#screen photo best speed
13 messages in this thread
Whilst I have had some success taking 35mm photographs straight from a
21 inch monitor it always seems a bit hit and miss!
I normally take several shots of each screen image using a range of
shutter speeds/exposures however quite a few end up with a gray
diagonal band showing.
Can anyone advise on the best speed to avoid this scan line effect,
there must be a way as "some" of the shots turn out as sweet as a
nut.
(You guessed, whilst I am bracketing the shutter speeds I haven't
been keeping a record to let me match up to the photo's afterwards,
and I have some more to do tomorrow)
You didn't say whether you were shooting a TV screen or a computer monitor.
Here's how I do both with repeatable results:
Computer monitor: I tripod mount a camera and use standard Ektachrome
100. I use a 200mm telephoto lens to reduce the screen curvature. I
run my display in 1024×768 24 bit mode. I use an 85B filter to
correct for the bluish colortemp. Do not use auto as it is fooled by
the rapidly strobing light from a monitor screen. Use a shutter
speed of 0.5 to 1 seconds depending on your brightness of your
monitor. One last thing, shoot in a pitch dark room with only the
screen as a light source (eliminates secondary glare). Put some tape
over the little led's glowing from your computer lights too.
TV monitor. Pretty much the same but the shutter speed needs to be
1/30 of a second for moving pictures and only slower if the picture
is still.
PS: bracketing is a waste of film unless you know how you bracket.
Discipline yourself to always follow the same procedure eg. shoot the
proper setting, then one high and then one low. Or move by two stops
depending on the film's latitude. This way you don't have to keep a
log but still know what you did on each roll shot. I can now shoot 1
for 1 using the above technique. On a rush critical job I don't even
bracket video monitor shooting anymore. Every shot comes out as good
as an analog film recorder. (not as good as a digital film recorder,
though)
Thanks for the info Don, especially the shutter speed info. I will let
you know if it eliminates the gray band. I'm using a computer monitor
by the way. i've got 4hrs tomorrow from shooting to collecting from
the processors so fingers crossed.
Why use a camera to get a 35mm photo or slide? Sorry, had to ask.
Simply put, the service bureau gets 6.00 per slide once I deliver the
file. I have some customers that don't need quality beyond analog
film recorder and do about 50-75 slides every couple of months. Then
again I have another customer that shows the slides on theater AMC
screens. this guy goes to a digital film recorder. It's all in the
budget and what will make the customer happy. Personally I can't
justify the ownership of a recorder. The service bureau is totally
incapable of cranking out 50-75 slides overnight that my low budget
customer requires on short notice and the quality would be overkill
for his needs. BTW these are usually produced on Powerpoint, not
3DS and shown on a portable rear screen slide projector with audio
tape we also do.
You gotta' kick the butt of your local service bureau 🙂 $6.00 is
too expensive, especially if thats what you're charged for the
quantity you cite (50-75 at a time). My local bureau could do the
50-75 computer slides overnight, no photo lab in the area I know of
will conventionally process slides from film in 24 hrs. I gotta go
to NYC or Philly (both almost an hour away)for that kind of
turnaround. I was reading the posted request here as a guy requiring
a handful of slides and for that I suggest one forego the bracket
exposure/bracket f-stop/tripod/film/total darkness/not quite flat
world of the film camera. He could be doing a bundle of slides and
as you suggest there may be cheaper ways to get him there.
The service bureau will do the first slide for 6.00 and dups are 1.50 each. I
asked him about quantity and he said if they were all Power Point or CD with no
bitmaps it could go as low as 4.00 ea. Still too high! It takes me a day to
do the 50-75 slides in Power Point and I shoot it at night and take the rolls
to a 1 hour lab here in town at 4.50 per 24 exp. roll mounted to plastic
mounts. We actually have 6 labs that I know of that do this. There are
several SB's that do film recording but the average is $8.00 per slide. Of
course if I bring them a large TGA to RIP the price goes up. The highest I
ever paid was for a 4K rendering that cost $22.00 for the 1st slide. It took
over an hour to RIP. This seemed OK to me as I sold the slide for $500. <G>
One thing I never do here is try to force more on my clients than they are
budgeted for. If my client wants a 1000 line res slide and will only pay $15
each including artwork I give him a product for that price. Obviously, I can't
afford film recorder output for that kind of budget. Are you familiar with PP?
You can bang out quantity in a hurry with their system of preplanned
colorschemes and templates.
Robert, I use the camera cos its quick and I can get the film
processed in 1 hour!
I haven't done much photography in a while but I have a drawer full
of screen shots I did a few years ago of several projects. The
hassles of the setup and the process of snapping 'keepers' was
tiresome and more magic and guesswork for me. I didn't realize that
slides can be processed in 1 hour, the guys around me can do prints
in an hour but thats about it.
I used to do that and I believe the shutter speed should be below 1/30
of a second. Also I think the slower the shutter speed the more
saturated the colors will be.
Max thanks for the info, I hope it all works tomorrow!
If the end result is just an image of the graphics you've created why
not just render them to a high resolution file with a null display
and have the file shot directly to film at a service bureau, that's
what we do and the results are great.
James, It sounds like a good idea but here in the UK there is no one
near enough to me and I can get film processed quickly. If anyone
knows of this service near to me at DARLINGTON, Co DURHAM please let
me know