so I got myself an old Cannon AE-1 Program just for fun
Gonna start playing around with it shortly
Haven't shot since college.

Its embarrassing, but even though I enjoy photography, I never really took to it because MATH.
I'm great with math in a lot of ways - im a graphic designer so I have to figure out fairly complex shit all the time (creating dataviz and infographics regularly)
BUT I'm bad on the fly, which is what a lot of photography is.

SO - mainly wondering if anyone has tips or tricks for managing your f-stops to shutter speeds to film speeds - i get confused very quickly when i start trying to figure out what all that shit should be in relation to each other.
Like, easy ways to remember, if this one is high, this one should be low, whatever etc.

im also interested in doing double exposures, which I know means the shots should be individually a touch underexposed, but that also just adds another layer of complexity to it

any tips or advice greatly appreciated

I use pocket light meter for iphone
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which i have, does that as well
and i'll probly start out at least using auto aperture
but im still looking to learn this shit for myself

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I don't know what you know, so let me try to recap according to what I tell friends that are getting into this as well.

I shoot with just my eyes on many of my SLR's, and I do fine, with well exposed shots most of the time. Generally, look at the subject and see if there are problem areas like shadows or bright spots, and make a decision if you want to expose for the shadow or the bright spot.

In general:
Sunny, bright day:
Higher F/aperture. Aim for f8-f22 depending on the brightness
Higher shutter speed. Aim for 100-1000 depending on the brightness.

Cloudy:
Middle F (4-8)
Middle Shutterspeed (30-100)

Dark:
Low F (1.4-4)
Low shutterspeed (below 30)

However, as with all photography, its all about combinations between these two numbers and the ISO. So, the different combos yield different results, with depth of field, blur, and so on.
So a low F stop has a very shallow focal plane, while higher can pretty much get everything in focus. Once you figure out your ideal exposure, then you can play with the look to get a shallower depth of field, or not. Up to you.

Oh, and of course, the focal length itself is a factor. 85mm will have a lower depth of field sooner than a 35mm. 35mm you can pull the fstop up and down and still maintain a good depth of field. I'm assuming you have a 50mm because those old Canon's usually came with a solid 50mm FD Canon lense. Beautiful lens actually.

ISO 400 obviously is "all situation", so if you use the numbers above, then you should get properly exposed shots
ISO 100-200 is daylight. So you should really only be shooting this in bright outdoor situations because it's very hard to expose in indoor situations because it's not bright enough. So, the Dark section is not really usable in this. Rather, a cloudy day, you should aim for a lower f-stop/shutter speed than usual, because the film is literally "less sensitive" to light than ISO 400.
ISO 400+. This means the film is more sensitive to light, so even the slightest light will expose it. So a dark situation should probably be lit more like a cloudy day, because the light has way more affect on the film.

Those are some basics. I think that's what you were asking for. In any case, if you need any pointers, let me know. I'd be willing to look at your stuff and see if I can help further.

Also, double exposure is a bit tricky, but totally doable. It's mostly mechanical, in that you really need to make sure you don't rewind the film all the way into the canister, but leave some sticking out. Otherwise, it's gone and difficult to pull back out. If you've got that, then there's no issues. Experiment rather than calculate.

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>I don't know what you know, so let me try to recap according
>to what I tell friends that are getting into this as well.

i know what i remember from college - all this is helpful

>In general:
>Sunny, bright day:
>Cloudy:
>Dark:

this was great thank you!

>I'm assuming you have a 50mm because those old
>Canon's usually came with a solid 50mm FD Canon lense.
>Beautiful lens actually.

correct

>ISO 400 obviously is "all situation", so if you use the
>numbers above, then you should get properly exposed shots

yep, this is what im starting with

>ISO 400+. This means the film is more sensitive to light, so
>even the slightest light will expose it. So a dark situation
>should probably be lit more like a cloudy day, because the
>light has way more affect on the film.

super helpful as well, thx

>Also, double exposure is a bit tricky, but totally doable.
>It's mostly mechanical, in that you really need to make sure
>you don't rewind the film all the way into the canister, but
>leave some sticking out.

im actually looking to double expose frame-by-frame, rather than a roll at a time - figured out how to do this by holding the release button while pulling the advance lever to reset the shutter button w/o advancing the film - seems to work mechanically - havent tried it with film yet, but going to give it a go

thx again for all this - this is basically the kind of cheat sheet i was looking for