Little lighting checker thing?

Started by prophet, November 10, 2003, 03:22:43 PM

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prophet

November 10, 2003, 03:22:43 PM
Whats that thing with the white ball that people hold upto the light or the persons face whats its used for how does it work?
We gonna do a little Q&A Mr. Worley, and at the risk of sounding redundant please... make your answers Genuine...

kotte

#1
November 10, 2003, 03:27:23 PM
It measures the light...the T-stop as it's called...

You need that to decide how much light you want to hit the film.

Let's say you have a guy sitting on a chair and you're filming him from behind. You have a big light hitting his back.

You measure the light as 4 T-stops on his back...then you set the camera to 4 T-stops as well...if you set it to lets say 8 T-stops you will underexpose the film...not letting enough light hit the film...

I'm bad at explaining stuff :)

MacGuffin

#2
November 10, 2003, 03:27:34 PM
Quote from: prophetWhats that thing with the white ball that people hold upto the light or the persons face whats its used for how does it work?

It's a light meter. It's used to measure the intensity of brightness of light so that a cinematographer can determine the proper exposure for shooting.
"Don't think about making art, just get it done. Let everyone else decide if it's good or bad, whether they love it or hate it. While they are deciding, make even more art." - Andy Warhol


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SoNowThen

#3
November 10, 2003, 03:27:58 PM
it's called a Light Meter.

you can have spot meters that you point (they look kinda like a pistol), and then you have the half-ball ones you're talking about, which I believe are called "incident meters". This is used to measure the amount of light on a subject (eg. actor's face), as opposed to the spot meter, which measure light that is reflected off an object (eg. buildings in the distance).
Those who say that the totalitarian state of the Soviet Union was not "real" Marxism also cannot admit that one simple feature of Marxism makes totalitarianism necessary:  the rejection of civil society. Since civil society is the sphere of private activity, its abolition and replacement by political society means that nothing private remains. That is already the essence of totalitarianism; and the moralistic practice of the trendy Left, which regards everything as political and sometimes reveals its hostility to free speech, does nothing to contradict this implication.

When those who hated capital and consumption (and Jews) in the 20th century murdered some hundred million people, and the poster children for the struggle against international capitalism and America are now fanatical Islamic terrorists, this puts recent enthusiasts in an awkward position. Most of them are too dense and shameless to appreciate it, and far too many are taken in by the moralistic and paternalistic rhetoric of the Left.

prophet

#4
November 10, 2003, 03:33:47 PM
"You measure the light as 4 T-stops on his back...then you set the camera to 4 T-stops as well...if you set it to lets say 8 T-stops you will underexpose the film...not letting enough light hit the film..."

that explained it very well.

so if i have a lamp or something pointing at a persons face i measure it and its 4 T Stop i put the camera to that and if i put it to 8 it will make everythign whiter?                                                            

Also how does it function is it like how many bottons is there etc.? if you happen to know this.
We gonna do a little Q&A Mr. Worley, and at the risk of sounding redundant please... make your answers Genuine...

SoNowThen

#5
November 10, 2003, 03:36:49 PM
You have to set the asa/iso of the film stock you're using, then for the newer ones I believe you just position the meter where you want it and press the button, and it will tell you proper exposure.
Those who say that the totalitarian state of the Soviet Union was not "real" Marxism also cannot admit that one simple feature of Marxism makes totalitarianism necessary:  the rejection of civil society. Since civil society is the sphere of private activity, its abolition and replacement by political society means that nothing private remains. That is already the essence of totalitarianism; and the moralistic practice of the trendy Left, which regards everything as political and sometimes reveals its hostility to free speech, does nothing to contradict this implication.

When those who hated capital and consumption (and Jews) in the 20th century murdered some hundred million people, and the poster children for the struggle against international capitalism and America are now fanatical Islamic terrorists, this puts recent enthusiasts in an awkward position. Most of them are too dense and shameless to appreciate it, and far too many are taken in by the moralistic and paternalistic rhetoric of the Left.

kotte

#6
November 10, 2003, 03:41:32 PM
Quote from: prophetso if i have a lamp or something pointing at a persons face i measure it and its 4 T Stop i put the camera to that and if i put it to 8 it will make everythign whiter?

If you underexpose it, it'll make it darker...overexposure is brighter.


Quote from: prophetAlso how does it function is it like how many bottons is there etc.? if you happen to know this.

It looks kinda complicated but it's easy to use...get your hands on a book about cinematography.

http://www.tpub.com/photography1/ph20965.htm

http://www.newenglandfilm.com/news/archives/02march/lighting.htm

Every filmstock has it's own ISO atl. ASA no. That's the first thing you have to set on your light meter...it's hard to explain but check the links out.

TheVoiceOfNick

#7
November 10, 2003, 03:45:59 PM

aclockworkjj

#8
November 10, 2003, 03:48:10 PM
Quote from: SoNowThen"incident meters"
actually "incident" is just a way of metering...incident metering is metering the light with the meter facing the lens.  Reflective metering is measuring the light reflecting (go figure) off an object...a person's face persay.  

both are done with a light meter (it needs to have cine settings on it, different from say a typical photography meter)...the difference is, to get a proper reading you need to adjust the dome.  Incident the dome is on, reflective you take the dome off.  Essentially they are reading the same exposure settings, but the actual metering is done differently based on which way you are metering...

and yeah...spot meters are just that.  It allows you to get a much more accurate reading and comes in handy when attempting to dodge or burn areas of your frame.

...and a good thing to think about when metering.  I like to appraoch it in a aperture priority.  Decide what you want your depth of field to look like...the lower the f-stop, the less depth of field...set that and then meter.    Your shutter speed is going be ...well, 1/24 of a sec  (on a cine scale tho)....assuming you are just shooting real time.  Then adjust your lights accordingly.  meter, meter, meter...it never hurts as many times as you do it.

Recce

#9
November 14, 2003, 11:33:08 PM
Also, jsut to throw my hat in the ring, F-Stops (or T-Stops, as you guys call it, crazy Americans), the bigger the F-Stop, the smaller the aperture, etc. So, if you set your F-Stop to low, you'll be over exposed, and vice-versa.
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aclockworkjj

#10
November 14, 2003, 11:53:53 PM
Quote from: Reccecrazy Americans
I am...and I never even heard of a "t-stop" till I heard it here.  

i have a t-shirt that says, "the f stops here..." and shows a hassleblad lens scale...yes, I am a fuckin' dork.

Pubrick

#11
November 15, 2003, 12:03:46 AM
f-stops and t-stops are sort of the same thing. T-stops is a more accurate unit of measurement because it accounts for light lost through the lens. or sumthing.
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