K40 In low light

has anyone ever tried shooting K40 in low light, just with say a fire or a diffused flashlight, id like to know if its worth experimenting or wether it just wont expose the film

thanks

yes, it doesn't work. while k40 can handle underexposure quite well, you need much more than a fire to get an exposure. when i tried it (lost the light during a dusk for night shoot) i could hardly see the fire itself, and definately nothing around it.

/matt

I recently took some footage with K40 while driving through the Lincoln tunnel to NYC. It came out completely black except for the tunnel lights and the tail lights of all the cars, both of which turned out fairly clear and bright. It looked pretty cool, but I can't imagine actually using it for anything. I used some of that 800 speed Pro8mm gnat-master film in another tunnel which came out a lot more useable, if you don't mind the swarm of locusts.

One more thing...Before going into the Lincoln tunnel, a policeman (maybe a Port Authority guy) at the toll plaza saw me messing with my camera and told me no one is allowed to film inside the tunnel. I said thanks for the tip and went ahead and did it anyway. I don't know if anyone is actually going to pull anyone over for that if they get caught, but just so you know...

Jorg

In their book "Super 8 in the Video Age" Brodsky and Treadway talk about K40's ability to find detail in shadows and dark areas because of its very fine grain. I've actually gotten some very good results using K40 in situations which were clearly too dark. It really depends on what you consider good. I personally think that getting lights in a tunnel to show up on the film is pretty **** good for a stock of this speed. I don't want you to shoot a lot of film for nothing, but give it a try in low light and I think you'll be surprised at what you get.

Kurt

I've shot in some low light situations on K-40also, where it absolutely should not have registered, and I got exposure.
However, there's no such thing as magic, so all film stock has its limits!
I would say that probably what you're going to end up with, is being able to see just the light source itself, and nothing else, unless you shoot your subjects right up close to the light source, and bounce as much of it back to them as possible.
Shoot some as a test, but I wouldn't risk trying this if it's important footage you're after.
Also, put the camera on manual, not auto, and open it up all the way.
If it's on auto exposure, it's going to possibly stop down some when you point it at a light source, and then definitely you won't see anything else.

Matt Pacini

I agree with Matt.

I have shot some fires--Granted they were large but the fire itself looked great. I am happy with the shots.

Remember--Fire will only illuminate itself and not subjects around it. So you should reinforce the fire with some lights if you want to see beyond the flames. Good Luck

Isn't a new version of Super8 in the Video Age supposed to be out soon/now??? Kurt, what year is your copy??? Thanks

Yea, a 650 watt light.

Thanks for all the help guys

I heard the shutter degree can make a difference too? I looked up the shutter on both my cameras (chinons) and they are both 220 degree shutters. I take it that will help to some degree with exposure, I also thought of using a flashlight on top of the camera perhaps with something over it too diffuse the light.

I shot many night and LL scenes with K40. For that reason, I bought a video light and modifyed it in order to take a 12 V/100 W projector bulb with mirror. I am connecting this bulb with a cable to an belt battery pack (lead battery 12 V/4 Ah). This setup provides enough light to exposure close up scenes in the range up to 3 meters. Halogen bulbs with diferent angles may vary the distance that is possible (spot characteristic). Together with natural rest light like fire, or gas lamps etc, the results are very good when it comes to shoot persons, faces etc. Much better than only black siluetts.
Even with high speed films or video you would need add light, in order to get a good exposure for reproducing the existing mood of the scene. The resting light amplifyer of a camcorder cannot do that - it looks like daylight afterwards.
Another trick to gather more light is undercrancing. You can capture more or less natural scenes with 9 fps, when asking the actors to do any movement like it was slow motion. For fire or stills, undercrancing is no problem anyway, and the 4 fps of the Beaulieu are great for LL shots.
Make your trys for a few bucks with the halogen bulb and the lead battery - you will be astonished what all you can do with K40!
Pedro