O.k. Thanks to some great advice on this board, I managed to get all I needed for my Halloween costume as Weegee's ghost (although I am better looking....o.k. he was better looking...).

Here is the catch though. I have barely ever used the rangefinder on my Speed. I use the ground glass. Also, I will be shooting at night. So that I'm not sure the rangefinder will work very well.

But with the relatively shallow DOF you get from the Ektar 135, I'm not sure how to accurately guesstimate the focus. If I stop down all the way, will I get enough DOF?

Any help here? I'll be shooting with 800 speed Polaroid type 53 and using an old Sunpak 511. So I can get down to to f/32 and still be able to get 9 feet of good light.

I mean should I try the rangefinder or just go with guesstimating the distance and stopping way down?

Oh so you want to be fast AND focused eh??? One of those guys....

Welll I don't know if you have a focospot or a rangelite on your camera but that's the fastest/accurate way to shoot. The foco spot went on top of the Kalart rangefinder and projected two beams of light (actually the image of the filiment) through the rangefinder onto the subject, when you focused, the images moved--get them as one, it's in focus.

If you can get f 32 @ 9 ft that's decent for trap focusing. A lot of wedding photographers count steps. When doing close ups of couples dancing you focused at three feet. Went up and got their attention and took one step back and shot. For longer shots it was focus at 6 feet and take two steps back.

One thing to think about is not to try to shoot at every distance. Keep the subject distance around the same for the evening. You'll get more shots that way.

From the DOF calculators on the net, with the camera focused at 10feet everything from 6.5 feet to 21 feet will be sharp--- now not everything will be properly exposed.

I suggest you stick a piece of tape next to the focus scale on the camera and compute from the guide number what the aperture will be for a given distance. F32 @10feet, is f16 @ 20 so F22 must be 15feet Then write those down next to the scale, that way you won't have to get out your slide rule at night.

Now I want to know where you got the pinstrip suit and 40s tie!

Les

Les - Can't I just use the scale on my flash? At f/22 @ 400 (high as the scale goes) the scale says I should get 9 feet of illumination. Which means either 9 feet at f/32 or 12 feet at f/22 (which is what I would get at f/16 @ 400).

Or am I missing something (which could be VERY likely)

No I"M missing something-----the last 40 years!!!

I was in flashbulb mode, sorry.

Now where did you get your suit!!!

Well I wanted to be totally accurate so I went Brooklawn Cemetary in Queens where Weegee is buried....

OK, I gotta get in on this one

According to http://www.photo.net/equipment/large-format/speed-graphic :

"A typical press camera operator in the 1940's would have his or her Graphic loaded with... (an ASA 250 film),the lens (a 127mm Ektar) focused to 10 feet, the shutter set to 1/200 second @ f/16 and a "#5" flashbulb mounted in the flashgun. Depth of field was substantial; anything from 6 to 20 feet would be passably sharp"

So you *are* gonna use flashBULBS, right?

Oh, and forget the perma-press shirts. A good cotton dress shirt rolled up at the sleeves gives that great, old, rumpled look of the '40s!