Gemini and the Skin Tone OLPF

[Isaac Newcombe]

Hi all,

I have been digging into the color, texture and "feel" of major productions shot on Red and as a Gemini and Komodo owner myself, looking for that next look to get what is in my head out onto the screen. The plan in 6months (hoping) is to buy a Raptor, but for now I am seeing the DSMC2 Skin Tone OLPF going for cheap.

I know this OLPF is loved by major productions and my question is has anyone had any results testing this OLPF on the Gemini?

I know that you should not put the Lowlight OLPF on the Gemini, but I am curious on findings with the Skin Tone. if you have any opinions, good or bad, im curious to hear.

I.

 

[Phil Holland]

When DSMC2 was my A-Cam solution most of my work, once the filters existed, was the Standard and Skin-Tone Highlight OLPF.

Standard filter really is the way to go if you still want a clean image across the ISO Range while maintaining nice color. Low Light gives you more cleanliness, but at the cost color and protection of sensor box and sensor related light artifacts.

Skin Tone-Highlight however is really good color, protects you the most from those light related things, but at the cost of light. If you are solid on your exposure methods and understand all that, you'll find great success.

And yes, for the curious, the combination of various elements in DSMC3 bodies with the CSF/OLPF is much closer to the Skin Tone-Highlight OLPF, but with vastly superior light artifact protection while being cleaner along the way. I did ask RED about this an it's a combination of the sensor, the hardware, and the filters to get there. My literal first question was I want this on Monstro, but it's far from as simple as a filter tray in this case. Whole chain needed to be improved including the optical path.

 

[Isaac Newcombe]

First off, thank you for the reply Phil, as I know how busy you are at Cinegear.

"Skin Tone-Highlight however is really good color, protects you the most from those light related things, but at the cost of light. If you are solid on your exposure methods and understand all that, you'll find great success."

I do like the sound of this and my thought was that Gemini having more ability in lower light situations that the trade off in light was well worth the improved color. But in terms of exposure, I feel I have nailed the basics of being able to create a nice image each project. Now its just looking for those 1% upgrades above the 90% of the "Hollywood Look". By what you are saying and from where Red is heading it sounds like the STHL OLPF is the way to go.

Thank you!