How low do you go?

J

JChang

Active member
I have been noticing that I tend to shoot a lot of low light scenes. Indoor/Outdoor night.
This brought to my attention the little amount of room I have to work with when I stop my 50mm lens down to 1.4.
This usually leads me and the talent to have ~2"-6" of movement to work with.

So my question for dvxusers and gh2 users is, what f-stop do yall go to in lower light scenes and how much light do yall use?

I also believe I am underlighting alot. (Saving up for some lighting kits)
 
My fastest lenses go to a T2.4 (F2) so that's the lowest I'll go, but prefer to stay around 4-5.6, but in lower light situations I have to open up of course.

What ISO are you shooting at? Native ISO is 640, so I always try to light for that if possible, or stop up to 800... But prefer not to go over that.

What lights are you using? For night-time shooting I always rent an HMI, with an Arri M18 being a big favorite of mine if the bugdet isn't too high (a lot of light and nice throw on it).
 
Thanks for your reply. I figured shooting that low was not ideal. I try not to go over 800. I currently have no lights. Though I can occasionally get an old photography light that does an okay job. Saving up for a real light set right now. Still very new at this stuff.

How do you feel about hmi and leds
 
Ah, then that is your problem.

When you need daylight there is no real replacement for HMI (at least not yet). Daylight is strong, which means you need strong lights. Then HMIs are the way to go. I like the M18 as it provides a lot of light (a bit more than a 2,5K par) and floods nicely (but still not enough to replace a 6K) but can be rented at a decent price. 'Cause HMIs you rent, they're too expensive to own, plus you need a generator with them most of the time (as their big use is outdoor). They're big, bulky, take time to warm up, but right now there's nothing that comes close.
LED's are nice because they are small, give a lot of light per wattage and can go on batteries. I also find them close to useless. Because even if you have all that, the quality of light they give is sub-par. Lots of spikes, often green tint and very unflattering. It's hard to work with, as it's not hard enough to replace a fresnel (or even an open-face) nor soft enough to do work like fluorescents. I only tend to use them if I need a really "disgusting" lighting, say in bathrooms where you want a feeling of dread, that LEDs can do well, or for on camera lighting (for example in POVs) for just some small fill. There are no versions that can work well for flooding big areas that you can do with a big light (say just throwing a 2K against a wall you can bring up the room a stop or two with ease).
 
Yeah, it is a big problem. Is there a control on how much light is too much? I mean it is possible to OVER light and have it look like daylight right?
 
Absolutely. But what's usually is the big tell-tale to have something look lit is that it isn't that diffused. For fill lighting you often want to keep a lot of diffusion on it, or bounce it, to make it more ambient, with less direction, thus it will feel more natural (as it in most cases is to bring up the general light level).
 
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