250D or 50D

[Mark Heim]

Hello!

 

I'm shooting a music video on super 16 this month and I am trying to decide on my filmstock. I have mainly day exteriors with the exception of the band which will be shot in a studio with large windows. My original thought was to use 7201 50D for the exteriors and 7205 250D for the interiors. But I'm thinking now that I should just use the 250D for everything. My question is what are the advantages of shooting the 01 over the 05? Is the amount of grain in the 05 really noticable compared to the 01? I am planning on scanning the film on a 2k spirit if that makes a difference...

 

Thoughts? :huh:

[Delorme Jean-Marie]

the 01 is high contrast but as it's for video broadcast, i'll stick to the 250 and put nd's outside rather than rent loads of light fot the interiors

you could also mix the tow stocks? they are both high contrast and grainfree

[David Mullen ASC]

The old '45 was higher in contrast but the new '01 is similar to the rest of the Vision-2 line-up (excluding the low-con Expression 500T). You're the first person to describe the Vision-2 look as "high contrast" since it is lower in contrast than the previous Vision line, which was lower in contrast than the previous EXR line.

 

It never hurts to use the slowest speed stock possible outdoors for 16mm work, but 250D isn't too grainy.

[ryan_bennett]

Also depends on the weather, etc. The other day I shot on 250D because I didn't think it would be sunny - well, it was. The meter was reading 45-33 so definitely, if you use 250D make sure you bring some ND's. Personally, after that experience, I would use 50D, especially if the shoot is earlier in the morning.

[David Mullen ASC]

If I wasn't sure about the weather or might be filming under the shade of trees or buildings, I'd probably get the 250D just in case, but when I have some stock flexibility over a longer feature shoot, I'd try and get both stocks, use the slower one when possible, figuring later in the schedule I may have some extra 250D to use up somewhere.

 

For example, I switched between F-64D and F-250D on "Astronaut Farmer" depending on the light levels or if the scene would end up being completed after sunset (so I'd start out with 250D). It was only towards the end of the shoot where I had to start ordering amounts of each stock more precisely, in which case, I leaned towards ordering more of the 250D than the 64D since I was also using it for day interiors. So maybe on the last day, I might have shot a day exterior scene on 250D just because I didn't have enough of the 64D to shoot a whole scene.

 

On a short shoot, you don't have as much flexibility in adjusting the order, in which case I'd probably opt for using fewer stocks with more flexibility (for example, 200T and 500T, figuring that 200T can be used outdoors with an 85 filter, or for night interiors with enough light, if I end up with a little too much of that stock.) Other DP's would just use 500T for everything, at least in 35mm. You could also use 500T for everything, but rate it much slower and pull-process it for the sunny scenes, not that I have tried that approach on any large scale.