VISION2 7218 500T ?

brian hendry · October 7, 2004

im planning on using the VISION2 7218 500T on a super 16 (SR3) show im doing later this month, i was wondering peoples thoughts on the stock.

or any tips they would like to pass on would be great. thanks a bunch.

Dirk DeJonghe · October 7, 2004

If there is any problem with this stock it is that customers are overusing it. At least three feature films we did in the last couple months were shot entirely on Super16 Vision 500T, two of these features were then blown up to Cinemascope, one to 1.85 format.

This stock is excellent but I don't understand why you would want to use it in bright daylight if Vision2 now also comes in 100 and 200 speed.

According to Kodak, 50% of their sales are Vision 2 500T.

John Pytlak RIP · October 7, 2004

This stock is excellent but I don't understand why you would want to use it in bright daylight if Vision2 now also comes in 100 and 200 speed.

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If you have the light, slower stocks still offer lower grain and better sharpness, especially for formats with smaller image area. If you are using ND, why aren't you using a slower film?

5212/7212 is the sharpest film. 5245/7245 still has the finest grain.

J Costantini · October 8, 2004

shooting daylight with lots of light.

what is probably to show finer grain? 250D or 50D pushed 1 stop?

what about the differences in the look? will 50D pushed 1 stop be more saturated?

J. Lamar King IMPOSTOR · October 8, 2004

shooting daylight with lots of light.
what is probably to show finer grain? 250D or 50D pushed 1 stop?

what about the differences in the look? will 50D pushed 1 stop be more saturated?

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Can you explain what you mean? Why would you push 50 speed stock if you are "shooting daylight with lots of light?"

As for the '18 stocks, I love them, I would take them to dinner and offer them marriage if I could... :P

David Mullen ASC · October 8, 2004

I think '18 is a great 500 ASA stock, but come on, it's a 500 ASA stock! Some people have been so overly convinced by hype (just as when the Vision stocks first came out) that they are under the impression that they are grainless stocks and shoot something faster when they would be better off shooting something slower.

Now if I were shooting a whole feature in 35mm anamorphic, I may consider using 5218 for the whole thing, or if I were shooting 1.85 or Super-35 and wanted a certain grainy patina, but in general, I would still use 200 ASA or slower for day exterior work.

As for Super-16, I'd stick to '17 as much as possible rather than '18 and use '18 when I really needed the speed.

Max Jacoby · October 8, 2004

I think '18 is a great 500 ASA stock, but come on, it's a 500 ASA stock!

I am not sure either about the approach of shooting everything on a 500 Asa stock, especially if it is Super35. Films like 'Cold Mountain' did not look too good grain/sharpness-wise in my opinion. Although your rushes (contacted printed off the original negative) look great, once you factor in the blow up (either optical or digital), you are so far removed from your origianl negative that wide shots are bound to loose sharpness. Especially if you shoot on Cooke S4s. And any error in exposure (especially underexposure) will be magnified.

I just finished a film where it was refreshing to see that although we carried a 500T stock, it was seldomly used (even for night scenes). Hell, we regularly shot day interiors on 64D. With an ND6 sometimes!

John Pytlak RIP · October 8, 2004

I think '18 is a great 500 ASA stock, but come on, it's a 500 ASA stock!

As for Super-16, I'd stick to '17 as much as possible rather than '18 and use '18 when I really needed the speed.

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There is a saying "Different horses for different courses". :D

As good as Kodak VISION2 500T Color Negative Film 5218/7218 is, there IS a reason Kodak offers such a wide variety of color negative films:

http://www.kodak.com/US/en/motion/products...0.1.4.4.4&lc=en

Sam Wells · October 8, 2004

"As for the '18 stocks, I love them, I would take them to dinner and offer them marriage if I could... "

I'd get the pre nup anyway :D

I push 45 in bright light, I like the look.

A friend of mine shot an S16 feature, 7279 throughout (long before the V2 stocks were made) even though it was ~ 75% day ext. The rationale was that with the way it was bllocked, very much shot in a "verite" style - which was justifiably I think the only way to do the movie, the DP could shoot it hand held (XTR w/ 3 Zeiss primes), move fast, no focus pulling. It worked very well, looked great in the direct blowup I saw.

-Sam

Dirk DeJonghe · October 8, 2004

I have seen several productions going 500 speed all over. I always find that their exterior shots in reasonable lighting conditions are not nearly as sharp as their interiors. The only difference can be in the filter pack and the lens aperture.

This holds for 35mm productions but even more for S16.

J. Lamar King IMPOSTOR · October 8, 2004

If you didn't notice the sarcasm dripping from my previous post. I wan't point out that, although I would marry the '18 films. I would have to cheat on them because I absolutely would NOT use them for a whole film. Not even a short one if I could help it.

Dan Salzmann · October 9, 2004

I love the '18 stocks.

It is all a matter of what you are after and how you're doing it.

For night work the '18 stocks are really superb.

I just finished a film that was mostly night stuff with very little supplementary lighting: two Joker 200's with full CTO collars in Chinese lanterns and it looks great.

If you are doing alot of available light or mostly available interior stuff in the winter months and logistics dictate very little lighting '18 is great.

If this is the case and you have very few exteriors that are not in blasting sunlight. Why not stay with the '18 filtered so that you keep a consistent grain structure from shot to shot if the story permits?

Eric Steelberg ASC · October 10, 2004

I primarily shoot commercials and since the image rarely ends up on a 'big screen,' I use 18 without worrying about sharpness or grain. I like to use it for everything because I believe it can seem grainless, having 1 stock cuts down on waste (making you friends with producers), and you can quickly alter your depth of field to suit your particular needs by adding or subtracting NDs.