2 questions... (clip)

[ross e lea]

(see attached clip)

 

its really tough to notice it with this tiny, compressed

clip...but in the original uncomp footage there are

serious moving grains in the brown table areas...I felt

like exposure was good...so why is it that a lot of my

16mm footage gets that crap? and how can I eliminate it?

little bitty moving dots, and its just in areas that are

all one solid color usually.

 

if its exposure than--

 

how could I have lit this better?

 

shot with new Fuji250T exposed at f8:

f16 for the hot point of the spotlight

f8 for the dominos in the spot

f4 for the dark shadows on table

and f1.2 for the dark background (which was meant to be black)

Fuji__250T.mov

[Michael Nash]

I can't see any grain in the clip, only compression noise. I'll have to take your word for it that the grain is there in the midtones as you say. But if it compressed this cleanly, it can't be too bad.

 

Film grain usually shows up in flat areas of midtone, which is where you also noticed it. That suggest the grain comes from an underexposed negative that's been printed/transferred "up." Has your light meter been calibrated lately? Is your lens working properly? Bad (i.e. cheap) telecine transfers on old machines can also make crunchy mush out of the cleanest film...

 

Your exposure numbers sound fine, assuming you're talking about incident light readings. But since it's so contrasty and side-lit, the angle of your meter dome could throw off your reading by 1/2 stop or more. Or did you measure with a spot meter?

[ross e lea]

I've been doing most things with spot metering. I've heard that incedent light is always more accurate

like you're probably mentioning, but in this case....how would you hold the incident light? facing it

toward the camera would give me like f11 but if I face it toward the light it obviously jumps to like f22...

so its like..am I measuring incidnt light always faced at the camera?

so thats why I've kinda retreated to using spot metering mostly.

 

give me feedback on professional usage of the incident light maybe. !:?

and same with the spot.

 

thanks

[Michael Nash]

There's no real right or wrong way to use either type of meter for determining exposure. Meters just give you information about the light and the reflectance; how you choose to expose the image is up to you. I asked your technique just for clarification, to see if your exposure was significantly different from the numbers you describe.

 

How exactly did you spot meter black dominos to be f8? Or was that the reading of the table surface between the dominos?

 

In any case, using an incident meter is kind of an art, that is you do it the way it works for you. For very side-lit subjects like this you can turn the meter's dome so that it's half-lit. That will give you a more or less "normal" exposure for that angle, and will look okay for maybe 45 degrees to either side. If you want to vary your exposure from that reading go right ahead -- for example, favoring your exposure more toward the "key" level to maintain a dark, low-key look.

 

You can also meter the key side and fill side separately, and decide how you want to set your f-stop to render those brightnesses.