F5: Low to No Light Option

B

Berk

Well-known member
Hi
I would like to pick your brains regarding this project I will be doing in couple days. this is a documentary about night time farmers that work from 10pm to dawn. they work as in 10-worker groups from different sections of the farm and meet in the middle.

So i am planning to do 2 timelaps with different positions and couple gopros on their head.
However I need something for mid and wide shots.

If I am lucky I would get some moon light and some reflection from their miner LEDs. that's all in terms of lighting. No additional lights are allowed.

I have very fast primes and budget for rental. what are my options for a camera? (Canon Cs, MarkIII, night-vision...)

Thanks

Berk
 
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Hi Berk, we should connect as I'm also here in the GTA and own the F55 incase you shall ever need multiple use of F cameras.

As for your situation, even with fast primes you might need to stop down to get a larger depth of field. I hate to say it but I wonder if a super35mm sensor is the right tool for the job here? Although if you stick with fast wides then DOF could be less of an issue.

If no lights are allowed I would probably go for some sort of night vision.
 
Thanks Dennis
DOF is last thing that is on my mind. i might go only wide shots (24mm, 35mm) full frame or super35 size sensor cameras should help little bit with high ISO.
never used night-vision. I heard that there are some nightvision binoculars with SDI output.
not sure if you can rent one in the city.
 
Another thought to keep the noise pattern down is shooting in 4K if you have access to an R5 recorder, it makes a tighter noise/pattern and looks "improved" when down-rezzed to HD. Other than that I'm not sure what else to suggest, but best of luck with your shoot.
 
I have no experience with the F5/55 but have shot a lot of nightvision footage. The easiest solution is to rent a handycam with nighthshot. Canon XF100/105 or Sony PMW100 both are 422 cams with nightshot. The camera have a built in IR illuminator so you can shoot in complete darkness but the range will be very limited. Sony used to have a separate hotshoe mountable IR illuminator but don't think they sell them anymore, you'll need something though, maybe a hunting store will have a IR spotlight. You need thicker diffusion with an IR spot as well otherwise you'll have really ugly hotspots. You can also use a Astroscope, which is an image intensifier, if you can find one for rent in Canada which might be impossible since they are restricted for export from the US but it fights between your camera and the lens. They have them for DSLRs or B4 mount lenses, they are just under 7k is you want to buy one. The image quality isn't going to be amazing but you'll get a picture.
 
The astroscope is what the DP for Zero Dark Thirty used to shoot the raid sequences, they milled a custom PL mount so they could use it on an Alexa and then also light the scene with some small IR lights and floated some extra "moonlight" (can't remember what they used) overhead to give much better picture than you would usually get with them.
 
I think you'd find that an F5 at 2000 or 2500 with some 1.4 primes would probably work. It will give you extremely clean picture for that ISO, but focus will be tricky.

It's hard to describe/predict what exposure you'd get with that combo because you haven't stated what light sources there will be, but suffice to say it gives an end product that renders the scene brighter than your eye will. I have tested it myself a few times, it's quite eye opening for urban night exteriors. A half-moon would get you a picture.

Assuming there is some light that the workers do their work by (distant work lights from tractor or buildings), then I think you'd probably be ok.
 
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If you can schedule your shoot around a full moon why not also use a Canon 5D with a time lapse timmer, some zeiss lenses and stretch your shutter maybe down to 1/2 second for some nice effects.

Also if you are having trouble with noise at a high ISO try "Neat Video" cleans up noise nicely.
 
@resonance_image
Thanks, great info. those small cameras can easily be rented in the city. I will be looking into Astroscope. great info!

@Nate Weaver
as mentioned in the original post the only light would be their head-LEDs (Miner Lights) and some sky light if it is available. No additional lights are allowed. I will check it with CanonC series cameras on high iso and f.1.4 lenses. will see what I get.

@scocklin
Yes, I will be doing timelapse from 2 different locations during their labour. This is mostly for live action wide shots in 10-20 meter distance.

Great help, thanks a lot
 
The FS100 is pretty amazing in low light. People say that the new Sony A7s is incredible. Maybe Sony would loan you a preproduction model. They're promoting it's low light capability, so they might want a situation that they could promote. Good luck.
 
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