RedCam Central :: View topic - Solutions for noisy footage in tungsten lighting

Site Admin

These suggestions were posted online from RED to help guide people in low-lit tungsten shoots:

Problem: Noisy footage in tungsten.

Reason: Sensors are weakest in the blue channel. There is very little blue light in tungsten and incandescent lighting. Potential trouble spoken here.

Also, many are setting exposure under tungsten lighting using their monitors set to 5600K. This gives a false brightness that often results in setting exposure too low. Under-exposure in a blue staved sensor = noise.

Solutions.

1. Don't under-expose. Make sure to check exposure with tungsten lighting by some other means than a 5600K monitor. Or set ISO 250 (which will force more exposure) rather than ISO 320 or 500. Either open up a stop from what you see with a 5600K monitor (test this 1st), use a hand held exposure meter or some other method. Share your other method here.

2. Use daylight balanced HMI, LED or CFL lights instead of tungsten or incandescent lights.

3. Add blue gels or filters somewhere in the chain (which has the consequence of lowering light levels).

4. Test. Find a method that works for you by testing before you shoot something important.

We have seen some pretty nasty tungsten lit footage. And we have also seen some incredibly great low light tungsten footage (see the new reel). The difference can be as little as one stop under-exposure. There is not much forgiveness in a blue starved light situation. A little testing can do wonders.

Site Admin

Also, RED recently released build 20 of the Camera firmware as well as build 20 of the RED Alert! image processing software which offers significant improvements to footage being shot in low light and tungsten light.

The new "color science". as RED refers to it, also improves previously shot footage, since the RED file system works with RAW image data. which is another advantage to shooting RAW.

More can be found on the subject here:

http://www.redcamcentral.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=730

http://www.redcamcentral.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=353

http://www.red.com/support