Pushing the Limits of Low Light on a C70

I recently tried pushing the C70's low-light capabilities on a short documentary-style piece, specifically aiming for a 'found footage' look with minimal artificial light. My approach involved shooting in C-Log 2 and rating the camera at 3200 ISO, then pushing it an additional stop in post, essentially treating it as 6400 ISO. What worked surprisingly well was the overall texture; the noise wasn't ugly color noise but a finer, almost grainy monochromatic pattern that fit the aesthetic perfectly. I relied heavily on practicals and a single PavoTube II 30X at about 10% power for subtle fill.

What didn't quite work as expected was dynamic range in the extreme highlights. While the shadows held up, any direct light sources, even small ones, clipped much faster than I anticipated, creating harsh hot spots that were difficult to recover even with careful color grading. The C-Log 2 helped, but there's a limit to what you can pull back at such high ISOs.

I’m curious, for those of you working with cameras like the C70 or KOMODO in similarly challenging low-light scenarios, do you find pushing in post preferable to baking in a higher ISO on set, or do you have other strategies for managing highlight roll-off?