Nice and light, then dark - ???

D

direktor

Member
I was shooting a video for a client over the weekend. One of the sequences called for an exterior shoot. It was a beautiful day. My shot - a medium shot - had a nice, very nice tropical background; beautiful greens from all the tropical trees and plants. The scene was nice and bright. I think I had the Scene File set to F3 (spark).

My actress enters the frame and suddenly my nice bright background went dark. When she walked out of frame (this is a locked down shot), the background suddenly got light again.

Is this an Auto Iris issue? I don't remember this happening to me before so I am a little freaked out. My client noticed it right away and I was a little embarrased when I couldn't explain it. Thankfully the old, "Oh, I can fix that in post" saved the moment. And I was able to save the footage.

Can anyone out there please direct me to an answer?

Thanks!

Declan
 
Re: Nice and light, then dark - ???

Sounds like it. I make a point to NEVER EVER EVER use AUTO IRIS. AUTO anything really.
 
Re: Nice and light, then dark - ???

Almost definitely caused by auto-iris. But the further cause is that apparently your lighting wasn't balanced properly: the foreground was too dark to properly expose the subject. Sounds like you needed some reflectors to bounce light on the subject to keep the overall exposure consistent.

But yes, rule 1 is NEVER use auto-iris in the middle of a shot, unless you're shooting something like "cops" and need the camera to adjust to varying conditions for you. But for locked-down dramatic purposes, never use auto-iris or autofocus.
 
Re: Nice and light, then dark - ???

Very well! I've gone into my settings and changed it to manual. Thanks for the reply!

We did have someone bouncing light on her with a gold disc, but man was it sunny that day, so I am not too surprised.

Thanks again!


-Declan
 
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