mercer

Thanks, Andrew. I appreciate the tip. Since there are a lot of incremental settings in this camera, I thought I would try and get a really flat image, use a LUT and try some things in post.

you can download this video from Vimeo, the ungraded, flat image is there.

On my monitor and phone and TV, the greens look somewhat muted, but maybe there is too much saturation, or yellow in the grade. I'll take a look, don't worry I won't post the results...

Hey, thanks for the constructive criticism. As I said since the beginning, this camera is more camera than I am used to with little information floating around regarding settings. After trying nearly every setting with this camera, and never being really pleased with the results, I decided to try a really flat image and grade it, something I've never done before. The first shot is not great... At all... but I think the two, through the tree shots came out okay, especially the close up focus of the pine branches. I'm not sure where you live, but we have plenty of trees that are those colors of greens near me. I apologize if I'm being too defensive, I came to this site to learn, so any useful knowledge you have is much appreciated. I didn't intend to overexpose the shot... I'm not sure you can tell, but the big pine trees are a dark green with grayish pine trees in front of the cabin which is a mix of dark wood and weathered wood, that is almost white. With the cloudy, grayish white skies I tried my best to keep some shadow detail. Thanks again...

This is a second attempt at grading the flat profile in the NX500 - Custom Profile - Saturation -8, Sharpness -10, Contrast -8. It was shot with the Canon FD 28mm f/2 at ISO 100 with a fader ND filter. I graded it with Color Finale using the Kodak to Rec709 LUT as the grade base. Any pointers or tips would be greatly appreciated.

I have been messing around with the Color Finale trial and the Alexa to rec709 LUT works nicely on ultra flat nx500 footage and pretty good on a5100 footage as well. You have to lower the opacity a bit, but it seems to be a great starting point.

Haha, I forgot to lower the volume. When I go out, I am testing 10 different lenses at a time with 3 or 4 different profiles. If I don't narrate it, I'll never remember my settings.

Here is my recent test. I used a custom profile with saturation at -8, sharpness at -10, and contrast at -8. I then used the free trial of Color Finale to apply the Alexa to Rec709 LUT and the other tools to further grade the shots. Don't expect much, this is the first footage I have ever graded. Any tips would be greatly appreciated.

Haha, yeah that is me in all of bald glory. I should have tested the lowlight with a faster lens. I have a couple 50mm 1.4 lenses but with the crop factor, I don't think I can wide enough for the room. But I do have the FD 28mm f/2 lens, that baby should give me enough width and the aperture should open enough to make a big difference with the lowlight test. I'll also try to bring up the highlights and shadows to see what I can save from the darkened image.

I've been using -5 across the board and am pretty happy with the results. But I think I'll give your settings a try. Are you editing and delivering in 4K?

That looks great!!! I have the NX500 and when I go -10 with saturation, it turns it black and white... Did you mean -10 contrast?

Don't get your hopes too high. I saw two other listings for that Soligor, one for 4 something and one for 220 or best offer. Assume you'll get the same, or less, as the cheapest one listed. Even still, between the two lenses you could make a nice profit. Good buy!!!

Copies of that Minolta are listed on eBay for 400 bucks... You may have gotten the deal of the year.

It looks like the 135mm is a Soligor, I'm gonna guess it's an old m42 mount, but I can't tell for sure without seeing the mount. The Minolta might be a projection lens, or an enlarger lens.

Supposedly, that is the case with the a5100 as well, when shooting with the xavc-s codec. I don't record long takes, so mine has never overheated, but once I heard that was a solution to the potential issue, I just open the LCD screen anyway. But that overheating is still a major design flaw with Sony products.

I think it looks great. But I have a newbie question... When you use a LUT, does it automatically set the levels, or is it just a guideline that you have to match your footage to in whatever color program you use? Also, for LUTS, do you recommend Color Finale or FilmConvert for the easiest results? I downloaded the trials of both programs, didn't mess with LUTS, and found I liked FilmConvert better, but like the price of Color Finale. I realize, they're not a hundred percent comparable, but they do seem to share some similarities.

As some may know, I have been messing around with the settings while I test out the NX500. Some of my tests have been moderately successful, and some have been disastrous. A couple people wanted to see some lowlight examples, so I took a few shots in a dark room, lit only by the window, with a Minolta MD 24-50mm f/3.5 zoom lens. Obviously, these shots, especially the middle shot is too dark, as I am entirely silhouetted, but it may give you an idea how this camera performs in such lighting conditions. As always I shot in Cinema 4K at 24p, and used a Custom Profile with the Sharpness at -5, Saturation at -5, and Contrast at -5. From my tests thus far, this is the best straight from camera set up for my tastes. Though this test is straight from camera with zero post, I have been attempting to grade some NX500 footage a little, so in the future I may try even lower settings in the Custom Profile. Thanks for your patience, suggestions, and interest as I figure out the best set up for this camera... for my taste. Like others, I have come from a Canon DSLR background, which is pretty simple to get a decent image with a dialed down Neutral, but the NX500 has thrown my amateur skill set for a loop. So, in no way should my videos be a testament to what this camera is capable of... I'm sure in other hands, one could achieve stunning results... because I am blown away when I receive moderately okay results.

yes, but I believe you get good, basic color controls as well. gorilla grain has nice grain as well, but to have access to the film emulator, basic color controls and film grain in one package sounds very nice. wish they had Kodachrome 40 as an option, though.

Is it worth the 200 clams and is there a difference between the plug in version and the standalone?

so you use color temperature for wb?

Sekhar, do you use custom profile, or standard? I was using standard, but I think custom seems a little better with a test I did this morning. Also, do you set your white balance with color temperature, settings, or auto. I have been using auto, with Canon and Sony cameras, it has always been pretty spot on, especially with consistent lighting, but I think the Samsung auto wb is off, when I switched to color temperature, I was getting better results... Obviously. For my eyes, I think I may have found the best, basic set up. Custom profile - Saturation -1 - Sharpness -8 - Contrast -5. These numbers seem to give the most accurate, true to life, yet slightly muted color.

Yeah, I am definitely gonna keep her, it was too cheap not to. It's just a different beast than the Canon's I'm used to. Canon cameras look pretty good without too much post, which was good for me because I don't know a lot about grading. So, with my tests, I am trying to find a middle ground that balances the high DR of this camera with a baked in look that doesn't require much while I learn more about grading.

I know TL works with the eos-m, and m2, and I am pretty sure it works with the m3. In fact, a lot of people get better results TL on the eos-m than they do with ML.

I gotcha. Don't get me wrong, t2i is a great camera and more than capable enough to capture great video. I just figured an m3 could be a smart move for you to use your FD lenses. Also, TL or ML should work, but then again I'm not too familiar with a "forked hack?"

I haven't seen Drinking Buddies yet, but I heard it was good. Learning about characters and their story through the mundanities of the everyday was very intriguing. I could've done without the full frontal and the live action sex scene with him and his girlfriend, but I don't blame him for doing it. That realism, no matter how exploitative, is what made him the darling of SXSW. I, also really think he has a great model for independent filmmakers... Make as many movies as you can, as quick as you can, then reap the benefits from your catalogue of films.