How Much Should I Push the 50d?

Tony Sarandrea · April 30, 2011

So I have 50d and I'm shooting in an abandoned school in Philadelphia. There are no outlets. I can't use a generator. It does have big windows though.

http://s3.amazonaws.com/data.tumblr.com/tumblr_lkc8rtoUyT1qchn0uo1_1280.jpg?AWSAccessKeyId=AKIAJ6IHWSU3BX3X7X3Q&Expires=1304277469&Signature=VK52gnlTJSfM%2FfHipJIXJ3%2BKQe0%3D

I have bounce board and an LED light pad. I'm using the Aaton XTR Prod with a few Zeiss primes, all 1.3T

When I went yesterday (slight overcast) to do a reading, I was getting a lot of 1.4 but some spots it was 0.7 and things like that. Other parts of the building where more light got in, I was getting 2.8

Should I push this a stop or so? I guess I'll underexpose the few clips out in the direct sunlight a stop to compensate for the push process, right??

I'm a student. This is the film stock I have and the last chance I have for shooting this semester. I'm doing this tomorrow. Should be brighter out and I'm trying to go at a time where there will be the most light.

I'm used to reversal which is horrible with exposure. The drop off is crazy. Never used negative, I don't know what to expect.

Any advice would be great. Thank you!

Adrian Sierkowski · May 1, 2011

Expose for shadows, let highlights take care of themselves. If it were me and those were the types of readings I was getting, I might go with T2 and let the .7 roll off just towards black, maybe a 1.3 if I was really worried about something. I'd not push, personally. A lot of how much information you can recover from the neg will depend on your post path. You can get a lot more in a DI than you can in a telecine, for example, at the increased cost....

I've shot a few things though, where my meter has been at .7, .5, and Eu and It's still worked out pretty well (granted that's mostly night stuff). Not everything needs to be @ key, of course. Use your bounce board to bring up shadows as you need, if you need, and I'd use the LED to bring out eyes.

Btw, the stuff outside the windows will be substantially over-exposed....

Tony Sarandrea · May 1, 2011

Expose for shadows, let highlights take care of themselves. If it were me and those were the types of readings I was getting, I might go with T2 and let the .7 roll off just towards black, maybe a 1.3 if I was really worried about something. I'd not push, personally. A lot of how much information you can recover from the neg will depend on your post path. You can get a lot more in a DI than you can in a telecine, for example, at the increased cost....

I've shot a few things though, where my meter has been at .7, .5, and Eu and It's still worked out pretty well (granted that's mostly night stuff). Not everything needs to be @ key, of course. Use your bounce board to bring up shadows as you need, if you need, and I'd use the LED to bring out eyes.

Btw, the stuff outside the windows will be substantially over-exposed....

Awesome, thanks for the advice. Glad to see someone from Temple has my back!

Now if I could just figure out what number to set that stupid diopter to on the Prod lol

I'm very happy that you suggested no push processing. I think they would charge me extra for it

Dirk DeJonghe · May 1, 2011

Nobody can tell you how to set the diopter except you. Everybody has slightly different eyes. Adjust the diopter until you see the groundglass markings as sharp as they get. It may help to defocus the lens completely before adjusting the diopter so only the groundglass can be sharp. Have you done any camera testing before?