L O W - L I G H T - S H O O T I N G

[Awon Mikeo]

Thanks Gerrit, I will be using scarlet - w, what is DEB? & RMD? Also do you have examples of successful footage that was shot in the way youve suggested cause it sounds very interesting ?

 

[Christopher Mills]

And this is where film still has a place. Underexposure will just drop to clean black outside of properly lit areas.
Is your budget able to afford to shoot super 16 film? The camera rental will be super cheap...The emulsion/lab/xfer not so cheap, but a pro film could afford it.

 

[Ulf Krentz]

Awon, don´t expect ANY camera to work without light(ing). Light is what an image is made of and I´d like to second Sabovic, it will probably be a better result to move some of your budget from camera to lighting department. Don´t overlight your foreground as already has been suggested. That said with well chosen locations I don´t see any reason you should not be able to work with a RED and get a great result. Use the LL OLPF and make some tests.

 

[Sabovic Adis]

Danke, Ulf! :biggrin:

Awon, if going with Weapon or Scarlett, don't forget to use A.D.D. in developing (DEB too if using STH)! Yes, it will slow You down considerably, but You'll end up with stop-two cleaner images, nicer color and better sharpens!
Good luck! :biggrin:

 

[Daniel Reed]

Awon, call me crazy, but when testing, try the Standard OLPF filter if you can.

In my own tests, LLO sacrifices color in a big way for a very very small improvement in noise.


Also, static shots on sticks seems to be a tad cleaner (compression probobly handles lack of change better),
and much easier to clean-up further in post with clever alpha channel painted blur masks.

 

[Hugh Scully]

I agree that the Standard OLPF is pretty clean with street night time exteriors. I'm really amazed and the video is astoundingly clean. Here's a couple of snapshots (REDlogFilm and RedGamma4, DEB and that's all) of Scarlet Dragon, 800 ISO at 2.0. It is crazy clean for my needs.

 

[Brendan H. Banks]

Thanks for sharing those stills! Been seeing a lot of people mentioning that theoretically 2000 ISO with the LLO is a great match. Hugh, did you happen to do any tests @ 2000 ISO? I have a Scarlet-W on the way and once it arrives, I'll be heading into production on a passion project that has a campfire scene (lit probably with a 650w combined covered wagon on a dimmer and multiple heads spraying "moonlight" in the background). Just curious about feel and limitations of the LLO!

 

[Hugh Scully]

I used the Standard OLPF. I haven't tried the LLO. I shot at 800 for those stills . I messed around pushing it up to 1280 in RedCine and it still looked good. I can't imagine under what circumstances I would shoot at 2000 ISO.

ISO on the RED is about mapping middle grey. There are great threads on this. Be careful not to starve the sensor for light. Unlike video cameras, ISO is not gain with noise reduction. You have to learn how to expose. That's what I was testing here. If you want clean shadows, more range in the lower end, shoot at lower ISOs. If you want to have more range in the highlights in say a daylight shoot, higher ISOs give you more range there. No matter what, it's the same amount of light hitting the sensor no matter what it looks like in the monitor. It seems slightly counter-intuitive but it's critical.

The STH OLPF is great for daylight shooting but I shoot that at 400 when I want no noise in the shadows. I actually don't mind the "grain" especially if you apply DEB in RedCine X. It rolls off highlights beautifully It's good to have the option. All the best with your new Scarlet W.