Shooting on a Beach with 500T (and all the other troubles it brings...)

[Lucky Cheng]

Hey yall--posted this on the 35mm forum but I believe it's quite pertinent to this one too so here tis:

 

I'm gonna be shooting on an Arricam ST next weekend, most of the work is beach day. Unfortunately the stock I was provided to shoot with (it's a small production but they wanted to shoot film...) is 8547 (Fuji Eterna Vivid 500T).

 

I need you guys' advice on a number of things:

 

-I read about 2000fc (between f/22-36 at 500ASA). Will stacking on 5-7 stops of ND impede my ability to see through the finder? Of course it will darken the finder a lot, but in theory, if you're actually shooting an interior lit to 500ASA, wouldn't you have the same about of light coming through the finder anyway?

 

-I'll also be flying it on Steadicam--will the signal from the tap be bright enough with that much density in front? Not sure yet if it's the standard NTSC tap or the HD IVS. Is the HD IVS brighter/more sensitive?

 

-What do you guys think about pulling a stop? I usually overexpose 2/3 of a stop on negative anyway, but on a beach I feel I should protect my highlights. I know there's a lot of latitude in the highlights, but how would underdeveloping affect this?

 

-How do Standard Speeds perform between f/11 to f/22? I never usually go this far down but I hear there are aberrations on some lenses.

 

-We're also supposed to go for a pastel unsaturated palette (I know....). What do you guys think about using filtration to try and cut down the poppy colors? Maybe a Lo Con or Ultra Con? Or should I just handle this during the scan?

 

-I'm thinking I don't want to throw on an 85 and alter the color in the finder. What kind of grain and bias shifts should I expect, and how should I deal with them? Would anyone recommend against not compensating?

 

Thanks for checking this out--if anyone can help with any of these questions that would be great!

[Chris Burke]

what about pulling two stops? In theory, it would give you more pastel unsaturated palette. I have never done this to this stock, but I think it might be a possibility.

[Lucky Cheng]

It seems kind of extreme, and I don't have the chance to test unforunately... I really love the idea. Just don't think I would dive into it without testing!

[David Mullen ASC]

Generally people overexpose and then pull-process to increase shadow detail, if anything you'd have a slight loss of highlight detail from the overexposing. Pull-processing doesn't really help with highlight detail, but film has a lot of that anyway.

 

Overexposing by one-stop and then pull-processing by one stop would lower contrast and keep your density from getting higher, which may give you less scanner noise in the whites, maybe. And you'd reduce the grain a little.

 

I would live with looking through an 85 filter... seems like not a powerful reason to pull it. On the other hand, it may help you get that somewhat muted color (especially in skin tones.)

 

As for the brightness with ND on the lens, yes, the image will be dim. Yes, it'd be just as dim in a night interior, but your eyes would be used to that level. Some people wear heavy sunglasses up until the moment they operate to keep their eyes adapted to a dimmer image.

 

If you use any filters like UltraCons or LowCons, don't shoot stopped down too far or else the surface texture of the filter may come into focus.

 

if this is for telecine transfer, you don't need to pull-process or use filters to get a muted tone, after all, you can pull the color all the way to black and white if you wanted to! And you can reduce gamma to the point it looks like a log image, which is pretty darn muted.

[Lucky Cheng]

Thanks David! A lot of interesting advice to chew on.

 

At what stop would you say to pull the diffusion filters, after say, t11 or t16? I suppose it isn't something that would be visible in the finder?

[David Mullen ASC]

Depends on the type of diffusion filter, some have physically larger or more prominent patterns in them than others, but yes, above f/8 and you should start worrying. Also depends on the focal length, the filter is more likely to come into focus on wider angle lenses.

 

Either way, you'll need ND filters to shoot on the beach.

 

Finder images are small so you don't always catch everything.