5218

[Rolfe Klement]

I am doing a trailer for a Director friend of mine and we want to push the low light capabilities. Basically shoot at night in London in Picadilly circus etc - but not shoot HD

 

These are my plans - shoot 5218 - push it 2 stops (does anyone in London push half stops - Soho Images can only do full stops.) but overexpose the neg a little so rate it 1600 but push it 2 stops. I would prefer to push 1.5 stops.

 

I know and love the push process but have been lucky in my exposures, now I want to figure out the acceptable ranges

 

Metering - use a combo of incident metering combined with spot - John P : do you know what are safe up and downs on 5218 pushed 2 stops, 2 over and 3 under or can I go more? I would also spot a grey card.

 

I also saw from my tests shot in LA a while ago muted yellow reds and emerald blue look great on pushed 5218. Greens don't come up well. Any other ideas on colour for pushed film. Blue flos look great - in fact neon lights look good generally

 

thanks

 

Rolfe

[John Pytlak RIP]

I am doing a trailer for a Director friend of mine and we want to push the low light capabilities. Basically shoot at night in London in Picadilly circus etc - but not shoot HD

 

These are my plans - shoot 5218 - push it 2 stops (does anyone in London push half stops - Soho Images can only do full stops.) but overexpose the neg a little so rate it 1600 but push it 2 stops. I would prefer to push 1.5 stops.

 

I know and love the push process but have been lucky in my exposures, now I want to figure out the acceptable ranges

 

Metering - use a combo of incident metering combined with spot - John P : do you know what are safe up and downs on 5218 pushed 2 stops, 2 over and 3 under or can I go more? I would also spot a grey card.

 

I also saw from my tests shot in LA a while ago muted yellow reds and emerald blue look great on pushed 5218. Greens don't come up well. Any other ideas on colour for pushed film. Blue flos look great - in fact neon lights look good generally

 

thanks

 

Rolfe

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

 

I think you should go no more than Push-1, as Push-2 won't really give you all that much more real speed. Depending how much you can open your lens, you will be surprised how much detail you will see in a night scene in a brightly lit area like Picadilly Circus on an EI500 film like 5218.

[Dan Salzmann]

I've recently done 3 "available light" night exterior films with the Kodak 5218 in Paris and New York and it is a fantastic stock! Use Super Speed prime lenses. In Times Square I was able to over expose at 4am. Piccadily Circus has a lot of light in places.

I would think that any lab could do a half stop push. Have you tried British Technicolor?

[Rolfe Klement]

so are you saying expose the 5218 normally on a T1.3 lens - wide open - with no push?

 

That would be perfect for me - but my metering showed it might need a little more stop but I have no experience shooting availbale night exposures in bright places - so my metering method might be up the wall :)

 

any advice

 

thanks

 

Rolfe

[John Pytlak RIP]

so are you saying expose the 5218 normally on a T1.3 lens - wide open - with no push?

 

That would be perfect for me - but my metering showed it might need a little more stop but I have no experience shooting availbale night exposures in bright places - so my metering method might be up the wall  :)

 

any advice

 

thanks

 

Rolfe

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

If you are trying to capture the lights and the "feeling" of the scene, T/1.3 is probably much too much exposure for an EI 500 film. If you are expecting to have your actors fully illuminated by only the ambient lighting on the street, you really should be adding some light to get adequate exposure on their faces. With a 170 degree shutter opening at 24fps, you need only 20 footcandles at T/2.8 or 10 footcandles at T/2.0 to fully expose an EI500 film.

 

One guide for photography by existing light (like nightime street scenes or sporting events) is based on the difference from "Basic Daylight Exposure" (BDE). Here is a link discussing BDE:

 

http://www.garageglamour.com/tips/bdeguide.php

 

For a brightly lit nighttime street scene like Times Square or Picadilly Circus, the BDE Guide says to give the film +6 stops more exposure than you would for a sunny day.

[Mike Williamson]

On the topic of pushing 5218, I recently had an email conversation with Claudio Miranda about the differences between 5218 and 5279. He likes both, but feels that '18 does not push very well and that it does not gain you much exposure, but instead just gets more contrasty if pushed. Based on his recent tests, he said he preferred the '18 underexposed one stop and processed normally to the '18 underexposed and pushed. He also noted that he feels that '79 pushes very well compared to '18, which surprised me a little bit. He said he also plans to shoot '18 on his next project, though he didn't mention how he planned on rating it.

 

So, as the saying goes, "test test test..."

[John Pytlak RIP]

AFAIK, for all current color negative motion picture films, a Push-1 process does NOT give a full stop of extra real speed. A push process increases the overall density and contrast, such that an underexposed scene prints/transfers at similar settings to a normally exposed and processed negative, but you will still lose some shadow detail. You will also get somewhat higher midtone contrast, and some increase in graniness. As is often said: "test, Test, TEST", as it may or may not be the "look" you want.

[Sam Wells]

Haven't 'gone there' with V2 but Vision "1" and EXR I've typically rated a one stop push 2/3 stop higher. ie '45 I'll rate at 80. etc.

 

I think 1/2 stop push of ECN is probably an urban legend :D

 

-Sam