Ektachrome

[Woland]

Sorry for posting this - I searched the forum, but didn't really find anything directly pertaining to my question.

Does anyone have any tips or tricks for shooting ektachrome in extremely low-light interiors? I will have only tungesten light at my disposal, and will not really have the use of any movie lights.

Thanks.

[Woland]

sorry I of course meant ektachrome, not extrachrome. that's a malapropism for sure.

[christoph]

Does anyone have any tips or tricks for shooting ektachrome in extremely low-light interiors? I will have only tungesten light at my disposal, and will not really have the use of any movie lights.

use a camera with good low light lens and xl shutter and replace some of the 60W bulbs by 100W ones and use some extra sockets for some 100 or 200W bulbs and you'll be fine in a small room. some 500W halogen worklights are cheap and give you a lot of light.

you might want to consider using some chinese laterns for a softer light, but they also reduce output quite a lot.

note that you'll get a slight orange cast because household bulbs are not as corrected for movie film (or the other way round) which is a non issue if you go to telecine but if you want to project the film you might want to check if you like it and use a slight cooldown filter if you want completely neutral colors (which ften looks a bit weird btw)

++ christoph ++

[BK]

use a camera with good low light lens and xl shutter

May I recommend the Canon 310 XL with it's F1.0 lens. If there is no motion you could always run your camera at 9fps or even lower and get extra exposure, if you camera has that speed.

Bill

[studiocarter]

Light bulb sockets may also be changed out to the 300W three way type. It's easy to do and you can get a LOT more light.
At some point though, you will need to trace the circuts and add up all the watts; especially so if you do get some really hot movie lights.
It is easier and you get better results to just plug in one movie light bar or two are even better. Bounced off the cieling they don't blind the 'actors' as much. I've set mine up on tripods. They are available in flea markets and Thrift stores, the lights, not the tripods-light sticks. For those you'll need to scrounge around camera shops and camera shows.
With enough light you won't need to act in slow motion.

[christoph]

May I recommend the Canon 310 XL with it's F1.0 lens. If there is no motion you could always run your camera at 9fps or even lower and get extra exposure, if you camera has that speed.

while the 310xl is a truely cool cam, i cant fully recommend it because you have no manual control over the exposure... on the other hand if you need this camera then you prolly have so little light that it would be best to tape of the exposure sensor .. that way the apertue stays fully open ;)

and, it doesn't do 9fps (or 24fps) unfortunately.
++ christoph ++

[Woland]

Thanks for your replies so far. I was shooting at a hotel, and have to return to there tomorrow...but I think I will have to break out the VX2000, as much as I loathe doing so.

I tried shooting under available light, but I think it was much. much too low. I was also at a party at an art gallery, and again the lighting was very dim.

Not that I don't have movie lights, I just can not use them at this particular venue, nor can I change any of the bulbs.

The light meter tells me film is not being correctly exposed, so I guess I'd just wasting it if I continued to shoot on film.

Any suggestions? Thanks again.

[Nigel]

What was your meter reading???

Why do you have to use the VNF???

Describe the scene in the hotel room a bit more--I shot some stuff recently and it was dark but it was fine because of the scripting.

Good Luck

[alan doyle]

bombard kodak with emails telling them this old stock stinks...
tell them to upgrade to new ekta stock

[Woland]

bombarding kodak may help in the long run, but not in the short. thanks for the advice.

the room in the hotel? sounds like a less than legitimate film. Actually, it was timelapse that I shot inside of a conference room over 4 hours. it was a design compeition where the audience slowly filed in and out of the room. we'll see how it turns out!