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64D or 250D Fuji for shooting surfing


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Hi,

 

I was wondering what your opinions are for filming Surfing? Would you guys use 64D or 250D? Keep in mind that I'm shooting with a Polarizer for the ocean and a big depth of field is needed because the surfers are very far out in the water.

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I'd say if you know you're going to face a lot of overcast skies, the 250D would be good so you're not flirting too much with underexposure. But on the average sunny day, 64D is fine. I've shot some surf around town here in San Diego and Mexico, and it was fine, provided there wasn't too much cloud cover, or the clouds weren't too thick. On the overcast days, anything important that happened in the shadows was tough to make out. I will say that with the 64D, I got some great sidelit shots with the sun on the horizon or just below it that looked really nice; don't underestimate it. With surfing or anything on the ocean for that matter, you can squeeze a lot more out of the light when you factor in the reflected glare. All that to say that if you can afford it, bring both.

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Thanks for the responses guys.

 

Here's a link to the 16mm stuff I already shot in Peru, South America. The surfing is towards the middle of the clip.

 

http://www.builtbyugene.com/mov_peru/peru1.html

 

Most of the portraits and landscapes were shot with 64D and the surfing was shot with 250D. The reason why I posted my original question was the the surfing stuff was way-OVEREXPOSED (I fixed it in Telecine and After Effects). I'm new to motion picture film, so I have some learning to do. The problem was made worse because I didn't have a spot meter, only incident meter. I have since got a spot meter and will return to Peru to shoot some more.

 

Question for Jason Reimer. Do you shoot surfing with a Polarizer?

 

The reason why 250D was chosen initially was because I thought the Pola would cut it down 2 stops so I'd have more flexability with 250D; and I've heard that it's ideal to shoot between an f11 and f16 for surfing. Any truth to that?

 

In hindsight, if I had used 64D with the Pola, my surfing shots might have came out better. But I just wanted to see what others had to say.

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well think about what you would need those 2 extra stops for if you chose the 250 vs the 64. Do you want to overcrank the camera at all? if so those 2 extra stops might come in handy, then you could always compensate with some glass in front of the lens. As far as shooting in the 11-16 area, well that goes into how the lens will function when closed that much and do you really want the depth of field to be that big?

 

Thanks for the responses guys.

 

Here's a link to the 16mm stuff I already shot in Peru, South America. The surfing is towards the middle of the clip.

 

http://www.builtbyugene.com/mov_peru/peru1.html

 

Most of the portraits and landscapes were shot with 64D and the surfing was shot with 250D. The reason why I posted my original question was the the surfing stuff was way-OVEREXPOSED (I fixed it in Telecine and After Effects). I'm new to motion picture film, so I have some learning to do. The problem was made worse because I didn't have a spot meter, only incident meter. I have since got a spot meter and will return to Peru to shoot some more.

 

Question for Jason Reimer. Do you shoot surfing with a Polarizer?

 

The reason why 250D was chosen initially was because I thought the Pola would cut it down 2 stops so I'd have more flexability with 250D; and I've heard that it's ideal to shoot between an f11 and f16 for surfing. Any truth to that?

 

In hindsight, if I had used 64D with the Pola, my surfing shots might have came out better. But I just wanted to see what others had to say.

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Hey Eugene,

A pola filter will definitely help to hold the sky a little better, and also cut down on glare, etc, but if you have the luxury, try some tests. There may be times that you want some glare or you want the sky blown out. Rick made a good point about overcranking- if you want some slow motion footage in there, where you'll be shooting at a pretty high framerate and then projecting it at 24fps, you're going to need those stops back so that you can compensate for the light lost. The key is to do some tests with all of the variables you think you might encounter, and then try to visualize a look (or looks) that you think you might want to have throughout you film and go with those. Even coming up with a hypothetical shot list ahead of time can help you pre-plan that stuff, so that you have something to improvise off of later. Best of luck to you!

 

Jason

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