shooting film noir B&W question

wonderwall

wonderwall

Member
I'm shooting a B&W noir piece soon. I read that having the gamma on low gives the blackest blacks. I want there to be a lot of darkness in the shots, with no (or the least) noise.

So, should i have gamma as cine-like (obviously i want this to look "like-cinema") or on low?

thx!
 
My advice would be to set the EVF to black-and-white and make any more specific adjustments as you're shooting. I personally would probably try B.Press gamma and a low pedestal, maybe even -15. But cycle through the gammas and see what works best for your scene, given lighting and what information needs to come across.
 
Actually, I think that you want to use High Gamma. I think I remember reading something about this in Barrys book. If you have the DVX Book by Barry, he has very good explanations of the gamma settings. You do know that there are diffrent gamma settings for the 100 and the A right?

As for "doing it in post", while effective I always insist that the image that I capture is the closest to perfect that I can possibly get it. Most if not all post corrections that can be made from the 'afordable' nle's usually look like carp.

I just shot a music vid and the director said she wanted the blacks as black as we could get them with out noise. I took the master ped to -11 and went high gamma and everyone was quite happy with it.

I will check Barrys book for clarification.
 
Naanan said:
Most if not all post corrections that can be made from the 'afordable' nle's usually look like carp.
Click to expand...
PBolte16lbcommon05.jpg


I hate when that happens! :grin: :grin: :shocked:
 
Naanan said:
Most if not all post corrections that can be made from the 'afordable' nle's usually look like carp.
Click to expand...


I don't know what "affordable NLE's" you're using.

I get fantastic results.

:beer:
 
Blaine said:
PBolte16lbcommon05.jpg


I hate when that happens! :grin: :grin: :shocked:
Click to expand...



Oh, carp..... I though he meant crap!!!!

In that case, yeah, all "affordable NLE's" will make it look like fish.

LMAO!!!!
 
Really? C'mon, perhaps your idea of 'fantastic results' are not nearly discriminating enough.

By 'affordable' nle's I am speaking of Vegas, Premiere (easily the biggest POS on the planet) and even FCP. I have seen Avid systems produce decent results but the addage will always stand "garbage in, regardless of the best post process = garbage out".
 
Oh, I don't think that is a carp. Looks more like a Pike or sumthin else. I could be wrong, I don't catch the buggers or eats them either. I once threw day old rolls at a massive school of carp on lake pymatuming in western PA, I think I would know a carp when I see one.
 
I stand corrected. What I meant to say was that the results from most afordable nle's look like "PIKE".

sorry for the incorrect reference, I will be more careful when making reverence to aquatic fauna in the future.
 
WHOAAAAAAA there Shaw..... That's not just ANY ugly fish, that my friend is the ever descriptive PIKE. Do not slight the pike or you may end up just like him, ugly, smelling of aquatic fauna, and unable to be corrected in post.

All hail the mighty PIKE.........

Awwwww hell I just stepped in a pile of carp.
 
So thats what they look like when they are frey? Because that dont look like the Pike Im used to catching and I B catchin' Pike. I go out to Adirondack Lake fo some MoFo Pike.
Thats one Phat Fokn Carp
 
so naanan/barry or anyone else,
getting back to my question, which gamma is best for getting the blackest blacks without noise? currently i don't own the dvx book.

i'm reading my manual for my dvx100 and it says:
low: using a gamma curve with a moderate gradient for the low-luminance area

high: using a gamma curve with a sharp gradient for the low-luminance areas,the gradations of the dark areas are extended to make them appear brighter.

i'm thinking "low" is the best option, but i'm not sure.
 
wonderwall said:
thanks! anyone else with suggestions?
Click to expand...

Shoot some tests with different settings. Both you and your client can then look at the footage and decide what is best. BTW cruunching the signal for deeper blacks has less noise then trying to gain-up for more detail so adjust mater pedestal more that gamma. Or forget the project and go fishing for carp or pike or anything else since those fishy replies don't have anything to contribute to the question you asked!

SCannon
 
Naanan said:
Actually, I think that you want to use High Gamma. I think I remember reading something about this in Barrys book. If you have the DVX Book by Barry, he has very good explanations of the gamma settings. You do know that there are diffrent gamma settings for the 100 and the A right?

As for "doing it in post", while effective I always insist that the image that I capture is the closest to perfect that I can possibly get it. Most if not all post corrections that can be made from the 'afordable' nle's usually look like carp.

I just shot a music vid and the director said she wanted the blacks as black as we could get them with out noise. I took the master ped to -11 and went high gamma and everyone was quite happy with it.

I will check Barrys book for clarification.
Click to expand...

can anyone confirm this? for b&w, is it high gamma that will yield better results, without noise? i was going to shoot with a master ped of -10 with gamma on low, but now i'm not so sure.
 
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