I could really use some help

[Ed Conley]

I read something just a few days ago about how its actually better to (almost) overexpose then to underexpose.

 

The living room was dark enough, as you could probably see. And that was with two lights. Its not a big room. The second I go higher than f2, it darkens the scene considerably.

 

So try 4.5 and throw more light in?

 

You add more ambient light to the room with a couple of the Work light halogens 250watt/500watt. It will look very bright to you but in camera it will still be dark.

 

You can also use a dimmer on the work lights.

[David Mullen ASC]

You have to eliminate the variables - shoot a front-lit, flat shot at normal exposure and load it on YouTube and see what the quality is like without attempting any mood lighting, but shoot something with some range of tones so you can see the compression artifacts and noise in darker tones. If it looks good, then you shouldn't have a problem with lighting more to one side with some shadows.

[Joshua Miner]

Hi Justin,

I have the same camera and Rokinon lens - based on the video you posted, you don't have enough light to make for a good image. The low ISO on the camera will mean that the image from the sensor is cleaner than a higher one (mileage may vary), but in post you're raising the exposure levels, which will also raise any existing noise in the image.

 

With that Rokinon lens the 'sweet spot' is t4/t5.6 where you get a nice clear image. When you have the lens opened up to t1.5 it is less sharp and has some odd colors on the edges. Unfortunately you will need to add more light to compensate for that. You can light with cheap hardware store lights - and it'd be a fun challenge, but it is challenge to get the right lighting.

 

If you're on a super tight budget, try some of those el-cheapo-deluxe 500 watt work lights for $35 or so. They're big and ugly, but cheap and put out a lot of light. You can try shooting at ISO 800 or 1600 with the lens set at t4. As others have posted above, try lighting some object, like a toy model or a bookshelf. That way you can be behind the camera and see how it will approximately look and make adjustments from there. The Canon T5 is a decent starter camera (and I absolutely love the Rokinon 35mm, it's my workhorse), so you just have to keep experimenting and plugging away.

[Justin Oakley]

Hi Justin,

I have the same camera and Rokinon lens - based on the video you posted, you don't have enough light to make for a good image. The low ISO on the camera will mean that the image from the sensor is cleaner than a higher one (mileage may vary), but in post you're raising the exposure levels, which will also raise any existing noise in the image.

 

With that Rokinon lens the 'sweet spot' is t4/t5.6 where you get a nice clear image. When you have the lens opened up to t1.5 it is less sharp and has some odd colors on the edges. Unfortunately you will need to add more light to compensate for that. You can light with cheap hardware store lights - and it'd be a fun challenge, but it is challenge to get the right lighting.

 

If you're on a super tight budget, try some of those el-cheapo-deluxe 500 watt work lights for $35 or so. They're big and ugly, but cheap and put out a lot of light. You can try shooting at ISO 800 or 1600 with the lens set at t4. As others have posted above, try lighting some object, like a toy model or a bookshelf. That way you can be behind the camera and see how it will approximately look and make adjustments from there. The Canon T5 is a decent starter camera (and I absolutely love the Rokinon 35mm, it's my workhorse), so you just have to keep experimenting and plugging away.

Thanks! This is a big help. Im pretty much just guessing and flying by the seat of my pants at this point. I did get fairly decent results when I threw a whole bunch of light in and set the aperture around 4. However, I had read (more than one source) that its best to expose to the right as much as possible and kind of darken it in post. Doing this proved to be a little more of a challenge and I ended up having to open up the aperture even more. And this room was absolutely filled with light. I used a work light stand from Lowes...it did the trick. Now its almost like theres too much light and I really had to bring those mids down in post.

 

I did bring the iso up to 200...but Im still a little scared of cranking it up too high. 800 seems like a bit high, no?

[Joshua Miner]

Hi Justin,

It depends on the camera, though I believe that still holds true for Canon DSLRs. It's not necessarily 'easier' to fix, but there will be less overall noise if you have to darken the exposure in post. However, if you absolutely overexpose the shot then nothing you do can fix it - all the information that is overexposed is lost (at least in this specific case with this specific setup). When I have some time tomorrow I'll play around with my T5 and do some exposure tests using normal room lighting.

 

One essential tool I would suggest is a light meter - I wish I had one when I first started making movies and videos, and it's worth the investment to accurately gauge how to set the camera for proper exposure.

 

I'd recommend this: set up some stationary thing like I mentioned above with flat lighting (as David suggests) and take an image or short clip at every ISO setting but leaving everything else the same (so shoot at t4 or whatever and 1/50 shutter but increment from ISO 100-6400) and look at it in post to see how ISO affects the image quality. Now, ideally, you'd shoot at the lowest ISO, but that's not always possible (given lighting constraints or otherwise) so for your first projects and experiments don't get hung up too much on the ISO - work on your framing and practice the fundamentals of getting light on the subject. It's okay to mess up, it's part of the learning process, and thankfully digital is cheap so you can afford to experiment as much as you like.

[timHealy]

Hey Justin,

 

To reiterate what Joshua just said in a way I learned early on, don’t confuse “dark” with low light. You need more light. You can make something look dark with @f22 by the way you choose your light source, color, and how you use cutters, flags and nets. Electricians light sets but the grips take it away and shape it with toppers siders and bottom cuts.

 

Best

 

Tim