considering shooting some scenes with candles only. Advice and technique needed.

[Brett Harrison]

I've been approached to do a Barry Lyndon style comedy short (a parody of an interior night card game). I am aware of this thread on RU where David Mullen weighs in on the filming. http://reduser.net/forum/showthread.php?65115-Barry-Lyndon-Candle-lit-scenes

I would like to know if there are bespoke candles for this. Since the base exposure is probably around the same with the MX at 1.4 I would think that 3 wick candles aren't needed if going to 1600 (I would like the noise in there). However I haven't done anything like this so I would appreciate a voice of experience and reason. Cheers.

 

[David Mullen ASC]

3 wick candles have three times the light output but 1600 ISO is only twice as fast as 800 ISO so in theory you won't get exactly the same exposure as "Barry Lyndon" did at f/0.7 at 200 ISO (i.e. f/1.4 at 800 ISO) if you use single wick candles but it may turn out fine, you can underexpose more in digital and candle flames probably would benefit from less overexposure.

 

[Mike P.]

Can you do a couple of tests? Not sure how much low-light you've done, but what you'll quickly find is that if the sensor is underexposed (as in the shadow goalpost is maxed) all that bumping the ISO does is increase the visibility of the noise (to the point where it's unusable.) F1.4 will go a long way in preventing that, but once you get to that point (which to me seems likely with candle light) you're boned.

Is there a reason why you can't add a touch of soft/bounced fill? That is to say, is there a reason the parody shoot needs to be done as authentically as Barry Lyndon?