I recently finished sorting and cataloging all my old slides. Most were taken between 1994 to 2013 on FE2 and FM3a cameras with AI and AIS lenses on Fuji Provia and Velvia films, a number of Kodak E100 type films and a few others. I took notes for most pictures including the camera, lens, aperture, shutter, exposure compensation, subject and date - my manual exif data
. Out of each roll I would usually get 38 pictures - frames 1 to 36, plus frame 0 and E (extra, or no 37). On average I kept about 10 slides from each roll. A lot of pictures were discarded due to focus errors, over or under-exposure (slide film is very unforgiving), camera shake, bad framing, or the picture just wasn't interesting.
All my notes have now been transferred to computer, so I was able to get some statistics. Over that 20 year period I have kept over 2500 pictures. My most commonly used lenses are:
E 75-150/3.5:
12.1%
AI 50/1.8:
10.7%
AIS 135/2.8:
7.6%
AIS 55/2.8 micro:
7.4%
AI 20/3.5
6.5%
AF 105/2.8 micro
6.2%
AIS 200/4 micro
5.8%
AIS 28/2.8
5.2%
AIS 85/2
4.1%
AIS 105/4 micro
4.1%
AI 105/2.5
3.7%
E 100/2.8
3.1%
AIS 35/1.4
2.2%
AIS 50/1.4
2.0%
I obviously have a preference for short telephotos and macro lenses. The 135/2.8 got a lot of use in the early days due to its relatively fast speed, compact size and hand-hold-ability (longer focal lengths are harder to hold steady enough to frame accurately). Later I switched to the 75-150 due to its versatility - it has good speed, covers a very useful range of focal lengths, focuses fairly close and is compact. It's a shame there are no modern lenses like it. I also use standard lenses a lot - my AI 50/1.8 and 55/2.8 micro have seen a lot of use. I don't use 35mm lenses much, I have nothing against this focal length but my kit is usually based around a standard lens plus a wide and telephoto, and 35mm just doesn't fit in being too close to 50mm. At the wide end my favorites are the AIS 28/2.8 which is comfortably wide, or the AI 20/3.5 if I want a more dramatic image. I have a lot of other lenses which have not been used much, maybe it is time to clear some of them out...
My most used apertures are spread fairly evenly between f/5.6 - f/11, the use of faster and slower apertures drops off rapidly from this peak. I tend to use these moderate to smallish apertures because I did a lot of macro and landscape work, and also it helps to hide focus errors
I do have some fast lenses such as my 35/1.4 and 55/1.2 which are fun to use on occasion.
My shutter speed is mostly 1/60 or 1/125, followed by 1/30 and 1/250 and then a long tail of slower shutter speeds up to several seconds, mostly due to macro and twilight photography.
Anyway, I found the process of cataloging my pictures was a useful process, I hope you find this interesting. Next task is to start scanning them...
