F-Stop for Super 8 Horror Short

Nate K · June 15, 2016

I'm going to be shooting a Super 8 horror short with the Canon 1014XL and Kodak TRI-X B&W Reversal Film 7266. I did a pre-light at the location using an external light meter with specs of 160T and shutter 1/30. I got readings 2.0-2.8. We will be shooting at 24fps for digital transfer.

My question is what is, what is a good shooting stop for Super 8, which will be transferred to 2k? <_<

Nate

Chris Burke · June 15, 2016

How do you want it to look? I know you said horror films but that can mean a lot of things. Have you ever shot with Tri-X before? If not I also suggest that you shoot one or two tests rolls. That stock can be kind of difficult to get great exposure on. Keep in mind with Super 8 it has a very deep depth of field. Since the camera has an XL shutter it's going to be ever so slightly softer than say a camera with a narrower shutter angle. Probably won't matter though. At f5.6 that cameras is going to look great. And that f-stop is not really hard to achieve because you have to really protect the highlights. But it does boil down to how you want to look and how much contrast you want. With this stock the Shadows come in really quick not a lot of midtones

Nate K · June 17, 2016

Hello Chris,

Thank you so much for your response. I would just like the project to be properly exposed and with some contrast, since it's a Slasher film. I'm doing to test shoot with your of suggestion of f5.6. Do you think a f4.0-f5.6 split will work as well? And when I test shoot, should I keep the Light Meter at 1/30?

Thanks

Nate

Chris Burke · June 20, 2016

Those are just universally sharp f stops on that camera. I would protect the highlights and let the Shadows dropped off. You will have tons of contrast. That stuff does not like to be over or under exposed that much. Only 3 stops of latitude.

Chris Burke · June 20, 2016

The great thing with the test that you were doing is that you can shoot many different setups. Then you can watch it projected which would be the best possible quality for that format. You don't have to spend money on a transfer.