Shooting under hot lights

[terry manier]

Hey folks,

I am shooting pics at a TV studio soon. They want me to possibly use their

lighting because of the studio time available. I'm guessing, but trying to find

out for sure, that they are using hot lights for TV. Not sure, but probably

Tungsten.

I am shooting with a Canon 1D and using a Sekonic meter. I'm guessing that

these lights are going to show up warm as heck. Are there any pointers you

can give me for dealing with this kind of set up. I was just going to shoot and

check the LCD and histogram and adjust the Kelvin till I got close. I'm taking

my lights and reflectors just in case.

Thanks-a-million.

Terry

[carlos_miami]

The most important tip is to have a tripod handy in case you need to stop down for reasonable depth of field.

 

Lenses with image stabilization or vibration reduction are a plus, but only really necessary if you are shooting moving subjects or want to shoot handheld.

 

Use a pre-set WB setting instead of auto white balance in order to get consistent results, and check your histogram to make sure that you are not under or overexposing.

 

Good luck!

[michaelmowery]

you will be fine. just shoot raw and set the wb to tugstun. use 400 iso and have a 2.8 lense.

I have done this before. YOu see how nice it looks. YOur camera meter will work just fine. it

will be as easy as a point and shoot.

[terry manier]

Thanks you guys. I think your answers gave me what I needed.

Some confidence.

Cheers

Terry

[jmf]

If it's a newer studio, tungsten may NOT be the correct color balance. Daylight balanced HMI and fluorescent are now being used because they are more efficient and create less heat than tungsten-halogen lamps. My advice is shoot raw if you can and bring a gray card to shoot a sample of for white balance correction during post. Failing that, the camera people may know what WB they set to.

[brooks short]

I've shot in several of the local TV studios in my market and they've all gone to daylight balanced fluorescent lights for the anchors and people.

 

As Jim said, shoot raw using one capture for a Macbeth color checker or grey card and batch balance all rest of the shots later using that grey reference.

 

You really can't accurately adjust the Kelvin setting on your camera by looking at it's lcd display any more than you can really check exposure on the lcd. Use the histogram for exposure and white balance later.

 

An even better method is to shoot tethered to a laptop, set the grey balance in the capture software and use the capture software's histogram and image display for exposure and focus.

 

You'll be suprised how low the light level really is. You'll need a tripod and a 400 ISO if you want a decent shutter speed and f-stop.

[bruce levy]

I bet if you ask they'll know the exact temperature.

[bill c.]

Terry -- Brooks is exactly right when he says that most high-end video studios have gone to florescents, usually daylight-balanced. However, there is another factor. Since the video cameras have been increasing in sensitivity over the past few years, the need for a high intensity of light has decreased. In other words, where I could have packed ISO400 film (remember that? 36 images on a roll, had to get it processed at a lab?) and be able to shoot at a decent shutter speed, nowadays you'll be lucky if you can get 1/30 sec. at f2.8 with ISO 800. Sometimes very lucky.

 

You might end up shooting at ISO 3200 and using Noise Ninja a lot.

 

Best of luck, and happy shooting. -BC-