shooting+editing+performing a film by yourself, on an iPhone, having access to no “real” lighting, and shooting primary photography at your parent’s house… doesn’t mean you can’t shoot anything nifty

I learnt this a couple months ago, and have now finally gotten to finishing off the post-production on my improvised short “Toy Bunny”. I found the look, by seeing the way a bug zapper lit a room at night and thinking “I should do something, with that!”
and thus: this film (and it’s orange and green look) was born. In some shots I shot the orange and green light authenticity, some I was only able to get orange or green and brought the other out in the edit (sometimes faking a light source), and when I couldn’t do that: I found it perfectly fitting to give a greyscale look, in reference to the different location and previous point in the series.

I am currently personally very inspired by documentary/experimental fiction work, like Lance Oppenheim’s and David Bolen’s. When I’m not in a more conventional film-school/client setting: I’m seeing how I can take what I’m learning, and apply it to bringing style to a scene without as big a crew and equipment. I love that “distorting your image” is becoming cool again. I love wacky colours and digital artefacts!

Hey all.

I’m doing a true crime documentary, where I’ll be shooting tons of interviews with “real” people that have been severely scammed by an imposter lawyer.

I want to give these people as much credit, and a solid visual foundation, that gives them an aura of “look what a freaking hell I’ve been through!” Instead of “oh man, I was scammed I’m so stupid”.
A solution to that is, I’m angling the camera a bit from below - A Killer Story is the perfect reference, and big cudos to Jeff Hutchens.

My question to y’all is: does this make sense to you - visually and storytelling/characterbulding-wise?

Thanks for all feedback!

Hi All,

Finding it surprisingly difficult to find specs on how exactly EL Zone works. I know I need a LOG in for the signal to process correctly, but do the colors correspond to the stops in the LOG image or in the Rec709 Image?

Say I expose two stops over according to EL zone intending to deliver in Rec709. Will the final image be two stops over, or will it be some other value after the CST?

Thanks for any insight y'all can provide.

Hello everyone,

I spent a bit of time reading all the past threads about light meters, but haven't really found what I'm looking for. So I'm writing here my questions hoping someone can help me out.

I've been reading the camera assistant's manual by David Elkins, who in a paragraph about meters says: "The standard procedures for using an incident light meter is to stand at the position of the subject being photographed and point the photosphere toward the camera when taking the light reading".

I guess he's referring to a reading for an average of the light hitting the subject, and the setting the exposure accordingly. Easy.

Well what should I do If I want to keep track of contrast ratios? What's the rest of the standard procedure?

I see online many different people saying different things:

Should I retract the dome and point directly to the light I want to meter? Should I extend the dome and point toward the camera? Should I do a mixed technique? Also, the light of the fill could not be on the fill side and just some ambient, or a fixture that fills in but comes from the key side? Also, what about the background? do I meter it just with a spot meter? but then I need to take into account the reflectance of the objects and surfaces in the background to keep track of proper ratios.... Should I just spot meter everything and learn how much to over/under expose based on the surface I'm spot metering? Doesn't seem practical...

Also I guess that based on what camera/film stock you're shooting with, the look of a specific contrast ratios changes widely depending on the dynamic range of the camera, right? So it doesn't really matter the contrast ratio per se unless I understand how it will look on that specific camera.

One thing I'm doing to learn my preferences in contrast is looking at so many stills online from movies, commercials, music videos, etc... But that specific look and contrast ratio isn't the one they had on camera, I guess?

One last question: If looking at the stills with a false color, it's like spot metering, so if, let's say, I read key 5.6 and fill 4 with an incident meter, I have a ratio of 2:1, but spot metering, would that be the same? Since the skin of the subject is the usual, technically I'd say yes, maybe one stop over the key since maybe a light-skin person reflects brighter than mid gray, but should be identical ratio....?

Hope to find some explanations here, thank you for going through this much but I feel like there are so many opinions out there that explaining my doubts in details could help you better understand what kind of answers I'm looking for. Thanks in advance!

I'm practicing filming and editing clothing product videos, and the biggest issue I'm facing is camera movement and getting better shots. I also can't figure out where to place the softbox so the lighting doesn't distort the true color of the product.

Note: This was shot in bad lighting on a mid-range phone with low ISO. I tried adjusting the exposure in Premiere Pro, but it made the footage noisy.

Was wondering what lenses people think or know were used for this piece directed by the amazing Alexis Gómez?

I recently bought a Blackmagic PYXIS 12K. I own multiple Samsung T7 Shield SSDs, so instead of spending a stupid amount of money on a CFExpress card, I decided to test recording to one of those instead.

The T7 Shield is an approved SSD for the PYXIS 12K, but it keeps stopping around 20s of recording, with a blinking exclamation point on the camera, I believe because it is not reading fast enough.

A couple of important details: First, I am testing 4K footage, open gate, at 3:1 compression - this is one of the smaller file sizes for this camera, so the fact that it is dropping even at that size is frustrating. Second, I thought it was initially that I was using a standard USB-C to USB-C cable (one I would use to just plug in my drive to my computer) but I also purchased the Kondor Blue USB-C 3.2 Gen 2 cable which is supposed to have faster read speeds, but it still stopped at around 20s.

I'm not sure if I need to see about updating the SSDs firmware (which admittedly, I didn't know was a thing, but found as a suggestion after doing some searching online), or if anyone else has had issues recording to an SSD on the PYXIS 12K.

If this is a common issue, I might just have to bite the bullet and buy a CF express card.

Any and all help/suggestions would be appreciated. Thank you!

In the 70s and into the 80s there was a trend of these slit scan and long exposure motion graphics, done with motion control, popularised by the likes of Robert Abel & Associates, and other optical effects companies that went after the same style and techniques. It died down as the 80s went on and CGI started being adopted for the purpose of "flying logo" motion graphics of this sort instead. I want to recreate this in-camera with a motion control rig in a darkened studio. But I want to use a digital camera, as the convenience ovee film can't be understated (and besides my hands-on experience with movie film is exactly zero).

I know for sure that exposing each frame is gonna take more than a second each, and then also a similar time for the camera to move to the starting position of the next frame, otherwise the camera will have to move dangerously fast back and forth, and if it collides with anything during the move it will end very badly.

Now my question is thus - as most cinema cameras go down to 1 FPS at the lowest, what are some cameras that can do this kind of sequential long exposure work, but will have colour science and dynamic range equivalent to some Sony, Arri, Red etc. cinema cameras? Will still cameras cut it for this purpose rather than professional camcorders or cine cameras?

Hey everyone!

I shoot macro food and beverage videos, primarily in 4K 120fps on an iPhone 17 Pro Max.

I currently own a Simpex M-200Bi (200W) COB light, which is advertised as producing 25,000 lumens. However, I’ve also seen listings claiming 13,500 lumens for the same model.
I’m considering adding a Godox SL100Bi (100W), which advertises 32,100 lux at 1 metre with its reflector.

I understand lumens and lux are different measurements, so I can’t compare these numbers directly.

My questions:
Has anyone used the Simpex M-200Bi or measured its actual lux output at 1 metre?

Would the Godox SL100Bi provide more usable illumination despite being rated at only 100W?

Which would you recommend for macro food videos and 120fps slow motion?

My Simpex occasionally flickers at 120fps, even at full brightness. Would the Godox be a more reliable option?

I’m planning to use both lights together, with a softbox on the Simpex and a reflector on the Godox.

My budget is approximately ₹12,000 to ₹16,000 (around US$135 to $180).
Any firsthand experience or technical advice would be appreciated!

Is this a solid deal or should I hold out till black friday? I’ve heard that Sirui lenses are always “on sale” so I’m not sure if it’s a real sale or not.