85 filter or correct in post

[Petter Englund]

Hello,

 

New to film!

I have currently bought a Pentax K1000 35mm still camera to train my exposure skills before shooting my next short film on Super 16.

 

My question:

I'm shooting with tungsten balanced 5219 Kodak vision.

I'm planning on using this stock in daylight as well.

 

Can I get away with buying a cheap 85B filter (like a HOYA) on eBay since I'm on a budget, or am I better off shooting without any filter and correcting the white balance in post afterward?

 

I have no experience with how lasting a digitally scanned negative will be to color correction in computer.

 

I do not want to mess up my skin tones.

What's my best option?

 

[Stuart Brereton]

Color correcting your footage is a simple job in post. It won't look exactly the same as having used an 85 filter, but most people won't notice the difference. Roger Deakins (among others) often doesn't use an 85 when shooting tungsten film stock outdoors.

 

Edited for accuracy

[Leon Liang]

Actually, when he uses film, Roger Deakins says on his forum that he almost always uses an 85 filter when he shoots film. An exception would be with "The Shawshank Redemption", for which he corrected in post because it apparently rendered cooler shadows.

 

I know that Emmanuel Lubezki corrected in post on "The Tree of Life", according to the American Cinematographer article: "He did not use an 85 filter because it “homogenizes” the complex color. Instead, he prefers to color balance in the timing."

Edited November 6, 2016 by Leon Liang

[Leon Liang]

Correction: Deakins sometimes shoots with an 85 and sometimes shoots without. I found this in his forum:

"I do sometimes shoot without correction and sometimes with. I have found that there is a difference between shooting a tungsten balanced stock and correcting in the lab as opposed to correcting with a filter. When correcting with a filter the shadows are warmer than if you shoot without a filter. For a film like 'True Grit' I wanted warm shadows but for 'Shawshank' I wanted colder shadows and hence the choice to be made."

 

http://www.deakinsonline.com/forum2/viewtopic.php?f=23&t=2871&p=15535&hilit=85+filter+shawshank#p15535

 

And here's the AC article for "Tree of Life": https://www.theasc.com/ac_magazine/August2011/TheTreeofLife/page1.php

Edited November 6, 2016 by Leon Liang

[Gregg MacPherson]

Petter, this is a question that comes up over and over. So it's worth doing a search of the forum. If you paste your subject line into the search in the top right you will see some results. Read. Then some more evolved questions will come, and some interesting answers...