RAW / MLV - Exposing To The Right in Low Light

Started by Tyronetheterrible, February 16, 2018, 06:54:06 PM

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Tyronetheterrible

This is a VERY newb question, but I figured the ML Forum would be the best place to get this topic clarified for me, as exposing to the right when capturing video confuses me a bit.

Lets say for example that you were recording MLV at 24fps, keeping a 1/50 shutter (fine-tuned to 48) shooting a subject in a pretty low-lit location which does not permit the use of your own lights. (There are only fluorescents high up in the ceiling)
Other than opening up the aperture wide-open, and assuming you wanted to lock that 180 degree shutter, would the only way to successfully expose to the right be by increasing the ISO until the histogram shifts to the right side, no matter what lighting situation you are in?
Is having a 6400 ISO, regardless of how noisy it looks, perfectly acceptable as long as it achieves the purpose of pushing the highlights to the right end of the RAW histogram?
Or would the use of ETTR just simply not apply in this context?

To further confuse me, if you knew that later in post you were going to try to achieve a look that, stylistically, makes use of shadows and soft minimal light on a subject, such as this image for example:



Is ETTR still a practice that you would use in this situation when shooting this?
Basically what I'm trying to figure out is if ETTR should be as much of a concrete step I use with any footage recorded (in the same realm of always white balancing, and color correcting your footage), and then any stylistic choices you want to make with lighting is done with post, by adjusting shadows, mids, highlights, etc.?


Thanks to anyone in advance!

a1ex

Yes, once the exposure time and aperture are maxed out, it's a lot better (noise-wise) to record at a higher ISO (up to 6400 in movie mode on 5D3 1080p/720p, YMMV for 1:1 crop and for other models), as long as you are not clipping important highlights. Then, darken the image in post and the noise should go away.

Long answers:
https://www.magiclantern.fm/forum/index.php?topic=10111.msg118553#msg118553
https://www.magiclantern.fm/forum/index.php?topic=19429.msg193332#msg193332