Mistakes

Mistakes are bound to happen. That's life and that's part of learning. I made a few mistakes today before and during a trip to the beach.

My camera was loaded with 800 speed film, and upon arriving at the beach it was fairly clear and very sunny. I was shooting my 50mm f/1.4 lens. After getting out of the car, I took a quick peek through the finder and saw my light meter pegged at the full (+) end of the scale. I twirled the aperture and stopped it down all the way, checked I was at max shutter speed (1/1000), and peeked again...still pegged.

This camera is actually a second K1000 body I picked up and this was my first roll in it. I turned to my resident photog (my wife): "you want fast shutter speed in bright light, right?" I asked. She concurred. "I think something's wrong with my meter. I can't get it down from fully overexposed...that's the plus side, right?"

I thought to myself as we walked...hmmm...

More thinking...

*Light bulb!*

Oh, I'm shooting 800 ISO film. Duh.

I changed the ISO dial down to 400 and checked the meter again. Ah, there you go. So, I shot several frames that way. At this moment, I'm not really sure what affect this has on film, since obviously the speed of the film didn't change. I'll look it up later.

And maybe that's not so much a mistake as a lack of knowledge. Regardless, I'm sure to make more than a few mistakes in the future. That's sometimes the best way to learn.

Here's a shot the wife took of me. Can you guess where the strap is from?