Kodak 50D vs. 100T

[adam s]

I'm shooting a music video in a few weeks in the cornfields of Michigan, and I'm wondering if i could get some stock advice from the experts out there.

 

I'm shooting on 16 and am trying to decide between Kodak's 50D and 100T stocks. Although the 50D is an excellent stock, I've noticed considerable grain in the highlights. Also, I've noticed the greens being slightly too saturated for my tastes, and I'm worried about the latitude I'd have in color correction.

 

I like what I've seen from 100T, but I've never put an 85 in front of it so I'm a little worried about how the colors hold up. Also, I've never shot it under direct sunlight, so I'm not sure if the grainy highlights I've experienced in the 50D would be present in the 100T as well.

 

I'm looking for a pretty natural look. I really want my earth-tones to pop, and as little grain as possible in the sky.

 

Do any of you have any experience shooting 100T for daylight? Any advice in general about what stock you think would suit my needs?

 

Thanks!

 

-adam in chicago

[David Mullen ASC]

Are you talking about the old 50D (7245) or the new 50D (7201)? When you say "grainy highlights" are you sure you aren't confusing them with noisy highlight from a telecine transfer due to too much density on the negative in the bright areas?

 

50D stock, old or new, is the finest-grained color neg stock there is, and it would have the least amount of grain in blue skies (daylight-balanced films have a slower-speed blue layer than tungsten-balanced films.)

 

But perhaps the problem you saw in highlights and the skies was electronic noise in the telecine transfer, unless this was a print you were projecting. If it were noise, I'd try a different telecine first, like a Spirit.

 

In terms of 7201 50D versus 7212 100T, they are very similar. 50D is naturally a little finer-grained all around but 100T is a hair sharper. Both have similar contrast (exposure range / latitude.)

 

If you were talking about 7245 50D versus 7212 100T, then the 100T would have wider exposure latitude than 7245, which is a somewhat snappy, contrasty stock. But it still is probably finer-grained than 100T or pretty much the same.

[John Pytlak RIP]

I'm shooting a music video in a few weeks in the cornfields of Michigan, and I'm wondering if i could get some stock advice from the experts out there.

 

I'm shooting on 16 and am trying to decide between Kodak's 50D and 100T stocks. Although the 50D is an excellent stock, I've noticed considerable grain in the highlights. Also, I've noticed the greens being slightly too saturated for my tastes, and I'm worried about the latitude I'd have in color correction.

 

I like what I've seen from 100T, but I've never put an 85 in front of it so I'm a little worried about how the colors hold up. Also, I've never shot it under direct sunlight, so I'm not sure if the grainy highlights I've experienced in the 50D would be present in the 100T as well.

 

I'm looking for a pretty natural look. I really want my earth-tones to pop, and as little grain as possible in the sky.

 

Do any of you have any experience shooting 100T for daylight? Any advice in general about what stock you think would suit my needs?

 

Thanks!

 

-adam in chicago

 

 

As David Mullen notes, 5201 has the finest grain of any motion picture film on the market. Seeing "grain" in highlights is often due to electronic noise, rather than the graininess of the film. Some telecines tend to have more noise, often seen first in the blue channel (e.g., skies).