Best criterion to decide a stock? I'm in doubt

Teresa · April 18, 2005

Hi.

I need some help. I'm going to shoot a short in super16 and I'm doing some camera tests with different stocks.

The scene are mostly dialogues between two persons. The locations are:

50 % afternoon exteriors in the californian countryside in june, under the direct bright sun.

40% afternoon interiors in a mansion with large windows, in the californian countryside, in june.

10% night exteriors .

I was thinking about the kodak Vision2 200T 5217 / 7217 because it might be versatile. But is it ok for the night??

I was thinking also to try the Fuji F-125 T but same issue with the night. In this case I could use also an Eterna Fuji 500T.

What's the best stock to be used in all that conditions in your opinion?

Thank you very much!!!!!!

Riku Naskali · April 19, 2005

I wouldn't choose the 125T because it needs so much light on night exteriors. Have you considered two stocks, one for the day int/exteriors and the other for the night ext? Then you could shoot your day shots with slower speed stock and switch to higher speed stock when the night falls.

David Mullen ASC · April 19, 2005

So may ways to do this, but you have to work backwards from needing something for the night exteriors, which probably mandates Kodak Vision-2 (5218) or Fuji Eterna (8573).

Now if you're shooting in 35mm, you may get away with using these new 500 ASA stocks for everything, but I'd seriously considering carrying two stocks because it seems silly to base your stock choice on 10% of your overall shooting needs.

So the question is what should the other stock be?

One option is Kodak Vision-2 250D (5205). It's very sharp and fine-grained, more so than 5218 but not SO much better that it doesn't intercut. It would serve for both day interior and exterior. The other options are to use 5218 for both night and day interiors and then use something like 5212 (100T) for day exteriors. Or use Vision-2 200T (5217) for both day exterior and day interior, although I'd be more tempted to use the 5205 unless I really needed a tungsten-balanced stock for those scenes for any reason.

If you are considering Fuji, the Fuji version of 5205, Fuji F-250D (8562), is a fine stock but considering the new technology of the Eterna 500T, I'd consider using that instead for day interiors as well as night exteriors because I'm sure that grain-wise, the old F-250D and the new F-500T are similar. So that leaves using a slower stock outdoors in daylight. I'd actually consider F-64D over F-125T but both would serve -- the F-64D is a little less contrasty, which may be better in the harsh sunlight. Although it seems a bit extreme on paper to have F-64D and F-500T to be your two stock choices -- but I think it may work.

John Pytlak RIP · April 19, 2005

Hi.
I need some help. I'm going to shoot a short in super16 and I'm doing some camera tests with different stocks.

The scene are mostly dialogues between two persons. The locations are:

50 % afternoon exteriors in the californian countryside in june, under the direct bright sun.

40% afternoon interiors in a mansion with large windows, in the californian countryside, in june.

10% night exteriors .

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

For Super-16, the sharper and finer grained Kodak VISION2 stocks would be a good choice, but the more "colorful" finest grain 7245 should be in the mix.

7245 would be the finest grain and richest color for those daytime sunlit exteriors.

7205 would really offer flexibility for daylight interiors with those large windows.

7218 has the speed, along with great latitude, shadow detail, and image structure for night exteriors.

http://www.kodak.com/US/en/motion/products...0.1.4.4.4&lc=en