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March 16, 2002

There are a number of things that could have gone wrong to have nothing but blank film. Ensure the film was (is) loaded properly. After loading the film, snug up the rewind crank. Don't use too much force or you'll tear the film; just take up the slack. The rewind crank should turn at least slightly when you wind to the next frame.

(a) You will need to use a tripod and hopefully you also have a cable release (see cable release work-around remarks below).

(b) Set up the camera on the tripod so that the TV screen fills the frame. Ensure the camera is level and aimed directly at the center of the screen so that the lens is perpendicular to the screen's surface. You will have a little dead space on the left and right edges in the camera viewfinder. The aspect ratio of 35mm film (2:3) makes its image a little wider than a TV screen's image (aspect ratio of 3:4).

(c) Set the camera's shutter speed to no faster than 1/15th or 1/16th second; 1/8th second is optimal, but if things are in motion on the TV screen, it could blur slightly. You can try 1/30th to stop fast action better, but a shutter speed faster than 1/15th risks bands of brighter and darker areas in the image. Reason? The scan rate on a TV screen is a full image every 1/30th second using an "interlaced" scanning scheme.

(d) Set lens aperture based on film speed as follows:
1/8th second (optimal):
ISO 64: f/4
ISO 100: f/5.6
ISO 200: f/8
ISO 400: f/11
ISO 800: f/16

1/15th second (better stop action):
ISO 64: f/2.8
ISO 100: f/4
ISO 200: f/5.6
ISO 400: f/8
ISO 800: f/11

1/30th second (not recommended):
ISO 64: f/2
ISO 100: f/2.8
ISO 200: f/4
ISO 400: f/5.6
ISO 800: f/8

These exposure recommendations are a "starting point" and should something printable! If they're too dark, increase exposure. If they're too light, decrease it. My experience with the color TV screens I've photographed has been these are sufficiently accurate for color negative.

(e) If you don't have a cable release you can try the following work-arounds:
(1) Using a ball-point pen or similar object, gently press down on the center of the shutter release button using the pen's tip. When the shutter trips, hold the pen still until it closes.
(2) Using *only* the tip of your finger, gently press down on the shutter release button. When the shutter trips, hold your finger still until it closes.

A color TV screen is reasonably close to daylight color balance, but not completely. You may end up with a slight blue-green or a slight yellow cast to the photographs. If you're using color negative (print film), the processor should be able to correct this in balancing the prints when printing the negatives.

-- John

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March 17, 2002