Question for al you Prime/Manual/ Lens Freaks?

JoeJITSU

JoeJITSU

Veteran
I am planning on shooting footage for a Club here in Vegas...Allot of low light scenes. Can you guys give me advice on how far t0 go on ISO and shutter speed? Aperture will be all the way opened. The Lens I have are 24mm Canon FD f2.0 and 50mm Canon FD f1.4. I know allot of people have played with these lens. I also know that shutter speeds to high will cause blurriness when there are moving lights or moving colors in low light scenes. Any suggestions will be appreciated. Thanks
 
depends on club, lighting, people. my limited experience is you need some light be it an led pannel especially if you want to shoot the corners and the like. lens and iso just won't cut it in those situations. I went to practice at a friends club, stopped shooting 10mins in cause it was pointless. with lighting you can stay in the sweet 320iso spot i find at 1/50 or 1/60 for nice portraits. 800iso is my limit and thats last resort for me. I shot a concert a couple days ago and the mega lighting from the stage was enough but go 3metres into the crowd and you need a light source. well thats my experience so far.
 
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Can we give you advice on how far to go with ISO and shutter speed? No, not really. Here are the reasons:

1. "Allot of low light scenes" This means zero. There is a proper exposure for every amount of light. A light meter measures that amount of light and tells you what your proper exposure should be. If we had that measurement, we could easily offer you a correct answer. Without it, we'd just be guessing.

2. "I also know that shutter speeds to high will cause blurriness..." No, you don't know that. High shutter speeds REDUCE blurriness. Low shutter speeds increase blurriness. Higher shutter speeds demand more light.

3. "I am planning on shooting footage for a Club." This gives us no information. Will the camera be on a tripod? If the camera is still, lower shutter speeds may be acceptable. If you will be handholding, then this is not an option. If the camera will be on a steadicam, you'd really want even different settings. If your subjects are further from the lens, you can get away with lower shutter speeds because the apparent speed of motion is lower. As people get nearer the lens, apparent motion is much higher.

Your question is asked on forums like this every day. It's not a bad question, but sadly, it doesn't give anyone enough information to really be helpful. I could tell you that shooting at a 270 degree shutter, F1.4, ISO 800 is going to be as far as I would go. And I'd do anything else in post. But depending on lighting levels, that might OVERexpose.

So why not do what we do. First get yourself a meter if you can and measure the actual lighting levels in the club. Second, take your camera with the F1.4 lens, open it wide open, and keep raising the ISO until you get acceptable footage. Doing a basic camera test is one of the surest paths to success when shooting in difficult conditions. I've been shooting tests for 3 weeks for a very difficult shoot I've got coming up in a next weekend. After my last test, I am confident that I can get what I need at ISO 200 at F1.4. I can go up to ISO 800 and still consider the footage clean enough for my purposes. But that knowledge comes from rigorous testing and measuring.
 
I've shot with the GH-1 in several clubs, New Year's Parties and weddings with little to no light and the same lenses you have. Here are my experiences:

- I try to stay at 800 ISO. As soon you start wandering into the 1000+ ISO, colors quickly become desaturated and worse the higher up you go. This might or might not be acceptable to you, because hey, you're in a club. Colors/flashing lights are completely random to begin with. If you're forced to go above 1250 ISO (I've been forced to shoot 1600 ISO), the footage can be salvage IMO if you fully desaturate to black and white in post. Run it through a noise filter and the clients have LOVED the results.

- Unfortunately, the 24mm f/2.0 (my GO TO lens) normally won't cut it. Depending on teh situation, you'll really need every last ounce of light. Which leaves you with the 50mm f/1.4. Great results, but you'll have to stand far, far away :)

- My only other advice is if it's for a client, see if you can rent a 5d2 with a 85mm f/1.2. At 1600 ISO, it can see in the dark! ;)

Hope that helps, be creative and good luck!
 
f/1.4 is plenty fast on the GH1 for clubs, etc. I shot in a virtually pitch black club with a C mount 50mm f/1.4 lens... great results. And I never went above ISO 500.
 
the club i was shooting at, f1.4 was horrid, everything underexposed and banding noise everywhere. what I am trying to say is not all clubs are the same. I would sus it out one night instead of just guessing and hoping for the best.

would like to see some footage of that Andreus if you could. close to pitch black has never worked in my favour at clubs, there has to be some light source at least be it background for it to work for me.
 
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