Filtering the Red

[Mark35mm]

As an old school cinematographer I'm used to manipulating the film image via filtration. I've done some commercial on the Red One and did most of that work in post. I'm starting a feature which we may do on the Red and I'd rather manipulate the image in production seeing I'll be in Argentina on a 7 month job when this goes through post. The question is other than ND and Pola's how does the Red respond to Tobaccos, Corrals, Chocolates etc? How does it effect the RAW image?

 

[David Mullen ASC]

You can do whatever filtering you want -- or not -- just as with 35mm photography that will go through a D.I.

Just keep in mind that the RAW image is essentially daylight-balanced, like shooting on 250D Kodak for example. Therefore you might want to avoid warming filters in tungsten-balanced scenes, since the RAW image is already quite warm just in 3200K light. Your blue channel is essentially underexposed in tungsten light so you don't want to underexpose it further with a heavy warming filter. If you want to warm up the scene in 3200K lighting, just pick a higher color temp on the camera, like 3800K for example. Then it will look like you put a 1/4 Coral or something on the lens.

Otherwise, use diffusion if that's what you like, grads, whatever.

 

[Scott Miller]

Mark,

Someone is going to say this....

Real name forum

 

[Eric Haase]

As an old school cinematographer I'm used to manipulating the film image via filtration. I've done some commercial on the Red One and did most of that work in post. I'm starting a feature which we may do on the Red and I'd rather manipulate the image in production seeing I'll be in Argentina on a 7 month job when this goes through post. The question is other than ND and Pola's how does the Red respond to Tobaccos, Corrals, Chocolates etc? How does it effect the RAW image?

I recently shot a pilot where i wanted to use a specific color filtration (tobacco, antique suede). I shot some tests with a test subject and a gray card with and without the filtration. I took the clips into rcx and used the rgb sliders to match the non filtered image to the filtered one. I put these rgb settings in the camera for the scenes where i wanted this look so i could see it and react to it on set. The final subtleties of the look will be dialed in during the final grading session but this method gave me a good idea of what using the filters would look like. It also freed up about half a stop of light that the glass would have cut and gave the sensor cooler light so it would be less noisy. I still carried the glass during the show just in case though.

 

[Etienne Caron]

Hi David,

Speaking of filtering the Red, what kind of NDIR filters do you use ? I'm using the Formatt NDIR since 2 years now and they are great, but shooting with the MX need the ND 1.5 and seems to loose the rich color RED MX have without IR filter.

Any new NDIR on the market that is better ?


regards

 

[David Mullen ASC]

Don't know, I didn't need any IR on the M-X Red when I shot in Chicago, but that's because we didn't have a lot of sunny days, plus the color of the show was muted.

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I think for day exterior work, or bright day interiors lit with HMI's, there's nothing wrong with using these warming filters like a Tobacco, Antque Suede, etc. as long as you have the light level and you are working in 5600K as a base. Not if it gives you the look you want and you won't change your mind in post (I suggest, however, you use one grade lighter for the filter than the one you like.)

It's just for 3200K work where I don't recommend pushing the image even warmer since it's already as if you put an 85 filter over the whole scene on the RAW file. You don't need more warmth.