On Texture & Grain, F35

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prntdm

Member
Hi All,

Finding myself shooting more film currently -

I'm always of the process of 'stressing out' my digital negative in order to develop the most interesting texture

Which leads to my question:
How & what and speed do you usually rate your F35, how many stops over/under do you go, and do you push/pull later in post-processing in order to closely match with s16mm or/and 35mm?
Any other post-processing techniques, I'm glad to hear as well

Many Thanks,
A
 
This is a very subjective matter of course. Personally, I see the main strength of the F35 is in handling highlights and its main weakness is its rendition of underexposed shadow values. For that reason, I always aim for a dense "negative", to use your film analogy. I rate the ISO at 250. I have heard many on this forum though who feel that this is too low. So again it's a matter of taste. I really prefer to capture the cleanest image possible. If I want something gritty, that could always be done in post. Digital noise never really behaves like film grain anyway.
 
Great topic! I could go on and on haha. Right now in my career I am small to medium size budgets with a lot of self funding on passion projects. With the F35 I am always leaning towards that gritty look. Plays well with the cameras natural abilities. Even tho its digital noise to an extent the F35 IMO has a very film grain looking digital noise. If I have a project that requires a super clean look ill probably rent or borrow a 6k pocket cam (or your personal preference of a clean iso film looking cam). You can certainly get very clean looks out of the F35 but for me it takes a lot more effort while on set ( if your shooting indoors and lighting your scene from the ground up ) Especially a lot more lighting and thinking / resources. Living in New Hampshire in the states film resources can be an issue. So, for me any work I take on with the F35 the client has an understanding of this is gonna be gritty but in the best way possible. I have also found that if I plan on adding film grain later in post the digital noise of the camera blends in really well to the added film grain. Also, as we all know to an extent resolve does a really great job of noise reduction with dpx files. I try to avoid noise reduction at all costs but it has saved me in a pinch where the shot was extremely under exposed due to the set / crew / budget restrictions. To keep things simple when I shoot whatever my main focus is wether its talent, a prop, vehicle, a tree, etc.. I use the false color and or zebras and rate that subject at around 37-42 IRE in my monitor. That usually gives me that moody look I'm going for with the final image and enough room in post to adjust exposure. Its not perfect, but it works for me. I also grade primarily in ACES with the F35 when shooting at 37-42 IRE. For some reason I seem to get more flexibility in grading. Someone with a more technical understanding of ACES may be able to explain why.

Why go through all of this?? To me the F35 is look I want short of an Alexa, my rental budgets / resources / clients fall short of getting an Alexa on every shoot, I'm on this weird island of wanting that look but don't quite have the resources yet. One day I hope to shoot everything on a Alexa. When I do I might let go of the F35... but I kinda like shooting on a "weird" camera and being a little different. Things can be a little fun that way.
 
prntdm said:
Hi All,

Finding myself shooting more film currently -

I'm always of the process of 'stressing out' my digital negative in order to develop the most interesting texture

Which leads to my question:
How & what and speed do you usually rate your F35, how many stops over/under do you go, and do you push/pull later in post-processing in order to closely match with s16mm or/and 35mm?
Any other post-processing techniques, I'm glad to hear as well

Many Thanks,
A
Click to expand...

Well, it depends on what film stock you want to emulate, and what format?

7219 looks very different from 5219.

But rule of thumb would be.

ISO 250-300 for same look as 50D/200T

Expose for 500-650 to get 250D/500T

Worth mentioning is that Sony is look is still natively closer to fuji-stocks.

Personally, I would just rate the F35 at 400 overall, have a LUT made for each and every one of these looks, and load them on as MLUTs with the CVP editor. That is probably going to be the best thing you will achieve.

C
 
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