From the course: Learning Cinematography: 1 Narrative Fundamentals

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The speed of the camera

The speed of the camera

From the course: Learning Cinematography: 1 Narrative Fundamentals

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The speed of the camera

- ISO is a measurement of how light sensitive or fast a camera is. We have to talk about the speed of a camera because it's not enough to take the manufacturer's word for what it's native ISO or speed is. The speed of a camera is the basis of the decisions a cinematographer has to make about exposure and lighting. At the manufacturer's native ISO you might find the camera too noisy or not noisy enough. Maybe the camera just doesn't look right for your film at that ISO. If you're shooting a film like Force Majuere, which is about a family ski vacation in the French Alps, at the recommended ISO you might feel it just doesn't have enough detail in the highlights because so many of your shots will involve scenes in the snow. If you're shooting a film like Matewan, about West Virginia coal miners, you might want more detail in the shadows because so much of the film is shot in dark sooty coal mines. In order to adjust the exposure of the camera to suit the needs of a particular film you…

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