Stills and 16mm shooting.

November 2, 2004

I'm renting a 16mm camera, but it won't be available for another month.

In the mean time I would like to set my lighting and verify using a 35mm SLR camera.

Can anyone suggest how I go about this such that my developed 35mm shots are close to what I will see in the final projected 16mm print?

Ie; stopping requirements, film requirements.

I am using tungsten lights and tungsten balanced 16mm stock.

Any help is much appreciated.

David Mullen ASC · November 2, 2004

If you are in LA, you can get motion picture film in 35mm cassettes at RGB Labs on Highland and get the results printed onto slides (motion picture print stock).

Nathan Milford · November 3, 2004

The DOP Shop has a Sweet Half-frame 35mm still camera with a PL mount!

Take a gander: http://www.thedopshop.com/item.cfm?itemID=270

Throw the len's your shooting with on that baby, use the stock from RGB and you're almost there!

If anyone has any question as to what to get me for a christmas, see the above link >8)

- nathan

November 3, 2004

I have asked for info on the Half-frame 35mm still camera. Thanks.

Suppose I just meter a whole scene and take a few stills.

I don't think this means that I am ready to shoot and what I develop will be what I film in 16 later on.

I think I can make this work by just adjusting the still camera as required - based on the film in the still camera vs. the tungsten film in the 16mm camera.

I pulled this info off a website:

Contrary to popular thought (as so often happens, wrong) the light used for cinematography is not so intense at all: You need much more light for still photography. To get the same view on a photograph as the film camera shows, you need a lens with at least twice the focal length, resulting in half the depth-of-field. To compensate for that, you need to close your diaphragm (stop down) one f-stop. Then, the movie camera uses a shutter speed of around 1/30-1/50th of a second; in still photography, the longest exposure recommended for hand-held shots on a 35mm camera is 1/100?another stop lost. As every stop down means losing half the light, we arrive at a level that's four times what the cinematographer needs.

Can someone elaborate on this? Maybe shed some more light on it? I am still in the dark (pardon the puns).

David Mullen ASC · November 3, 2004

A still camera doesn't NEED more light -- the sensitivity of the film stock is the same in any movie camera, from Super-8 to 65mm, and in still cameras too.

What they are saying is that larger formats (8-perf 35mm still camera frame versus the half-size 4-perf 35mm movie frame, or the larger 65mm movie formats) generally have less depth of field because the focal lengths tend to be longer in order to get the same field of view of a smaller format. IF you want to compensate for that, you need to stop down the lens to increase depth of field, hence why you might want more light.

As for not being able to handhold a still camera at 1/60th of a second (24 fps film is normally 1/48th of a second, somewhere halfway between 1/30th and 1/60th), I do it all the time, if not longer speeds. You just need a steady hand or something to rest your elbows on. But in your case, you can use a tripod for the tests.

Greg Gross · November 3, 2004

You need to have a steady hand with a still camera at 1/60.

At 1/30 you have problems with sharpness as you blow image up.

I suggest tripod at 1/30 for best sharpness of image. I personally

think that heavier cameras are easier to brace or rest with(support).

Greg

John Pytlak RIP · November 4, 2004

The exposure time for a 24fps motion picture camera with a 180-degree shutter is 1/48 second. So a shutter time of 1/50 or 1/60 second on a still camera is the best approximation.