Filter advice for old film camera with limited shutter speeds!

PoleStar

Ok so, I was reading the pet hates thread and saw some peoples pet hates with old film cameras without fast shutter speeds.

My old nikkormat FTN has a max shutter speed of 1/1000.

What I find is that the meter works fine (despite being 40 years old or more!) in most situations, in sunny situations, its seems to be lost and flicks from plus to minus.

Anyway I plan on taking this with me on hols to Spain so thinking I should probably get a filter to reduce the exposure for me. I was thinking maybe a polarising lens (which will also be useful in the sunny weather!).

How much in stops do these reduce exposure and any recommendations?

Is there such a thing as a "plain" filter just to reduce the exposure to compensate for my limited range of shutter speed?


Thanks!

magicbastarder

a polariser will typically cost you 1 to 2 stops of light; you won't need a circular polariser on that camera, almost certainly - they're the more expensive type, but i don't know how readily available linear ones are.

there are also neutral density filters which do nothing but reduce the light levels, and are sold in NDX2, NDX4, etc., which would reduce the light to a half or a quarter (etc.)

one drawback of using filters to reduce light is that it will make it harder to focus.

DaireQuinlan

Slow film, and / or stop down ? 1/1000 isn't THAT slow. You won't be shooting fast film outside during the daytime at F/1.4, thats for sure, but with suitable film choice you should be grand without having to resort to nd filters.