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NYC at Night


Will Montgomery

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I'll be in New York next week for a shoot and was thinking about getting some b-roll of the city at night. Mostly street shots.

 

I was going to take my Steve's Cine modified Eyemo and shoot some V3 500T. The camera is small enough not to attract attention. I know digital is probably the way to go at night, but just curious for any advice on shooting some 35mm at night in the city. Probably shoot more at dusk than at darkest night right? So the outlines of the tops of buildings have more definition?

 

Since it will be transferred by a good colorist, do I need to consider any filters or will the tungsten film be fine at that time of evening?

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Tungsten 500T without the 85 filter is fine for dusk to night. Yes, shoot early evening, the other reason being that the office window lights start to shut off later and the skyline gets darker.

 

Use fast lenses. If you don't see any movement in the shot, undercrank for more exposure.

 

Here's a recent snapshot I took on my Canon Rebel -- I think the settings were 800 ASA, tungsten balance, f/2.8 at 1/13th of a second, so you could get close on 500T film with an f/1.4 lens especially at 12 fps.

 

nyc_night3.jpg

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Hey Will. If you can, please post a few stills of your results when you have them. I am planning on shooting 500T of some NYC street scenes for my next short and would love to see how it comes out.

 

Thanks.

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Thanks David, I figured it should work. I will have a set of Zeiss ZF lenses for the video which will fit nicely on my Nikon mount modified Eyemo. I'll shoot a few reels at different speeds wide open.

 

Should I consider push during processing or just process normal and work with the colorist to pull something good out of the negative?

 

Also, does the Kodak office near Grand Central let you walk up and purchase there? or is there another distribution office somewhere close to that area?

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Should I consider push during processing or just process normal and work with the colorist to pull something good out of the negative?

 

Also, does the Kodak office near Grand Central let you walk up and purchase there? or is there another distribution office somewhere close to that area?

 

Don't know if you should push or not, pushing will make the negative denser but not add detail, so perhaps not.

 

I heard a rumor that Kodak was closing their NYC office? If so, don't know where you'd get the film. Check Kodak's website.

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I heard a rumor that Kodak was closing their NYC office? If so, don't know where you'd get the film. Check Kodak's website.

 

That's correct. As of August 13th the NYC will-call/pick-up location for motion picture films will be located at

 

Panavision New York Camera

150 Varick Street

2nd Floor

New York, NY 10013

 

Only their most popular stocks will be available there. The rest will be shipped from Kodak distribution centers. As of right now, I believe they are still working out of the 360 W. 31st Street office. I would give them a call.

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As of right now, I believe they are still working out of the 360 W. 31st Street office. I would give them a call.

Thanks, just did and they confirmed that I can just walk-in and they'll have 100' V3 500T Eyemo loads. However it was a little strange in that she said there was a phone there where I place the order but could pick up at the same time; I guess the counter can't process orders but you can pickup there. She also confirmed the August 13th date for the move.

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Thanks, just did and they confirmed that I can just walk-in and they'll have 100' V3 500T Eyemo loads. However it was a little strange in that she said there was a phone there where I place the order but could pick up at the same time; I guess the counter can't process orders but you can pickup there. She also confirmed the August 13th date for the move.

 

Yup. When you walk up to the counter you call a number and place the order over the phone, they give you an order number and someone brings the film to you a few minutes later. Really odd system and I don't know what the reasoning behind it is, but it's just the way they do things.

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  • 9 months later...

I did enjoy the 34th street location since it was walking distance from PENN but I must say I don't mind going to panavision and walking by people doing camera tests. Its not so bad, I just miss paying in cash, why is everything in credit card? I go there and buy my super8 and 16mm stock, 6 rolls is a lot for me and then some guy will come in from SVA or NYU or NYFA and buy like a crate-load...I wish I had that lol.

 

anyway funny thing last time i went to kodak the lady had a wolf on wall street hoodie which is cool but I was saying to myself wasnt that shot on digital, lol.. I hope some of it was shot on film...

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