MX Sensor

[oldboy]

Does a light meter now give you the correct exposure when using the new MX? So if the meter is set to 800 or 640 ISO (etc) and the camera is at either 800 or 640 the reading your meter will get will be the correct lens stop? I know most digital cameras its good to get ratios and make things quicker rather than always moving the camera to check but I've heard the MX and will directly coincide with your meter.

Also when shooting at 800 do you have to process it at 320 to get your highlight information/DR? Or does shooting and processing at 800 still give you improved DR?

 

[David Mullen ASC]

If you are shooting charts in frontal light, then yes, your meter at the same ASA + Shutter Speed should give you the correct exposure for the chart. However, in the real world, we don't shoot charts in front light, we shoot all sorts of things in all sorts of light. And I've often found myself underexposing a bit under what my meter tells me to do with digital cameras in general, I guess because a fully-exposed face looks a bit too bright to me in most situations except outside in frontal sunlight.

As for processing the info, it sort of depends -- I found that when using the original RedGamma output that I was losing a tiny bit of overexposure detail, so it would have made more sense to pick an ASA output that was a 1/3-stop lower than the shooting ASA setting. But now with RedGamma 2, I think that problem was solved. And I assume RedLog Film or whatever it is called retains all the DR in the original capture. So you shouldn't have to process the footage at a lower ASA rating if you select the right output format, but you should test to see if there is more recoverable highlight information between using the correct ASA and one that is lower than what you shot at.

 

[oldboy]

Thank you.

Also it seems like a lot of people tend to shoot with it at 800 outside. It just seems hard to wrap my mind around shooting at such a high ISO in daylight. Esp. with the risk of IR with the amount of ND you need. Is this something you would recommend? Or should a lower ISO like 500 be used? THanks

 

[David Mullen ASC]

I use 500 ASA outside, it's not that much lower than 800 ASA, just a 2/3-stop difference. Yes, it's a pain to use heavy ND with their color shifts. I use ND IR at that level (ND1.2, 1.5) but the color is often still a bit off and will have to be timed in post to match the shots done with lighter ND, but that's OK.

Right now though I'm in Canada where 800 ASA is barely enough on some days, it's so overcast.