How do you compare stocks?

[Paul James Savarese]

Hey guys,

 

I am curious to how you gain the involuntary reaction to differentiating between stocks. Do you recommend a certain method to go about how differnt stocks react under different lighting conditions? In other words, is there a workbook that I can follow? I feel like I shoot a few rolls of different stocks and can't really get it into my head as to what the differences are. What's the regimen? I'd appreciate it i you could share your process.

 

Thanks,

 

Paul

[David Mullen ASC]

The general things are graininess, color saturation, contrast, blacks, sharpness - those tend to be the differences you notice between the stocks. But we all judge these elements differently and we all have different priorities as to which we care more about. And the specific project may recommend one look over another.

 

Also, most of these qualities are (1) easy to adjust in digital color-correction (you can make a saturated stock pastel and a pastel stock saturated) or (2) hard to distinquish on a TV screen due to the smaller degree of enlargement and the lower resolution of the presentation method (for example, it would be harder to see the grain difference between Kodak 200T and 500T stock in 35mm, or between Kodak Vision-2 500T and Fuji Eterna 500T, on a TV screen).

 

This is one reason why shooting and then projecting a contact print on a big screen tends to show you the inherent design differences between them. However, if you are shooting for video presentation, then realize that the differences between the stocks will be less significant.

 

Also, since 16mm is a smaller negative format, it also tends to make certain differences more visible even on video, whereas it gets harder to see the differences between 35mm stocks except on a larger screen.

[Paul James Savarese]

Thanks for taking the time to answer my question. Very helpful indeed!

 

 

The general things are graininess, color saturation, contrast, blacks, sharpness - those tend to be the differences you notice between the stocks. But we all judge these elements differently and we all have different priorities as to which we care more about. And the specific project may recommend one look over another.

 

Also, most of these qualities are (1) easy to adjust in digital color-correction (you can make a saturated stock pastel and a pastel stock saturated) or (2) hard to distinquish on a TV screen due to the smaller degree of enlargement and the lower resolution of the presentation method (for example, it would be harder to see the grain difference between Kodak 200T and 500T stock in 35mm, or between Kodak Vision-2 500T and Fuji Eterna 500T, on a TV screen).

 

This is one reason why shooting and then projecting a contact print on a big screen tends to show you the inherent design differences between them. However, if you are shooting for video presentation, then realize that the differences between the stocks will be less significant.

 

Also, since 16mm is a smaller negative format, it also tends to make certain differences more visible even on video, whereas it gets harder to see the differences between 35mm stocks except on a larger screen.