I'm Choosing My Film Stock

[Jose Aguirre]

Whats Up Guys,

 

I'm shooting on 35 mm and I'm trying to figure out which stock I want to go with.

 

I have an int scene that mixes flourescents with an HMI and the natural light that will sneak in through very large windows.

 

There's also an exterior noon scene with high speed action.

 

Fuji advertises (on their site) having a stock (reala 500D) with 4th layer technology that makes it easy to mix lights. I wanted to use that in the exterior. The scene, however, has a fast chase scene (on foot, not car) and requires quick camera movements. I was thinking I might need faster film, like Kodak's Vision 800T. This film supposed to work with high speed action.

 

Is high speed action suppossed to be cars and airplanes, or does it apply to people as well. And how will this tungsten balanced film hold up in exteriors?

 

Can you recommend a stock that works well with flourescents? Fuji claims the Reala 500 is great for flourescents.

 

One more. Is it possible to shoot a portion of the film on Fuji and another portion in Kodak?

 

Thanks for all your help guys. I'm a beginner and I lucked out with a big budget. I need to make sure the photography is beautiful.

[Jose Aguirre]

I also have an interior that requires dim lighting. I once shot with the 7218 (500T) and my 300w beTweenies came out hot ( which was good for that film but not for this one).

 

I was thinking of going with the 5277 (320T) because it is medium speed and it is suppossed to feature shadow detail and soft skin tones. I'm shooting dark skinned people.

 

If not then I wanted to go with the 5274 (200T).

 

What do you guys think?

 

Thanks again.

[John Pytlak RIP]

The Kodak films handle fluorescents well, but you really should use the appropriate correction filter. How well a film handles "mixed lighting" is a subjective decision. A film that is less sensitive to variation in the type of light usually has less color discrimination, and so you may feel the colors aren't as saturated or well defined.

 

Kodak VISION 250D is a popular choice for mixed lighting:

 

http://www.kodak.com/US/en/motion/products....4.4.4.16&lc=en

[Mitch Gross]

I find the Fuji Reala 500D works as advertised, but it is a fairly grainy stock. A definite step backwards in grain in fact. It is also very sensitive to the type of flo lights, so it may correct out the green much better in some compared to others. You can certainly mix stocks from scene to scene, people do this all the time. Some DPs even go to a different stock when they change angles within a scene. But you'll definitely want to test this stock before using it. I understand it is also rather expensive compared to other stocks, but perhaps that was just a producer trying to convince me not to make him order it.

[Fredrik Backar FSF]

I read that David Mullen pushes the 5218 with great results, and that film is very good at handling mixed light.... one step push to 1000asa I believe.

cheers

[GeorgeSelinsky]

I also vote for 5218, although to be fair I never shot the Fuji (however, I never liked Fuji - just my personal taste).

 

5218 is really a terrific filmstock and there's nothing else quite like it out there.

 

- G.

[Nate Downes]

I've seen the results of the realia and they're not bad. But, truth be, the kodak stock usually handles the mix much cleaner.

[David Mullen ASC]

The Fuji F-500D does handle mixed daylight and cool white flourescents better than other stocks BUT it does not correct it completely.

 

It is one of the grainier 500 ASA stocks out there.

 

For 35mm shooting, I think both Fuji and Kodak look great, especially the slower-speed stocks -- you can't really go wrong either way. For low-light shooting, I'd go with Kodak 5218 although if you like 5279 then Fuji F-500T is pretty similar (in fact, I think F-500T is slightly better than 5279.) "Ali" used Fuji F-500T pushed one stop for its night work after testing it against 5279.

 

"High speed action" doesn't mean "high speed stocks" unless you meant that you need to shoot slow-motion using higher frame rates. I don't understand what fast action has to do with fast stocks. "Fast" in film stocks means more sensitive to light -- it has nothing to do with how fast something is moving.

 

I'd rate 5218 at 800 ASA for a one-stop push. For one thing, looking at my printer light numbers, a one-stop push is more like a 2/3-stop push.

 

Some might prefer the look of Fuji or the older Kodak 35mm stocks -- the new Vision-2 stocks are a little "bland" in some ways: very sharp, fine-grained, natural colors, moderate contrast. But they lack a little "snap" -- I think push-processing almost helps them.