Premium Member Jayson Crothers Posted September 2, 2009 Premium Member Share Posted September 2, 2009 I'm about to start shooting a 2 camera RED feature and there's a night exterior scene with lightning. I'm trying to arrange for some Lightning Strikes units, but a colleague recently shot a music video on a Red with a 70K Lightning Strikes and had problems with the rolling shutter only capturing the flashes on parts of the frame (for example, there would be a horizontal bar at the top and bottom of the frame that showed the flash, but not the middle). Is it possible to adjust the Lightning Strikes to flash a bit longer, sync with the cameras (and how time consuming is that?), etc? It's either this is a 12K with metal shutters........ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Member John Sprung Posted September 2, 2009 Premium Member Share Posted September 2, 2009 I doubt that they can adjust the duration on those arc tubes. Even if they can, it's the ultra fast rise/fall times that are the problem, the light goes on or off while the rolling edge is in frame. Test the metal shutter idea. If the rise/fall times are still too fast for the rolling shutter, then shoot without the effect, and fake it in post. It's actually easier to fake the whole lightning flash than to fix frames that are part flash and part dark. Given that things'll be very dark, it helps to also shoot a reference of a few seconds on each setup exposed bright enough to help with the post faking. -- J.S. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Member John Brawley Posted September 3, 2009 Premium Member Share Posted September 3, 2009 Is it possible to adjust the Lightning Strikes to flash a bit longer, sync with the cameras (and how time consuming is that?), etc? It's either this is a 12K with metal shutters........ Yes you can but not in a way that will address the inherent rolling shutter issue of the RED. Go for the 12K if you don't like the artefact. jb Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patrick Neary Posted September 3, 2009 Share Posted September 3, 2009 Hi- what about using those huge medium-base flash bulbs? Not super convenient for lots of multiple flashes, but long burn time and huge output. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James West Posted October 13, 2009 Share Posted October 13, 2009 Jayson, saw your thread, what did you wind up doing, and how did it turn out in your opinion? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Member Jayson Crothers Posted October 15, 2009 Author Premium Member Share Posted October 15, 2009 I ended up using metal shutters on a 12K HMI Fresnel and a 4K HMI Fresnel (would have liked a 6K or another 12K, but the budget was cut at the last minute). It took a little bit of trial and error to find the right timing, but once we did it looked fantastic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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