[Codazzle]

...relatively long shutter speeds? Poor film? Poor developing? Technique? Me not being used to film?

Some details:
It was some Konica 200 ISO film with a Pentax MZ-60. I was using an FA31mm and a DA*55mm (mainly to see what happened with it, as I've heard differing opinions on how this lens woks on film cameras. Only had one picture with vignetting, and wasn't harsh)

About half the shots were outdoor in various lighting conditions, and the other half was indoor in low light. I was generally shooting in aperture priority, with aperture wide open (or close to) indoors, and stopping down a little outdoors.

Indoors: Mostly without flash, and this is where I noticed the most grain. This is where my shutter speeds in Av seemed to range from 1/5 to 1/20 if I recall correctly. I am quite surprised that my photos didn't come back blurry at1/5, but still, very noisy. The grain seemed to be much less pronounced when I used a flash for a couple of shots.

Outdoors: Varying times of day. Didn't notice a whole lot of noise here, except when I was trying to get some shallow DOF. Bokeh just seemed to be noise! It definitely was different with both lenses on this roll of film than on my K5. Am I just spoiled with digital photography?

Any thoughts on my issue?

Sorry for no examples, I don't have a scanner

[eddie1960]

Without seeing an example of the "noise" it's tough to nail down. Common noise in film would be cause by underexposure. Also expired stock can be an issue with speed accuracy (if the konica was expired)
your description definitely sounds like underexposure issues on some f them. how was it developed? some labs do a good job others meh not so much

[ihasa]

Grain, not noise! Could be the film was poor, could be you just underexposed a lot. Try a fine grained low ISO film, and up your exposure slightly. Ektar is a good one and tolerant of slight under/over exposure.

[ismaelg]

What process did you use?
Did you get a commercial CD with the processing? Those can be really horrible and oversharpen to a point they look "noisy" if that is what you mean.

Thanks,

[Codazzle]

I'm such a film noob! I didn't realize grain and noise were different(after doing a quick read, is "noise" exclusive to digital photography?)

I just went to a department store (London Drugs for my fellow Canadians)

And I think underexposure could definitely be the problem. Could I rectify this by shooting in M in lowlight and slightly over exposing my image with respect to what the light meter in my camera is telling me?

[LesDMess]

How are you assesing this noise and what film is it?

Just noticed Konica 200 which shouldn't be too "noisy".
If no scans are you looking at prints - what size?

[Franky2step]

I sent a roll of B&W into Blacks Cameras last year and I will never do that again. Complete crap, super grainy ISO100 Ilford Delta film. It's not your camera, it's probably the lab that developed it. JMHO

[titrisol]

If you were shooting indoors in poor light with ISO 200 your shots are UNDER EXPOSED

Your exposure should have been i nthe 1/8 s or slower and your camera probably was not happy about that

[builttospill]

If you remember some of the shutter speeds used with the film camera, set your K-5's ISO to 200 and the shutter speed to what you had on the MZ-60. Then set lens to the same aperture and take a few photos indoors. My guess is after post processing the digital image from the K-5 will show some noise, especially after adjusting exposure and brightness with software.

Other things leading to noise in film could be older, expired film and processing.

[stevebrot]

I'm such a film noob! I didn't realize grain and noise were different(after doing a quick read, is "noise" exclusive to digital photography?)

Grain is what a film photo is composed of...it is supposed to be there. Noise can be introduced during the scan. The Konica film you are using is fairly grainy by nature, though it is possible that digital noise was introduced in the scans.


Steve

[philippe]

In order to conclude, a few questions:
- what are the technical qualities of the film?
- how was the film exposed?
- was the camera/metering working as it should?
- how old was the film (expiring date)?
- how was that film kept: in the fridge or...
- how long between the shooting and the developing?
- how was the film processed: in a one hour lab or in a normal C-41 lab, on a monday morning after a whole week-end of inactivity?
- if printed how are the prints made: analogue or digital, kind of paper, printing procedure, positive processing?
- if scanned, how was it done?

All these parameters, and a lot more, can influence the results...