light meter, waveform or eyeball?

[Ivan G]

I'd like to know how RED users are measuring for light. Are the light meters more accurate than using the built in waveform? I'm not getting the greatest results eye balling the exposure out door as it's very hard to view the LCD.

 

[HDPioneers.com]

When I only have the LCD to work with I set my zebras to 108 and make sure nothing is showing zebras. I find things tend to look a little underexposed by 2 stops or so on the lcd, but can usually be brought up just fine in red alert. And it helps protect highlights.

When I have a larger monitor (Panny 17" BT-LH) I will use the built in waveform to an extent, but if I understand correctly the waveform is just showing the metadata image output from the camera, not a true representation of the raw.

I have only used a light meter with a RED once, and I still got better results underexposing 2 stops from what the meter was telling me.

 

[Steve Gibby]

For "run and gun" I use zebras and then make sure nothing in the highlights is clipping - a small amount of zebra in the brightest area of frame, then back it off slightly until the zebra just disappears. For shots where I have more time for checking exposure, I use a combination of zebras and the histogram.

Over an eight month span using RED ONE, I've shot tons of different subject matter, in artificial light and natural light, using these techniques - and the exposure of the footage has come out excellent.

 

[Ivan G]

This is really great info guys! I haven't seen what the camera zebra lines default at, but I'm assuming it's not 108 and will set it to that. Thanks!

 

[mick doyle]

Gibby,
what do you set the zebras to.

thanks.

 

[donatello b]

i use combination of hand light meter, red RGB stop light, Red IRE spot meter and 4 months Red experience.

 

[Steve Gibby]

Gibby,
what do you set the zebras to.

thanks.

Zebra 1 default settings are via two buttons in the Viewfinder menu: LOW IRE and High IRE. Default highlight indication with LOW IRE is 90, and with HI IRE it is 108 IRE. I generally use HI IRE.

In the later builds, when I have time for it, I also use the IRE spot meter sometimes. I've never used a hand held meter with RED ONE in eight months of use. To me, RED ONE's internal exposure tools were specifically designed for use of the camera and are very accurate. But, to each their own. I see my friend Donatello has posted that he also likes to also use a hand held meter. Like I say, to each their own.

 

[Irri]

Gibby, there are two zebra sets, but they both have a range e.g. 100-108.
What do you use?

 

[Steve Gibby]

Gibby, there are two zebra sets, but they both have a range e.g. 100-108.
What do you use?

Actually Zebra 1 has a range of 90-108, and Zebra 2 is 18% gray, and indicates with a LOW IRE of 44, and a HI IRE of 47. Zebra 2 is useful for checking exposure of facial tones and other mid-range exposure. When using both Zebra 1 and Zebra 2 there is a cross-hatch pattern that appears to indicate the overlap areas. For general all around shooting I use Zebra 1, but if I'm shooting an interview or some other framing with people in it, and there is a wide variety of light levels in the frame, I use both Zebra 1 and Zebra 2.

 

[Irri]

You can change them though. I was wondering what your upper and lower settings were for the highlights. 90-108 seems to cover a large area.

I have to check the manual. Someone said that the cross hatch was when it was in the super whites, but you say this occurs in the overlap area. Overlap of what? surely something can't overlap from 47 to 90 IRE. Maybe I'm misunderstanding.