Pushing 250D - 7207 vision 3 a stop

David Dominguez · November 7, 2020

hey everyone,

I'm shooting a doc on 16mm with a Bolex and i have a bunch of rolls of 250D I'm going to be working with. The location we're filming at is giving us a reading at around f1.4-2 so I was hoping to rate it at ISO 400 and push it a stop to close the lens down a tad.

Anyone here done this with successful results? Would it better to rate it at 250 and just lift it in post?

Thanks guys, really appreciate the advice!

Giray Izcan · November 7, 2020

The max you want to push is 2 stops, which, even then is pushing it too much especially on 16. Like Gordon Willis used to say, there is no such thing as a 3 stop push.

Besides, you're shooting 16mm so... I suspect a 3 stop push would be a mess anyway.

David Mullen ASC · November 7, 2020

It's a good question with footage that is underexposed and will be telecined - process normal or push-process? Since pushing doesn't add information, just density (plus contrast), I'd be tempted to process normally and brighten it in post, but be prepared to de-noise it a little. But I've never done a side-by-side test.

Giray Izcan · November 7, 2020

Or you could underexpose by 2 stops but push one stop instead of 2 to keep the contrast in check and then print up in post. When you push film, your contrast and colors get affected also. With 1 stop push as opposed to a 2 stop push, the contrast would be more "normal." If you underexpose the pushed film 1 more stop it would normalize the built up contrast as underexposing film for a thin negative also subdues the colors and contrast. Essentially, you would be counteracting the push in terms of colors and contrast - film's density. As for the grain levels, it depends on your taste..

Since you're doing post digitally as opposed to photochemical, you can mess with the footage even further.

Edited November 7, 2020 by Giray Izcan

Tyler Purcell · November 8, 2020

1 stop isn't a big deal. I use 200T all the time and push it a stop in the scan. With an HDR scanner it will look great. I wish I had a 16mm sample, but all of mine are 35mm.