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Fuji Eterna Vivid 500T 16mm...


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I haven't had a chance to test this stock due to budget constraints, and will be shooting a short on it soon. I was wondering if anyone has any experience with this stock?

 

I've had a browse through the forum and heard that rating it around 400ASA can tighten up the grain a bit, but is the grain that bad on it's own?

 

Anyone know roughly how much latitude I've got to work with this film?

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If you do a search on You tube for: Fuji Eterna Vivid sample 500T, you should find a set of 3 samples I uploaded showing something of the range and flexibility of this stock. You can usually push these tungsten stocks pretty hard- at least a stop or more. I'd attach the links for you but for some reason I cannot attach or paste anything and I'm not sure why...

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  • 4 weeks later...

I shot all of the night footage for my film, "Shadow of the Lotus" on Fuji's Vivid 500T. It's a great stock, very punchy with colors and contrasty. It can get a good image in extremely low light, but you will have noticable grain if it's not lit. I shot wide open at 1.4 on an old 1950's Pentaflex 16 camera. It's a tiny handheld camera, standard 16 as well, and it was the main stock I used for everything except daylight scenes. Too bad it's discontinued but if you can get your hands on it it's well worth it for the colors and contrast it produces.

 

All the night footage in this trailer is Vivid 500T, standard 16mm, cropped to 1.85:1, so it would be much less grainy if it were super16 and more light was used. I did no grain reduction at all, going for a 1980's Hong Kong action flick look where they shot on grainy 35mm stocks in China. This is as grainy as the stock will ever look, if at all.

 

 

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That is a great trailer; it certainly shows that it isn't all about the gear used; people do seem to think that the latest gadget will get the best imagery. An old 16mm camera used with good lenses and more film stock can produce great imagery. I know film is a lot easier to light, but I do have few questions how did you record the sound? Was it post synced or did you blimp the camera? What lenses were used?

 

Pav

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===================================================================

Jeff, Really like this look, and the filming. What f1.4 lens did you use on the Pentaflex ?

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Hey Doug. Hah, talk about working within your limitations. Finally I can speak with some people who can appreciate the technicalities of how I pulled off an entire feature on a Pentaflex 16. Firstly, all the night footage was done on only two lenses, a 25mm and 50mm, both F1.4, and always shot wide open. I had to do all wide shots on a 25mm, which is practically like trying to do a wide shot on a 50 if you're shooting 35mm film, you can't back up enough! It made it very difficult to shoot in tight quarters. I had a 12.5mm and a 12-60mm Zoom, but they're both F2.8, so good luck trying to shoot at that stop at night without tons of lighting gear, so my long lenses became my savior for being able to shoot in low light. Shooting during the day is infinitely easier, as I just popped on the 12-60mm zoom, and used Fuji F64D stock. All of these lenses are proprietary and designed specifically for the Pentaflex 16 if I'm not mistaken, because I took them to a camera house and they couldn't even tell me what kind of a lens mount it was.

 

Pav, the sound on my film was an even funnier story. I do NOT recommend attempting to shoot a feature on a camera like the Pentaflex unless you're prepared to ADR the whole film, which is what we did. The Pentaflex is a very loud camera. We did record sound on the set, but only as a reference to the lines and inflection for the actors. I synced up the onset dialogue in post, but my camera noise and other general outdoor noise was definitely apparent, and we ADR'd all of the actors in a studio afterwards. No one who has seen the film so far has noticed that it's entirely looped so I'd say we did a great job. Also, the Pentaflex is not a crystal sync camera by any means. If you have it set at 24fps, it's likely jumping between 23-26fps as you shoot. Because when we got the footage back the dialogue did not accurately sync with their lips without slightly manipulating the speed of the playback. This worked fine for us, since once I found out what that speed was, I simply had the actors re-record their lines to match that speed anyway.

 

Suffice to say I've upgraded to an Arri 416 Plus now for future shooting, but I can be perhaps the first person to say that it is possible to shoot an entire feature on a Pentaflex. It is an awesome little camera though, with quickly interchangable 100' magazines, a great set of lenses, and a regular and high speed motor that can go up to 96fps, a lot of which you'll see in the trailer. I'd argue it's better than a Bolex anyday, and you can get them on the cheap on Ebay.

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I'd argue it's better than a Bolex anyday, and you can get them on the cheap on Ebay.

 

 

I'm sorry if my samples aren't very good, but it's no reason to be rude.

 

Chris, is this what offended you? I don't think he was saying your samples aren't good. At least I hope that isn't what he is saying.

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I'm sorry if my samples aren't very good, but it's no reason to be rude.

Didn't mean any disrespect at all. Actually your footage looks awesome, Chris. I didn't even notice you shot with a Bolex until I read the description on the vid. No worries.

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Thanks Heikki,

 

I uploaded some clips from my last project showing the same shot at a couple different exposure settings. Hopefully, to show Miller a little something to try and help. This site is weird to try and imbed stuff because it wouldn't just let me copy and paste a link. I also couldn't get it linked as an attachment. Very frustrating... As for the film stock, I was surprised how the 500T compared to the Fuji 64D that I used for most of the other shots. I purposely under exposed a few shots to try and get a flatter, dreary look but I was stunned at how much the grain came out for such a low ASA stock. The 500T seems much more well-behaved in low light.

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Thanks Matthew- I bought several rolls from Fuji before they closed shop and they gave me a great discount. I have some 160T, 250D, 500T and 64D. Have you tried all of these? My last project was all 64D and 500T, so I haven't had a chance to compare the others yet.

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