Getting proper exposure when shooting a multiple exposure shot

[dogbunny]

I've been playing around with the multiple exposure mode of my Hexar AF, but I was hoping I could get some clarity on how to manage a properly exposed final shot. I ran across a comment on another website that said one way to achieve this is to manually change the film speed rating, so, for example, if I was shooting 100 speed film and I wanted to "expose" the frame 4 times, I would manually set the film speed to 400 then after I take the 4 shots I would have a correctly exposed photo.

Is this correct? Am I misunderstanding something? Is there a better/faster way to go about this? I'm just playing around really, experimenting, but I would rather if all my photos didn't turn out extremely overexposed.

Thanks in advance,

DB

[robklurfield]

Photony Texas and Keith, among others, are both experts at this.

[nikon_sam]

100...200...400...800...
This looks more like what you need to do...Anyone correct me if I'm wrong...

I think I'm wrong on this but I will leave my answer as stated above...400 might be the right setting...I'm still working it out in my head...

[pvdhaar]

On the Hexar AF, I'd use exposure compensation (up/down buttons in P/A when EV is shown; toggle EV/frameNR with select). Setting the ISO not only is somewhat cumbersome (hold down select in A mode), it's also prone to error; the effect isn't shown anymore when the camera is powered on/off. It's a sure way to have the rest of the film underexposed by two stops every once in a while.

The general rule for multiple exposure is indeed that 2 shots need -1EV, 4 shots need -2EV, and 3 is somewhere in between.. either -1 1/3 or -1 2/3 EV..

That is however for a standard image overlay. If your multiple exposure consists of a static background and a moving subject you need to bias the exposure to the moving subject. That can be by not dialing in the full exposure compensation and let the film handle the overexposure of the background. Or you can maintain the full exposure compensation and fill flash the subject with no flash compensation each shot.

[Landshark]

My understanding(or lack of) is the total exposure is divided by the number of frames used.
see pvdhaar's comment in #4 above.

This is truly arbitrary and hit or miss. Most multi exposure is experimentation at best.

[dogbunny]

Thanks Guys,

I'll try it out with the exposure compensation like Peter suggested. At least that will be an easy starting point for me. I'll shoot a roll, and develop it, then go from there.

Cheers,

DB

[nikon_sam]

Let us know what you come up with...