I just got three rolls back from a fall vacation, the first time I
have taken several rolls to actually have comparison shots. All my
photos were at least 1 1/2 stops too hot. The only close to good
photos were ones that I bracketed darker. I bracketed by just exposing
per the TL120 meter at the - led, whatever difference that made to the
exposure. These were varied lighting situations and I had just put in
a new battery. When I first got the camera, the apertures of the
lenses were mismatched. So I took the lenses off and matched them as
well as matching the lens markings to each other and also to the
viewing lens markings. I am not sure that matching the lens barrel
aperture marks between the always wide open viewing lens and the
taking lenses was appropriate. Bottom line, maybe I set my lens
apertures too wide for the aperture setting. In the photos section
album "Tl120 interior shots", which is on the second page of albums,
is a photo labeled F22. That is my now linked apertures at an F22
setting. Could someone just look at their camera and see if their
apertures at F22 look the same size as mine ? I thought mine looked a
little too large when I was adjusting them, but this is the setting
where the aperture markings on all three lenses were equal. I was not
happy to get a new camera (10/06) that needed disassembled.

Dale Yingst

You Wrote>> Could someone just look at their camera and see if their

> apertures at F22 look the same size as mine ? I thought mine looked

a little too large when I was adjusting them, but this is the setting
where the aperture markings on all three lenses were equal. I was not

> happy to get a new camera (10/06) that needed disassembled.
>
> Dale Yingst
>

Hi Dale, your f/22 looks perfectly fine. You bought your camera a
few months before me, and I had a problem with the internal light
meter as well (we are not alone, believe me). Before I even took my
first shot I realised the metering was out by about 1 1/2 stops
simply by applying the sunny f/16 rule (clear sunny is f/16 @ [ISO]
th, ie. ISO 100, call it 1/125th) I took my first few rolls after
adjusting the film speed setting to compensate. I did this by aiming
the camera at a Kodak 18% Grey Card and compared the reading to a
Gossen light meter reading off the same card. This showed I had to
set the camera dial to 233 for 100 ISO! The same amount of
compensation for higher speed films, ie 1 1/3 stops. The other
critical thing to remember is that the metering is centre-weighted,
which really means it is a little broader than a centre spot meter.
You will find, as I did, that by moving the centre of the viewfinder
around in a scene where the brightness of objects vary widely that
you can get a whole stack of settings, and which one to use? This is
where you need plain old experience and/or a good external
lightmeter. I use both, and have hardly stuffed up a shot. You have
to pick an area in the scene which is averagely bright(!?), don't aim
the centre at bright objects in brightly lit area or shadowed areas.
If you are wanting to particularly photograph the same bright
objects, the meter is going to "average" the value. You can try
getting readings off the lightest and darkest areas, then using a mid
point for the exposure. All this hardly makes for rapid shooting, but
welcome to the old school. [Love these digitals with multizone!]
Hope this helps you out. Happy 3D-ing, Peter