Cooke Panchros and the MX on a Night Shoot

[Andrew Swisher]

I’m shooting a new film that has a few scenes at night. I’m shooting on the Red One MX and I would love to use Cooke Panchro/i glass, but it having a 2.8 f/stop, my DP thinks it will be too slow for the night shots and the footage will be extremely noisy. The scenes take place in a night club and in a car on a parking garage. We wanted it to be a little moody and didn’t really want to light it extremely hard. We’re using a Lowell kit, Arri tungstens, a Diva light panel, and an LED 4x4, I believe. So my question is do you all think I can get a fairly clean image, or do I need to get a faster lens for the night stuff (probably going to pick up a CP.2 super speed if I have to).

Thanks!

Andrew

 

[Samir Patel]

I think Timur has some panchros and night scene on his reel.

 

[Jon Carr]

As long as you do tight coverage, then them sources can do the job just fine. Expecting wides is not gonna work so well. If your gonna do wides, day play bigger units for the night scenes.

 

[joshua csehak]

Trust your DP. You're paying him for his expertise, and you don't want to undermine your relationship. That said, I'm with Jon. I would even say you'll be fine for wides as long as you don't mind it looking pretty dark. THAT said, every DP is different, so our advice is mostly worthless. If he thinks Roki's at 1.5 (for instance) will better realize your vision than Cooke's at 2.8, then by definition he's right, since he's the one realizing your vision.

 

[Matt Ryan]

I shot these night shots on a RPZ 18-85 which is a 2.8. Not a big deal if you light and expose properly.

 

[Adrian Jebef]

The difference between a T2 lens and a T2.8 lens is twice the amount of lights you'll need to light your scene. Go with the T2s