Looking for advice on night exteriors

[Marcus Friedlander]

Hello everyone, quick question.

I really like the specs behind the new Varicam 35 but I haven't really gotten the opportunity to test it yet. However, just from the specs alone it seems like it would be a fantastic camera for night exteriors. Right?

So my question is, if I am shooting a project on my DRAGON, and the project has a decent budget, would it make more sense to rent a larger lighting package or a varicam 35 package specifically for the night exteriors?

This particular project is a 20-25 day shoot with about 1/5 of the project taking place in night exteriors If that helps.


(P.S. I am not a fan of razor thin DOF so I'd rather avoid the T1.4 route)


Thanks for the help!

 

[Keith Putnam]

So my question is, if I am shooting a project on my DRAGON, and the project has a decent budget, would it make more sense to rent a larger lighting package or a varicam 35 package specifically for the night exteriors?

I would encourage the lighting package rental. Lighting is only partially about achieving a base exposure, and much much more about building a contrast ratio and shaping your image for your audience. Exploiting ISO 5000 to be able to rely on available light seriously hampers your ability to exercise your art.

Additionally, have you ever tried to control light spill at 5000 ISO? You see deeply into every shadow. Bring a huge flag package to control your ambient light if you're shooting extreme ISO ratings.

 

[Marcus Friedlander]

Hey Keith, thanks for the response.

I didn't think about needing to flag off unwanted shadows so thank you for that. That makes the choice to go for a better lighting package very easy!


Thanks!

 

[Eric M Hurt]

I would encourage the lighting package rental. Lighting is only partially about achieving a base exposure, and much much more about building a contrast ratio and shaping your image for your audience. Exploiting ISO 5000 to be able to rely on available light seriously hampers your ability to exercise your art.

Additionally, have you ever tried to control light spill at 5000 ISO? You see deeply into every shadow. Bring a huge flag package to control your ambient light if you're shooting extreme ISO ratings.

+1

Mixing those cameras would be a very last choice for me.

 

[Paul Dean]

(P.S. I am not a fan of razor thin DOF so I'd rather avoid the T1.4 route)

I would recommend going with the Varicam35 and a small lighting package. The added sensitivity of the Varicam will enable you to stop down more to obtain a greater depth of field and you won’t need big lights at that speed to shape the image to create the look you are after. In fact, with a Varicam 35, you could probably light a good size night exterior with nothing more than could be run on a couple of paralleled Honda EU6500s that will give you a combined output of 120A.

Paul Dean

 

[Marcus Friedlander]

Hmmm do you think if I did lighting tests at 5000 ISO on my dragon it would be reflective of what lighting for 5000 ISO on a Varicam would be like? Obviously the dragon would be way noisier but would it still be similar enough to give this test value? I can get a bigger lighting package for a test much easier than a Varicam package.

 

[Eric M Hurt]

How large are the set ups you're trying to do? How much area do you need to bring up to your stop? Do you just want to avoid any black?

 

[Zakaree Sandberg]

Love night lighting..
i lean towards wanting to do mostly thriller/horror narratives primarily because of the lighting

 

[Marcus Friedlander]

The areas I'm lighting won't be too big. They mostly take place on street corners so I can use street lamps as both practicals and motivation for the lighting I'll bring in. However, there is one long tracking shot at night as two character walk away from a house. We won't be shooting this till the summer anyways. I'm just exploring all my options right now.

 

[Matt Ryan]

This is from back in film school days but this shot only utilized 2 lights. A 4K HMI about 75ft away coming from across the street from the rear and a litepanels 1x1 being walked with talent to get some light on their faces. Shot on the trusty Red One MX so I wouldn't have any concerns shooting this shot on Dragon. This shot is with the RED 18-85mm lens so the shot was wide open at t2.9...

Again with the Red One MX and 18-85mm 2.9. One 4K HMI with diffusion coming from the opposite end of the alley splashing onto the brick wall for depth. One 1.2k HMI as a key light behind camera diffused. I actually closed down a bit more on this shot to a t4. The yellow light was a practical. It's about 100ft+ down to the end of that alley.

So my advice would be the camera is fine, just work on the lighting package and you will be good!

 

[Eric M Hurt]

I agree with the above. A moving key light (china ball or the like) is great for the tracking shot.

 

[Hal Long]

You can do a lot with a 4K, 6K or a 9-light fey or Maxi brute both of which are cheap rentals. I wouldn't mix cameras unless you feel you must but when shooting night exterior I find I rarely rate higher than 1250 anyway or the shadows lose character.

 

[Paul Dean]

You can do a lot with a 4K, 6K or a 9-light fey or Maxi brute both of which are cheap rentals. I wouldn't mix cameras unless you feel you must but when shooting night exterior I find I rarely rate higher than 1250 anyway or the shadows lose character.

Cheap lights to rent, but not cheap to power, unless you parallel two Honda EU6500s. With a combined output of 120A, a pair of Hondas will run anyone of these options plus additional small lights like 1.2-1.8 HMIs. The only alternative to the Hondas would be a small (25kVA) diesel tow generator, but then you need a vehicle that is equipped to tow it.

Paul Dean