Can you treat the Red like a film stock?

[Nick Keller]

I have my first short project on the Red Camera. I've worked with it as a assistant on some small music videos so I understand the menus and what not. I was wondering if you can treat the 320 ASA as a film stock? Meaning is it bad for the sensor to rate it 1/3 slower?

I've worked with some DPs that rate it at a 250 just like they would with a film stock for better blacks. I've also heard of people rating it faster to combat against over exposing the sensor. Since I usually rate film 1/3 slower it would be nice to do the same with the Red. My concern is can that put the sensor in danger zone with highlights?

Thanks

 

[David Mullen ASC]

1/3 of a stop -- from 320 down to 250 ASA -- is pretty minor, within a margin of error in exposing. I wouldn't worry about it. I actually think the RED needs more exposure anyway and is closer to 250 ASA if you want to keep the noise in the shadows down.

 

[tinx]

Actually I've worked with a couple of DPs that rate it a stop or a stop and a half faster. I heard that it's better to underexpose a bit when working with RED-- not only to save the highlights (since it's still video after all), but RED raw footage has 11 stops of latitude-- so you can always tweak the exposure a decent amount in post. I guess it really depends on the DP, and how much of the image will be manipulated in post.

 

[David Mullen ASC]

My experience with the RED was that the noise from underexposure in tungsten light was more annoying than the clipping from slight overexposure, but that's partly a matter of taste. I rated the RED at 640 and 800 ASA for some night exterior work due to necessity and it worked OK but it definitely had some blue channel noise issues.