Working on a project with no equipment?

S

Sean Jeong

Well-known member
Well my friend asked me to help him out with our school film festival and he told me that they only gave him two weeks to film and produce everything. which bugs me. Shows how little the school cares about planning such an event. Being in high school with little resources and ways of travel (don't have my license yet) 2 weeks will be hard to manage.
The problems that I have is that I haven't been able to get any other lens then my kit lens which aren't very useful in low lights, and he said we'll be having to shoot in low lighting, in an alley way setting at night. He told me he has no light sources except flash lights and I'm not sure how to make natural looking lights with those. I do have a electrical lamp and kerosene but I think they'd be too bright to make anything look natural.
Anyone know any good tips in this kind of situation? It'd be a lot of help. Thanks.
 
If i were you I would sell the lens you have on ebay and pick up a nikon adapter and a set of primes. That way you won't be out any money.
 
Why do you have to shoot at night? If the scene has to take place then, why not go day for night? Maybe it won't look perfect, but it'll look a lot better than lighting with flashlights.
 
try and pick up a cheap fast lens if you can in time. If you can't then just diffuse your lamps/torches with a white thin cloth of some sort to spread out the light so its not so spotlight for ambiance. then get another guy to shine another light on the subject of focus.

This isn't a paid gig is it? If it isn't and the school isn't expecting much then you can get away with not being so critical.
 
Do you know the ISO boost trick I posted a few months back?

Not sure how well lit that alley is, but in city street lights at night, I've gotten decent exposures with 1/30 of a second, maxed out ISO on f stops 4-5.6 - OF COURSE IT'S NOT CONSISTENT in that you'd need to find pools of light right near a street lamp, but those lamps can produce enough light for kit lenses at night often.
 
If you have no budget or other resources, I'd shoot day for night. You'll at least get a usable image and won't be working in the dark.

If you have even the tiniest budget and you can plug into some nearby outlets, I'd pick up some halogen work lights for $10-15 at Home Depot or Lowes
Example
 
Psynema: Do you happen to have a link to your iso trick? Might give it a try.

Justin: Ordered canon fd primes online and won't come till next week. Plus I'll have to get an adapter which probably won't come till after.

Cassius: I'm don't really know about the concept of day for night. Care to explain?

MR Fanny: Yah it's not a paid gig but I want to leave a good impression since many people will be seeing it. I was thinking about using the diffuse method and bringing the light far back so it will look dimmer. Just have to worry about shadows and such.

Jive: Aren't halogen lights really bright? Since they are used for working at night.
 
Sean Jeong said:
Psynema: Do you happen to have a link to your iso trick? Might give it a try.

Justin: Ordered canon fd primes online and won't come till next week. Plus I'll have to get an adapter which probably won't come till after.

Cassius: I'm don't really know about the concept of day for night. Care to explain?

MR Fanny: Yah it's not a paid gig but I want to leave a good impression since many people will be seeing it. I was thinking about using the diffuse method and bringing the light far back so it will look dimmer. Just have to worry about shadows and such.

Jive: Aren't halogen lights really bright? Since they are used for working at night.
Click to expand...

Go into the menu and set movie exposure mode to shutter priority
Set the iso to 1600
Click the dial in that adjusts exposure/shutter etc. When you click it it will change the dial to adjust exposure compenation and not shutter speed.
Rotate the dial all the way to increase exp. compensation ALL THE WAY - until the EV meter on your screen is all the way to the right...
The camera is now shooting at ISO 3200, which is not possible in manual mode
 
Just one question, Won't that create a lot of artifact... way more than 1600iso. and 1600 has a lot of artifacts.

Edit: Just tested it out. Not really bad. Not much difference from 1600 and 3200. Pretty cool.
 
Last edited:
The idea behind shooting during the day is to correct it in post to make it look like night. Abit more fiddly but it is an option.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top