125 or 400 ISO?

Question

I;m photographing at night.

Should I use 125 or 400?

sorry, I'm wanting to photograph traffic trails, like the cars headlights streaming to get that line-d effect, so will need slow shutter speed.
i have 2 films sitting here, a 400 ASA and 125 ASA

Answer 1

As you know the lower the ISO you choose, the slower it is to react to light, and the less visible grain you are going to see when you enlarge your image. Being that you are going to be photographing artificial lights in particular those with a relatively low kelvin such as tungsten lights, you may want to photograph using a tungsten balanced film. This will prevent your images from having a weird yellow orange glow to them. Also because you are doing long exposures, tungsten balanced film will help minimalize the effects of reciprocity failure, something which all night photographers dread. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tungsten_film
As for which ISO to use, I personally suggest photographing using a low ISO film like 125 because it is slower to react to light and as a result you can keep your shutter open longer. If you want shorter shutter speeds you can always open up your aperture more, whereas if you are using 400 ISO and you are at a brightly lit intersection, you may find your expsosures to be relatively short unless you use a small aperture like F11 or F16. Of course using such an aperture will increase your depth of field, and if thats something you don't want then you may stick with a lower ISO film. However, without really seeing where it is that you are photographing and the lighting conditions, it is hard to say which film is the best choice.

Answer 2

If you are going to blow up the picture use 125. Use a tripod either way. If you are shooting fast moving lights (like cars) use 400 as it will not show any difference.
The same ideas that you use in the day applies to nighttime just use a longer exposure time and open the f stop to adjust for depth. So a lot depends on the subject matter.

Answer 3

Use the 125.
Play with the shutter settings. Depending on how dark it is, how much traffic there is, and how many streaks you want in the image, start with 3 or 4 seconds and go slower from there. If you want a lot of streaks, you might be talking several minutes.
This is fun to do, good luck!

Answer 4

You haven't said what you are photographing. Is it action or still?
And are you using C-41 or chrome? There are higher speed films as well and the grain is quite small giving good resolution.
And I think you mean 100 instead of 125.

Answer 5

Use the ISO 125. Less grain and longer exposure times (which you will need for the traffic trails). This is fun - here are some of my favorites...

http://www.olphoto.net/photos/2320654-L.jpg

http://www.olphoto.net/photos/10206492-L.jpg

Answer 6

i think you should use ISO 125 for avoiding the noise!

Answer 7

use 400.