Correct Exposure LS 16mm

[John Gleason]

I was shooting yesterday with an Arri S camera on Kodak 250D 16mm film. I set up to shoot a long shot of a really cool looking wedding chapel several hundred feet away, but after setting up the framing, I realized I really wasn't sure of the best way to get proper exposure of the chapel.

I ended up going halfway between camera and building, then pointing my sekonic light meter towards the camera for a reading. It was overcast, but I still had to use the highslide putting my supposed exposure at a 8/11 split. I figured the sky was adding too much light so I backed down to an 8 for my final exposure. I haven't even sent it to the lab, so I don't know how the shot will look, but I do know that I'd like some advice at using light meters (especially for wide shots).

TL;DR Why don't film cameras come with waveform monitors? :smile5:

 

[Stephen Williams]

I was shooting yesterday with an Arri S camera on Kodak 250D 16mm film. I set up to shoot a long shot of a really cool looking wedding chapel several hundred feet away, but after setting up the framing, I realized I really wasn't sure of the best way to get proper exposure of the chapel.

I ended up going halfway between camera and building, then pointing my sekonic light meter towards the camera for a reading. It was overcast, but I still had to use the highslide putting my supposed exposure at a 8/11 split. I figured the sky was adding too much light so I backed down to an 8 for my final exposure. I haven't even sent it to the lab, so I don't know how the shot will look, but I do know that I'd like some advice at using light meters (especially for wide shots).

TL;DR Why don't film cameras come with waveform monitors? :smile5:

I think you have overexposed by as much as 2 stops, don't worry film can handle that.
With 250 asa T16 would have been about right.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunny_16_rule

 

[Bill Anderson]

Consider using a spot meter to read reflected values, rather than incident ones, if you're uncertain about a particular set of values....

 

[John Gleason]

Thanks for the suggestions. The sunny 16 rule is a great resource I haven't seen before. I'm new to using the Arri S, but I'm pretty sure it doesn't allow for shutter speed adjustment; I'm not sure what that would make my fstop without the stated 1/250 shutter.

Bill I think you're right; afterword I figured a spot meter would probably have been the best tool in that situation, but as I don't have one yet I am wondering if I could have found the fstop using only a light meter.

I guess what I'm asking is if you were in my place with only a light meter, what would you have done? Should I have taken the reading right by the chapel instead of in the midpoint between camera/subject, or would the end reading not be affected by meter placement?

 

[David Rasberry]

An incident meter is giving you the reading for a zone 5 18% gray exposure. It can be useful to carry a small gray scale chart to help judge the value ranges of the scene relative to the meter reading, but you should make your exposure decision based on where you want middle gray values to fall in your scene.

I use the flat disc a lot in my Sekonic. Take one reading aimed toward camera from center of frame position, one reading aimed toward the brightest key source, and one reading aimed 180' opposite from the key with the meter shaded from behind by cupping my hand over it to get an idea of ambient shadow level. See what the total DR of the three readings is, average the high and low reading to find the middle of the range, and see where that falls relative to the camera reference reading. Then make a judgment call for exposure setting based on where I want scene values to fall.

 

[John Gleason]

I use the flat disc a lot in my Sekonic. Take one reading aimed toward camera from center of frame position, one reading aimed toward the brightest key source, and one reading aimed 180' opposite from the key with the meter shaded from behind by cupping my hand over it to get an idea of ambient shadow level. See what the total DR of the three readings is, average the high and low reading to find the middle of the range, and see where that falls relative to the camera reference reading. Then make a judgment call for exposure setting based on where I want scene values to fall.

That makes a lot of sense. I'm going to give it a shot next time I'm out shooting. Thanks David!

 

[Milenko Jovanovic]

The way I do it when in doubt about correct exposure, I take a shot with a DSLR. I actually use it as a light meter very often, as exposure with film is not as critical as with digital. Just my 2 cents.

 

[Kip Kubin]

As a general rule for motion picture filming Sunny 16 really only applies to ASA50 if your shutter speed is 180 degrees... I think the Arri S is 180...don't know that for sure.

David's method is the best so you know all your ratios.


"Thanks for the suggestions. The sunny 16 rule is a great resource I haven't seen before. I'm new to using the Arri S, but I'm pretty sure it doesn't allow for shutter speed adjustment; I'm not sure what that would make my fstop without the stated 1/250 shutter."

From a 50 shutter to a 250 shutter is about 2.5 stops of compensation.

 

[David Mullen ASC]

The Sunny 16 rule works out that at 50 ASA with a 1/50th shutter, the exposure in direct sunlight is f/16. 1/50th is close enough to the 1/48th speed from shooting at 24 fps with a 180 degree shutter.

You just have to extrapolate from that -- 250 ASA is 2 1/3-stop more exposure than 50 ASA, which moves f/16 to f/32 1/3... which is why you need ND filters.