BBQ and lessons learned

07.7.2000 Had a BBQ this weekend for the 4th, and finally got to finish my first PhotoBlaster roll (it was a roll of 24 exp. Kodak Gold 100). Took it to my local drugstore to get developed, and had to instruct the technician on what to expect with the Photoblaster shots. As I was walking out, he ran after me, after talking to someone else there about it, and informed me that their equipment couldn't handle it! I guess it's somehow automated to detect the edges of the photo by the black bands separating frames, and the PhotoBlaster confuses it too much. Oh well. So I took it to a different 1-hour place nearby, they did a reasonable job. You can see the results here. A few lessons I learned with this roll:

1. Your subject should really be at least 4 feet away.
2. In low light, your subect shouldn't be more than about 10 feet away. The flash just won't sync sufficiently.
3. Very bright sunlight seemed to overexpose. But taking pictures in shadows seemed to underexpose. Possible solution: cover flash sensor when taking pictures in shadows? Or maybe just faster film?

Of course, all this will change soon; the next roll I plan to shoot is 400 speed. The camera will also be going to Portugal with me in a few weeks, so that will be a good opportunity to test its results. Currently I have another roll of 24 exp. 100 film. Hopefully I can go on a PhotoFrenzy in the next few weeks so I can try out that 400.