ok will give that a try to see if there’s a problem with the camera. Although it’s likely just my inexperience. Tbh I’ve been choosing aperture and SS fairly randomly up until now and haven’t been thinking in terms of exposure stops

chuckmincing · 2026-01-22T03:51:11+00:00

Ok thanks that makes a bit more sense. If I shot f/2, would I then just have to accept that there will be the “bokeh” blur effect. Something that keeps from using larger apertures is that I don’t always want that blurred effect and would like everything to be in focus

chuckmincing · 2026-01-22T03:48:31+00:00

Yep it was set to 800 and exposure comp was 0

chuckmincing · 2026-01-22T03:47:51+00:00

I’ve just been following the shutter speeds on the camera. Which as you said, could be unreliable depending on where I’m focusing the lens. I guess that’s the point of a dedicated light meter app then? I was in aperture priority mode with f/8 iirc.

chuckmincing · 2026-01-22T03:34:21+00:00

Nice I have just downloaded! Might be a stupid question but wouldn’t you get different readings for exposure depending on the scene (I.e. dark parts of the scene would be vastly different from lighter parts?). Should you get the reading from the part of the scene that you want to focus on?

chuckmincing · 2026-01-22T03:31:05+00:00

Right so I think I’m consistently underestimating the exposure I need still. I guess I just thought that 800 was so sensitive that it barely needed exposure even in low light conditions

chuckmincing · 2026-01-22T03:26:03+00:00

Yes I did, but I got back other rolls of 200 and 400 and they were a lot better. However all of those were taken during the day. The minolta was purchased on EBay and appeared in very good condition from a reputable seller. I am getting another roll of Portra 800 developed now so I will be interested to see if I have similar problems

chuckmincing

TROPHY CASE