indoor shoot - please help

[Julian Fletcher]

Hi,

 

I want to shoot my family at Christmas - indoor in front of the Christmas tree, some candlelight / dimly lit and some using indoor lighting (lamps) but nothing too bright. I have 1 roll of 500t left but a few rolls of 250d in the freezer.. I can't afford to buy new film at the moment, so wondered how Kodak Vision 3 250d would stack up if rated at 500? How would it compare vs the 500t, both rated at 500? Would I see masses and masses of grain? Would be shooting wide open I guess due to the dimmer light inside.

 

Have posted a pic to give you an idea of what I'm trying to achieve. It is Super 16mm.

 

Your help would be much appreciated

Cheers

Julian

[Bill DiPietra]

Kodak stocks have become very fine-grained and you can easily cut them together. The 500T doesn't really appear that grainy even when pushed a stop, so you should be able to work with what you have.

[Julian Fletcher]

Thanks for the info - but my question is how the following would respond in this sort of shoot

a) Kodak Vision 3 500T rated at 500

b) Kodak Vision 3 250D rated at 500

c) Fuji Eterna Vivid 250D rated at 500

Thanks

[Bill DiPietra]

Thanks for the info - but my question is how the following would respond in this sort of shoot

a) Kodak Vision 3 500T rated at 500

B) Kodak Vision 3 250D rated at 500

c) Fuji Eterna Vivid 250D rated at 500

Thanks

 

I kind of answered the 500T question. If Kodak markets it as a 500 speed film, then it will obviously perform optimally when rated as such. The real question is if the ambient light levels will be intense enough to shoot at a 500 rating, which is why I mentioned the 1-stop push for the 500T.

 

But look at the numbers you have for the ratings of each stock. If you think it through, it's pretty straightforward. I've never used the 250D or any Fuji stocks, but all modern stocks have a decent amount of latitude since they know most people push or pull them. And since those two stocks are a stop slower, they will automatically be slightly more more fine-grained. Therefore, a 1-stop push on either would probably give you similar results as if you were to shoot 500 speed film rated at 500.

 

So, in theory, everything should come out having a fairly visually consistent texture.

[Satsuki Murashige]

I would be a little wary of underexposing 250D much. Usually, daylight stock doesn't hold up as well as tungsten stock to underexposure. Also, it's already balanced for 5500K so you'll be grossly underexposing the blue sensitive layer in a 3200K or warmer environment. If your Christmas home lighting is anything like mine, you'll probably need to be exposing for 1000 ASA, give or take. How fast are your lenses?

 

You could consider pushing the 250D and living with the grain, or bringing in a little on-board Litepanel Mini or Micro, but the best thing would probably be to use 500T. Another trick I've done for home movies is to shoot at 16fps or slower. Can be fun if you embrace the style. Another thing could be to push 2 stops and go with a very grainy aesthetic like "Eyes Wide Shut." I once tried pushing Super 8 Tri-X reversal 2 stops for a similar project to yours and it looked like a Seurat painting with clouds of swirling grain.

[Julian Fletcher]

Thanks for the reply. I basically have 3 films in the freezer and cannot really afford to buy any more at the moment. I have 200t, 500t, 250d. Based on your reply, would I be better to push 200t to 500, rather than 250d?

[Jay Young]

Thanks for the reply. I basically have 3 films in the freezer and cannot really afford to buy any more at the moment. I have 200t, 500t, 250d. Based on your reply, would I be better to push 200t to 500, rather than 250d?

 

I agree, push the 200t, and save the 250d for actual outdoor in the sunlight work.