Best Lens and film stock for shooting snow covered mountain

October 16, 2010

Hello,

I am going to shoot a commercial in Himalaya Mountains from November 8th to 12th. So basically I am shooting people climbing the mountain which is covered with white snow. This is the first time I am going to shoot snow.

For lenses I have to choose either Zeiss Master Primes or Cokke S4.

I am going to use ARRI 235 and Kodak negative.

I really want to capture beautiful white and blue sky.

Which film stock and lens would be the best for me?

Please let me know your suggestions.

Best Regards.

Read more: http://www.cinematography.com/index.php?showtopic=48575&st=0&p=334943entry334943#ixzz12XgI2Pun

Chris Keth · October 17, 2010

Of those choices, I would take master primes for their extreme flare resistance and I would take 5201 and 5207. In those conditions, I would think about pulling a stop to help tame the strong contrast.

Chris Keth · October 17, 2010

In regards to your message, pulling is decreased development of the film. To do it, you would overexpose the film by a known number of stops and then have the lab pull the film by the same amount of stops. It will result in lower contrast but still "proper" exposure. To know how much to pull for your situation, you need to do tests.

David Mullen ASC · October 17, 2010

I'm not sure pulling is necessary unless you are shooting in hard sunlight with the subject in deep shade, and a white mountain is in the background. Otherwise, these stocks have plenty of dynamic range. I'd use some UV filters way up there, plus ND of course.

6x6 ND soft-edged grads and attentuators can be helpful in some locked-off shots when only one side of the frame needs to be brought down.

Chris Keth · October 19, 2010

I'm not sure pulling is necessary unless you are shooting in hard sunlight with the subject in deep shade, and a white mountain is in the background.

I'm not sure it's needed either. I just wanted to present it as an option if the contrast he's presented with becomes too great. I know from shooting in Utah in the winter that at elevation in full sun the contrast can get pretty brutal.

thiru · October 19, 2010

i would take a fuji 160 T and altra pol with me and one magazine will be one stop push and other will be one stop pull and an altra pl on it with out the covertion 85 filter . main thing is the focus and depth of field is amazing because i tried it for a film i didnt miss the colour and sharpness. If you want a normal tone we can adjust on analyzer warm or blue according to the mood .

Chris Keth · October 20, 2010

i would take a fuji 160 T and altra pol with me and one magazine will be one stop push and other will be one stop pull and an altra pl on it with out the covertion 85 filter . main thing is the focus and depth of field is amazing because i tried it for a film i didnt miss the colour and sharpness. If you want a normal tone we can adjust on analyzer warm or blue according to the mood .

You apparently missed the part where he specified kodak negative. Why would you ever push film in a high-contrast, very bright situation? There's just no need for it.

Saul Rodgar · October 20, 2010

I'd personally use 5201 almost exclusively, in fact I have done that with stellar results. It gets so bright up there with the light reflected from the snow, I can't think why I'd use 5207, except if I could only take one stock, or if were filming slo-mo / narrow shutter, early or late twilight or during a storm, of course. Personally, I don't like heavily NDing the lens if I can avoid it, but that is just me. The filtration choices recommended above (Pola, UV, grads) are what I'd use.

If you are filming on snow, make sure to measure the sunlight reflected from the snow as well as that is coming directly from the sun. If you are filming with lots of contrast in the picture and your (spot) light meter has multi-zone metering or average exposure mode, or even reflective exposure mode on an incident light meter (and you know how to use it) then do that, it can't hurt. You want your negative well exposed and with proper density, without crushing blacks or blowing highlights. Filming outdoors with so many levels of gray can be tricky, particularly if you are doing camera moves, even simple panning can be tricky sometimes due to exposure changes, back lighting, glares, flares, etc.

Edited October 20, 2010 by Saul Rodgar