good article. I especially like this quote, "
Bigger numbers mean there is
less light reaching the sensor (f/11, f/16, f/22) and
smaller numbers mean there is
less light reaching the sensor (f/5.6, f/4, f/2)."
While this has some interesting ideas, the article prompted me to look through my ACC Video Manual (all I have is the second edition which is a little outdated, I don’t know if the new third edition has any other useful information) and I found the most concise answer to my question, and I thought I’d share it in case anyone else is interested.
Direct quote from page 147, “How to Establish an Exposure Index for a Video Camera by Harry Mathias. . . . Establishing an exposure index (EI) allows a light meter to be used meaningfully with a video camera. Assuming the camera is on a lighted chip chart and a waveform monitor is available, the procedure takes only a few minutes.
First open the iris until the crossover chip is at 55IRE units on the waveform monitor or the peak white chip is at 100. Check the f-stop on the lens, then take a reading with an incident meter at the chip chart. The photosphere on the meter should be pointed towards the camera. Change the slide on the meter until the f-stop reading on the meter coincides with the f-stop at which the lens is set. Once you have found the slide that results in the closest approximation to the f-stop on the lens, you have determined the effective exposure index of the camera. You need only keep that slide in the meter and use it as you would with the film.
Changing the gain boost setting, however, will alter the correct exposure index. If you want to know the camera E.I. at the +6db gain setting, for example, you must repeat the process with the +6db gain boost switched on.”
If you want to know what a “chip chart” is, (
http://www.kozco.com/calibrat/gray3.html) but don’t try to print one out because the colors won’t be right. I couldn’t find any companies around me that rent (or would let me use one for 10 minutes) a waveform monitor, so I have a friend who works at a local TV station who’s going to let me come in and use one of their monitors and chip charts.