How to expose correctly?

[AndreasOberg]

Hi, I'm sure this has been covered greatly but how do I expose in the best way with the camera?
This is the way I do now
- I set the display mode to RAW.
- I check the histogram so that there is as little clipping in the top and as little underexposure as possible. I also use the exposure display mode to make sure I have it correct.

Question. Does it matter how the shape of the histogram is? In DSLR cameras the sensor is more sensitive in the bright areas so it's a good idea to move the histogram to the right as long as you dont clip. Same with Epic?

- To be able to focus I usually increase the ISO. What ISO would you normally use here. Should I use 800 since that is the "sweet spot" as some mentioned. I know it's only meta data.
- Now I turn off the RAW since it's the only way to make the display brigther for focus.
- Often I put it on 1600 ISO or higher so I can see clearly and then I put on Focus mode to sharpen up focus areas. The problem with having the RAW turned off is that the histogram is suddenly meaningless. Myself I would like to just have the histogram show RAW always. Is there some way of having the RAW histogram on?
- Does it matter what mode I have when I record. 3gamma, log mode? Don't understand them.

Also. Is there any way of previewing the HDRx? in the display. Or some way of showing the hdr histogram in some way. The hdr I have done so far have usually not been exposed correctly.

Thanks for all the help!
Andreas

 

[ericyoung]

The goalposts either side of the histogram and the traffic lights are always monitoring RAW - that together with Exposure display mode should give you enough information to expose correctly whatever your metadata/display mode is doing.

The record modes are useful depending on your post workflow, and whether your on-set monitoring displays have to have a nice image to give clients confidence.

Exposing the histogram to the right is a valid strategy, but the histogram is dependent on ISO set as it is dependent on the metadata applied. RAW exposure tools are the only objective tool if you are routinely increasing ISO just to see clearly and/or focus.

 

[Terry VerHaar]

Read these articles from the RED site over and over (as I have). There is a ton of great guidance there.

http://www.red.com/learn/red-101/exposure-with-red-cameras
http://www.red.com/learn/red-101/red-camera-exposure-tools
http://www.red.com/learn/red-101/exposure-false-color-zebra-tools

 

[jimhare]

The benefit of exposing nicely for ISO 800 is you have plenty of highlight protection and in post can drop the ISO back to 320 if needed. I do this all the time. On Red, overexposing is much much worse than underexposing as blown highlights are horrible.

I usually start around ISO 500 and then consider what's happening with both highlights and dynamic range in general. If it's a bright set or outdoors, I'll raise to 800 to protect highlights, if it's dim I'll lower to 320 to reduce noise. This is kind of the opposite of what you would do with a gain-based system that's burning in the result.

Always check your RAW image but if you do it this way you can stay in RC3 the majority of the time and use RAW as your final check.

That rule of thumb has worked well for me.

 

[Trevor Meeks]

There's a REALLY good thread about this. I believe it's called "obtaining proper exposure"

I'll edit the text above to include the link when I find it. Should answer a lot of your questions.

EDIT, added link to "obtaining proper exposure" text

 

[AndreasOberg]

Thanks for the links guys. I will dive into them with fire
It is SUCH a relief to have this new world of quality compared to the DSLRs. To be able to have 2 16 bit images with different exposers (hdrx) compared to a 8 bit (aggressively, evily compressed) is uncomparable.
/Andreas

 

[BRANDON JAMESON]

We use a light meter and reference the RED tools as a safeguard, but we use a light meter 110%.

 

[Trevor Meeks]

Thanks for the links guys. I will dive into them with fire
It is SUCH a relief to have this new world of quality compared to the DSLRs. To be able to have 2 16 bit images with different exposers (hdrx) compared to a 8 bit (aggressively, evily compressed) is uncomparable.
/Andreas

I'm constantly blown away by the ability of the RED. I still have yet to feel the need for HDRX under most normal shooting conditions. Enjoy!

 

[AndreasOberg]

I'm constantly blown away by the ability of the RED. I still have yet to feel the need for HDRX under most normal shooting conditions. Enjoy!

I think you are right that many normal lighting conditions does not need HDRX.
But a few comes to mind:
- inside with bright windows
- fire
- very bright lights that still have some detail in them
- in forest where you want to capture some of the sky.

Hope to try them out soon
Andreas