Advice needed

F

fenigirl

Active member
I was wondering what everyone thought about my decision to use daylight 5900k CFLS from full spectrum solutions as my light sources instead of hot lights. I am on a STRICT budget. I will be using gels to adjust for different types of light.

Also, for video, I am torn about using either a light meter or a field monitor. Was leaning toward a light meter because it is cheaper. Do you need either one to shoot with the DVX, which is the camera I have? I will be shooting all projects with the 24p setting. Thanks for any advice.
 
A light meter is best used as a film tool and "iffy" as a video tool. You would be better off using a correctly calibrated video monitor (blue gun) for video work.
 
It all depends on what the project is for me - I shoot with home made flourescents and get by with those just fine. A monitor I many times do without just because alot of my projects need a quick setup and tear down. If I had the money/time I'd have a monitor on every shoot, but do I NEED it? No. Will there by a client watching/supervising? Clients like monitors. Gives them something to look at and keeps them out of your way. Wouldnt even bother with a meter. If it looks good on the monitor then I'm all for shooting it :) Whats your budget like? A really cheap solution is a 20" TV - gives you a decent guess at your safe area and at least its bigger than your LCD.
 
Here are the bulbs I am talking about....


http://www.fullspectrumsolutions.com/compact_fluorescent_32_ctg.htm

they are NOT dimmable, but I could just diffuse the hell out of them if I want them dim, Yes?


So, I gather so far that a light meter is not needed for video work or a bonafide field monitor. Just a regular monitor will do....that's good. How about something I can mount on top of the DVX like a 7 inch monitor, also serving for framing purposes?

I will mostly be emulating candlelight, fireplaces, natural light sources....it is a period piece.....

Keep the advice coming......Thanks.
 
fenigirl said:
So, I gather so far that a light meter is not needed for video work or a bonafide field monitor. Just a regular monitor will do....that's good. How about something I can mount on top of the DVX like a 7 inch monitor, also serving for framing purposes?

I will mostly be emulating candlelight, fireplaces, natural light sources....it is a period piece.....

Keep the advice coming......Thanks.
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I would strongly recommend against using a regular TV. They are tweaked to enhance images depending on the bias of the manufacture (go into BestBuy and see how far ranging different TVs are one from another). A properly calibrated broadcast monitor will "sterilize" an image to actual recording levels so that what you see is really what you are getting.

The only way I would ever condone using a regular TV is if you have shot alot of footage with your camera and that you know exactly how that particular TV is misrepresenting that picture.

If you are just shooting for yourself, shoot on whatever you want. If you have people to answer to... use a properly calibrated broadcast monitor. If you don't, you may find that you won't be working with these people again if it goes wrong.
 
It seems like with a good Marshall monitor (connected with the component signals) that i frequently underexpose my shots. I find this out afterwards when i then edit on a Mac LCD screen (with FCP). Everything looks fine on the set however. Seems the signal type has a huge gamma difference? Can someone elaborate on what i'm doing wrong? I've been thinking of reverting to a light meter myself - at least to get the key on my actors correct.
 
jonnyh1968 said:
It seems like with a good Marshall monitor (connected with the component signals) that i frequently underexpose my shots. I find this out afterwards when i then edit on a Mac LCD screen (with FCP). Everything looks fine on the set however. Seems the signal type has a huge gamma difference? Can someone elaborate on what i'm doing wrong? I've been thinking of reverting to a light meter myself - at least to get the key on my actors correct.
Click to expand...

Have you properly set the pluge on the Marshall using the Blue Gun feature and feeding it Bars from the camera?
 
yeah... did all that. I always want it more "Poppy" in post it seems. maybe it's just my preference. Maybe i should compensate slightly when i set my monitor up. But I swear theres a huge gamma difference when watching on a DVI fueled Mac Monitor.
 
The image on your mac monitor should look different. It isn't using the same color space as a full on TV. You should be verifing your color corrections on (again) a broadcast monitor.
 
I'm gonna go out on a limb here and be the "odd man out". Get a light meter, and learn how to use it. More specific, get one that does reflective metering AND incident reading. Why strap a boat anchor to your leg when you can wear a light meter on your hip? :laugh: Hehe, thats a little old school since most are now using very small marshall like monitors, but anyways, consider this:

your not in the right viewing environment!

On set is a bad place to look at a monitor, your eyes have to constantly adjust from light on set to what the monitor is putting out, plus you have to make sure there is no glare on your screen.

As for post, yes a broadcast monitor is great to have as a color reference, but you don't always need it if you have a true pro graphics monitor. I personally use an Eizo FlexScan S2110W SlimEdge. No one in the world can tell me that this monitor doesn't display all the color spaces I need....But then again, if your working on a laptop, or run of the mill LCD monitor, definantly be a skeptic!

Just my two cents. I never shoot without my meter, and it never leads me astray. I've always believed that dependig on a monitor makes you less of a DP, after all, DP's and still photographers never had the benefit of instant preview for a good 100 years....but they did have light meters for about the past 85 or so :thumbup: Learn It and Love It!

ps: Let me know if you need help ISO rating your camera.

Here is a helpful tutorial I wrote a while back:

http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/showthread.php?t=82308
 
Not many people I know want to spend the cash on dual Eizo's on an edit bay. They usually spend the dough on the broadcast monitor... roughly the same price as 1 Eizo.
 
You don't always need dual Eizo's I've seen dual monitors set up where one is a cheapo Dell or Samsung version of the Eizo. Just make sure your video is displayed on the Eizo. Right now I'm only using one, and its quite wide enough for me to be comfortable, not to mention high resolution, which helps make more room.
 
Well there is no reason why you can't do that if you want to. I like my stuff to be consistant is all. Plus my Avid will play video on both screens depending on how I have my workspace set up. So... I'd need 2... but thats me. :)
 
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