Epic monitor: how many clicks Jim?

[Matt Ryan]

The "tip" for the last monitor and this monitor is irrelevant if you really want to make your life simple and accurate! You think because the “boss” gave a tip it means it’s the best, most effective and logical way to expose your shots!... This is not "Monitor science"?... it couldn’t be a simpler concept to understand. There is NO exact or ideal brightness setting on a monitor that will give you the right exposure values. The real problem is in the ENVIROMENT around the monitor. The color and intensity of the light rays that hit the monitor, bounce off the monitor, hit objects behind the monitor and even reach your own eyes will be DIFFERENT every time the monitor moves from one position to the next, from one situation to the next and from one environment to the next. It doesn’t matter if you have an incredibly professional monitor because everything around the monitor is changing and will continue to do so unless you are in a completely dark and sealed room where nothing is moving and even then the image in the your monitor is going to look different then the DIT’s monitor, the director’s monitor and even the color grading projector. Use the goal posts, histogram and false color tools which are terribly simple to use and will get you the exposure you want in seconds, with little brain power and without having to uselessly strain your eyes. Guiding your exposure values using a monitor will only ruin your site and produce random exposures for each shot.

Here is a link to the trailer of a 17 minute short that I DPed on the RED ONE a couple of years ago without using a light meter and only using the tools I mentioned above. Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6403yYHG7E0 The film got selected at the Palm Spring International Short Film Festival. Here is the link: http://www.psfilmfest.org/festival/film/detail.aspx?id=23330&FID=59 This means that the photography at least has a descent standard and that it doesn't suck.

I am only 20 years old and can say that what I wrote above is not monitor science but instead a great concept that will help you achieve precise results in a faster and easier way.

Age has nothing to do with anything. I'm 24 and have been shooting (DP) Sony commercials among others since I was 21, not to mention all the films, doc's, music video's, and film fest awards. If what you have to say doesn't answer the OP's question, don't answer with a portentous post. He knows how to properly calibrate a monitor and hes not asking how to expose by the monitor but what he's asking is for the manufacturer's default setting. That is all.

PS. terribly shot films get accepted to festivals all the time because they have a good story (not saying yours is terribly shot). Cinematography takes a back seat at most festivals in regards to acceptance.

Back on topic now...

 

[Johanan Benavides]

PS. terribly shot films get accepted to festivals all the time because they have a good story (not saying yours is terribly shot). Cinematography takes a back seat at most festivals in regards to acceptance.

Very true...

 

[Lewis-M Soucy]

Age has nothing to do with anything. I'm 24 and have been shooting (DP) Sony commercials among others since I was 21, not to mention all the films, doc's, music video's, and film fest awards. If what you have to say doesn't answer the OP's question, don't answer with a portentous post. He knows how to properly calibrate a monitor and hes not asking how to expose by the monitor but what he's asking is for the manufacturer's default setting. That is all.

PS. terribly shot films get accepted to festivals all the time because they have a good story (not saying yours is terribly shot). Cinematography takes a back seat at most festivals in regards to acceptance.

Back on topic now...

Thanks Matt

 

[Tom Lever]

So the general consensus seems to be 3 or 4 clicks down from maximum on the Epic's LCD monitor.
Does anyone have an opinion about judging the brightness of a shot via the EVF?

 

[Ketch Rossi]

What Jim said is go to the maximum brightness then click down 4 times on the 5" LCD Touch Screen, could be the same on the 9" too.

I however don't use this practice, and freely increase luminance on the LCD all the way up or decrease it all the way down depending on were I am shooting at and what I want to see in the framed scene.

For this I always pay attention to what I have learned in the years as a DP and a shooter, and since I no longer use a LightMeter with EPIC, I only trust the Histogram to center my exposures, and never expose neither ETTL or ETTR.

Same with the EVF.

 

[Mark Andersen]

I have gotten in the habit of not using a light meter too. This is fine with say a landscape. But I find I can get into trouble not using one when lighting. If your trying to keep ratios consistent from one set up to the next then you have to meter your sources so the key light and background, for example, don't get out of wack. I did a shoot recently where I was working fast and lighting by eye, with out a meter and my shots didn't quite match from wide to close ups, I don't think anyone really noticed but it bugged me. I'll use the meter next time. The simple point is, yes every shot had the right exposure but none off the shots were exactly the same, close but not exact. Histograms are for exposure, meters are for lighting.