Which 500T film to use instead of 5218??

[Guest Sean McVeigh]

Hi,

I'm completely new to the forum, although I've been reading for some time now.

 

I have a shoot coming up in 3 weeks which calls for a mix of late-afternoon/evening and night shooting in a forest. Also a couple of very brief scenes in a bedroom.

I've been trying to order 5218 ends, but everyone I try seems to be fresh out, or are expecting some maybe in a couple of weeks which is just to far out for me to chance waiting around patiently.

 

I've been offered 5279 and 5229 as alternatives and I'm still not entirely sure which to go with since I haven't actually used those stocks before.

 

The picture is supposed to come across as fairly drab looking so the low-con 5229 was starting to appeal to me, but I'm a bit concerned that I may wind up not being able to render out the blacks I'd like in the night scenes.

 

If budgets permitted, I'd try working with several stocks, but unfortunately I'm in a "make-do" situation. If I had the money I'd buy fresh 5218 in a heartbeat, but alas, such is not the case :(

 

Oh, and I'm going D.I. for post, so there will be some freedom to boost the contrast at that point I suppose. I'm leaning towards the 5229 at this point.

 

Any help on this would be HUGELY appreciated!! :)

 

--

Sean McVeigh

Director/DP

Ottawa, Canada

[David Mullen ASC]

Sounds like 5229 will do fine, especially for a D.I. where setting the black level to where you want it to be is not hard. You might rate it at 400 ASA for a little more negative density.

[Guest Sean McVeigh]

Sounds like 5229 will do fine, especially for a D.I. where setting the black level to where you want it to be is not hard.  You might rate it at 400 ASA for a little more negative density.

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Thanks for confirming my suspicions david. I just found some 5218 in my fridge, although not a lot, it might come in handy.. that, and one place I spoke to had some 5218 recans available..

I suspect that the '18 would be preferrable to the '29 for the night shots.

Can anyone confirm that suspicion? (again, I've never shot 5229 so I have nothing to go on other than a bunch of response curves from kodak :) ).

[GeorgeSelinsky]

I've been offered 5279 and 5229 as alternatives

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Lol, I just had the opposite problem a few days ago, couldn't find any '79 and had to go with '18! Richard and Gary of Raw Stock in NY have ends of 5218, you might wanna call them if you still need some (212) 255-0445. Tell them I say hi.

[David Mullen ASC]

I don't know if '18 is "preferrable" to '29 for night scenes -- it all depends on the look you want.

 

Someone worried about capturing enough low-level ambient shadow detail in a nighttime urban location may prefer to use '29. Someone worried about getting deeper blacks and more color saturation may prefer '18. Grain-wise, '18 may look slightly finer-grained being more contrasty than '29 (grain being more visible in midtones and lower-contrast stocks creating more midtones.)

[DavidSloan]

Hi:

 

'18 is about as safe as you can get for night scenes. I haven't tried the '29 yet, I'm very curious to hear some opinions on this stock.

 

Good luck.

[Guest Sean McVeigh]

Lol, I just had the opposite problem a few days ago, couldn't find any '79 and had to go with '18! Richard and Gary of Raw Stock in NY have ends of 5218, you might wanna call them if you still need some (212) 255-0445. Tell them I say hi.

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D'oh.. they don't ship to Canada. However they said they'd be open to film emporium buying it, picking it up, and reselling it to me :P

 

Thanks George.