I have an opportunity to shoot a stage show next weekend. I
can photograph, but I can't use any flash or lighting.
I won't have an opportunity to preview the lighting, so need
to be prepared for whatever I find. I suspect that ISO 800
will be required and I've seen some acceptable images from
400x at that speed. Has anyone successfully pushed it farther?
--
John Thurston
Juneau Alaska
http://stereo.thurstons.us

I've done a lot of this, perhaps you saw the image from the Toronto production of the musical "Hairspray" that I circulated in one of the folios a few years ago. For that show I used a Sputnik - Provia 400X pushed two stops, 1/100 @ f16. The result was a bit grainy but still very satisfying. I wouldn't have traded less grain for the blurred motion I would have gotten with a slower exposure on a one-stop push.

I suggest looking for brightly lit scenes, dim stage lighting is hopeless if you want any depth of field and the ability to freeze motion.

Stage shows are very difficult to meter, you might be better off just deciding on an exposure and waiting for the stage to be brightly lit. Spotlights will tend to blow out, so you're better off shooting when there isn't a bright spot on one subject but rather a lot of light on the whole stage. If you're shooting a musical you'll find that many production numbers end with a brightly lit tableau with the actors frozen in a pose for a second. These can make for great shots.

Have fun!

Jim Harp

--- In MF3D-group@yahoogroups.com, John Thurston wrote:
>
> I have an opportunity to shoot a stage show next weekend. I
> can photograph, but I can't use any flash or lighting.
> I won't have an opportunity to preview the lighting, so need
> to be prepared for whatever I find. I suspect that ISO 800
> will be required and I've seen some acceptable images from
> 400x at that speed. Has anyone successfully pushed it farther?
> --
> John Thurston
> Juneau Alaska
> http://stereo.thurstons.us
>

--- In MF3D-group@yahoogroups.com, John Thurston wrote:

>
> I have an opportunity to shoot a stage show next weekend. I
> can photograph, but I can't use any flash or lighting.
> I won't have an opportunity to preview the lighting, so need
> to be prepared for whatever I find. I suspect that ISO 800
> will be required and I've seen some acceptable images from
> 400x at that speed. Has anyone successfully pushed it farther?
> --

I haven't pushed Provia 400X, however I've gotten very good results pushing Tri-X to 800 using dr5. You can also get acceptable results pushing HP5 to 1600 and even 3200 if you're willing to accept the grain. B&W films push a lot better than color.
Steve

One other consideration regarding push processing.  Grain is random.  With stereo, the grain clumps in one eye view will mainly land in a different place than for homologous points in the other eye view.  With normal processing, this is usually not a problem, since the granular differences are too small to easily observe.   However, with pushing, the grain clumps, at some point, become visible.   When this occurs, an image that might be considered acceptable in 2D may not be in 3D.  Therefore, it is good to evaluate a pushed stereo pair in 3D before accepting the results.  If this is for important images, such as a paying job, it might be good to first run a test, and examine the results stereoscopically before shooting the actual job.

JR

On Feb 6, 2013 4:45 PM, "coronet3d" <coronet3d@yahoo.com> wrote:

 

--- In MF3D-group@yahoogroups.com, John Thurston wrote:
>
> I have an opportunity to shoot a stage show next weekend. I
> can photograph, but I can't use any flash or lighting.
> I won't have an opportunity to preview the lighting, so need
> to be prepared for whatever I find. I suspect that ISO 800
> will be required and I've seen some acceptable images from
> 400x at that speed. Has anyone successfully pushed it farther?
> --
I haven't pushed Provia 400X, however I've gotten very good results pushing Tri-X to 800 using dr5. You can also get acceptable results pushing HP5 to 1600 and even 3200 if you're willing to accept the grain. B&W films push a lot better than color.
Steve

On 07/02/2013 00:45, coronet3d wrote:

 

--- In MF3D-group@yahoogroups.com, John Thurston wrote:
>
> I have an opportunity to shoot a stage show next weekend. I
> can photograph, but I can't use any flash or lighting.
> I won't have an opportunity to preview the lighting, so need
> to be prepared for whatever I find. I suspect that ISO 800
> will be required and I've seen some acceptable images from
> 400x at that speed. Has anyone successfully pushed it farther?
> --
I haven't pushed Provia 400X, however I've gotten very good results pushing Tri-X to 800 using dr5. You can also get acceptable results pushing HP5 to 1600 and even 3200 if you're willing to accept the grain. B&W films push a lot better than color.
Steve

 

On 07/02/2013 00:45, coronet3d wrote:

 

--- In MF3D-group@yahoogroups.com, John Thurston wrote:
>
> I have an opportunity to shoot a stage show next weekend. I
> can photograph, but I can't use any flash or lighting.
> I won't have an opportunity to preview the lighting, so need
> to be prepared for whatever I find. I suspect that ISO 800
> will be required and I've seen some acceptable images from
> 400x at that speed. Has anyone successfully pushed it farther?
> --
I haven't pushed Provia 400X, however I've gotten very good results pushing Tri-X to 800 using dr5. You can also get acceptable results pushing HP5 to 1600 and even 3200 if you're willing to accept the grain. B&W films push a lot better than color.
Steve