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Sony FS5 detailed presentation by Alistair Chapman and much more!


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This video is a pure goldmine of information regarding the proper use of Sony cameras and their features, but most of this can also apply to any other camera brand. I bow to the man for this kind of simple but thorough explanation of all the features, codecs, gamma curves, gamuts etc., when and how to use them, why not to use some of them in some scenarios...

I highly recommend watching this whole video, because even if some of you guys are already familiar with most of this stuff, I'm almost certain that you will get some new useful info.

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EOSHD Pro Color 5 for Sony cameras EOSHD Z LOG for Nikon CamerasEOSHD C-LOG and Film Profiles for All Canon DSLRs

This video is a pure goldmine of information regarding the proper use of Sony cameras and their features, but most of this can also apply to any other camera brand. I bow to the man for this kind of simple but thorough explanation of all the features, codecs, gamma curves, gamuts etc., when and how to use them, why not to use some of them in some scenarios...

I highly recommend watching this whole video, because even if some of you guys are already familiar with most of this stuff, I'm almost certain that you will get some new useful info.

very very good talk, learnt so much about log and and cine gammas. Really interesting the thing about absolutely not using log for lowlight and greenscreen beacause of the bit depth.

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Technical information is good... but ruling out LOG for lowlight and green screen is putting pixel peeping ahead of creativity.

How so? LOG is just one option in the technician's toolkit. It's not like using other gammas in low light eliminates every creative choice you have in low-light scenes. 

Also...calling out industry gurus for pixel peeping? Hey Pot....Kettle called... :p

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Technical information is good... but ruling out LOG for lowlight and green screen is putting pixel peeping ahead of creativity.

I can agree with your points but I think that for greenscreen he is mostly right. Most often it will be done in studio with lighting so there is no reason to stretch the codec.

To me this presentation is important exactly because of that great technical information for better understanding of how things work, and when you know and fully understand this stuff, then you can afford yourself the luxury of breaking the "rules" for the sake of creativity. Also to have all of this info in one place without the need to go all over the www searching and reading, is a godsend.

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Nah you're not understanding me.

The benefits of LOG are there for green screen and low light, as much as they are for bright daylight scenes requiring a wider dynamic range.

If S-LOG on the FS5 hurts keying performance BY A BIT... but gives you a CHUNK OF CREATIVITY... who is right. Chapman? Nope.

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Nah you're not understanding me.

The benefits of LOG are there for green screen and low light, as much as they are for bright daylight scenes requiring a wider dynamic range.

If S-LOG on the FS5 hurts keying performance BY A BIT... but gives you a CHUNK OF CREATIVITY... who is right. Chapman? Nope.

I think it's the other way round. 

You will likely be more creative not using S-Log for green screen as you can focus on the directing and composition, rather than exposing Slog correctly and battling the "tricky" grade later.  I'm not really sure what extra chunk of creativity you'd get from Slog other than a potentially better looking overall image. 

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I think it's the other way round. 

You will likely be more creative not using S-Log for green screen as you can focus on the directing and composition, rather than exposing Slog correctly and battling the "tricky" grade later.  I'm not really sure what extra chunk of creativity you'd get from Slog other than a potentially better looking overall image. 

Enjoyed the video and Alister really knows his stuff by the way.

Just putting a different perspective out there and it's all up to our preferences what we like.

I find S-LOG does allow me to focus on directing and composition, it's easier to expose than Rec 709 and allows for more leeway to correct exposure mistakes in post. I agree with you it has a sweet spot though! Optimal 2 stops to the right usually.

Many shoot green screen with Blackmagic cameras... raw is great for that.

It isn't so much LOG that causes issues, the compression does.

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Enjoyed the video and Alister really knows his stuff by the way.

Just putting a different perspective out there and it's all up to our preferences what we like.

I find S-LOG does allow me to focus on directing and composition, it's easier to expose than Rec 709 and allows for more leeway to correct exposure mistakes in post. I agree with you it has a sweet spot though! Optimal 2 stops to the right usually.

Many shoot green screen with Blackmagic cameras... raw is great for that.

It isn't so much LOG that causes issues, the compression does.

Fair point - whatever suits :)

I've shot green screen using Blackmagic Log and Slog3 - got great results with Blackmagic but Slog3 was definitely trickier, I think I remember having to bake in a Rec709 colour space onto Slog, de-noise (blocky yellow noise in dark trousers, issues with keying) and transcode new files to make it work well. Blackmagic is the best camera I've ever used for green screen. 

When using slo-mo options, I also find any Slog to be super noisy. I did a shoot a week ago on the FS7 and it was a bright, well lit image, slightly overexposed. The darker areas though have awful noise in 150fps (thank god for Neat Video). Same goes for the RX10 II, the noise in Slog when using slo-mo is absolutely insane. Are you finding this (also with the A7S II)? 

 

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The noise in the blacks with S-LOG can definitely be insane but it's designed to all be crushed back to black in post.

Like Mr Chapman said in the video, don't try raising the bottom of the curve for S-LOG.

I find when exposed +2 it is pretty clean... but if you don't quite have the light and under expose, ISO 3200 ends up looking worse than +2 at 12,800!!

ISO is a bit wibbly wobbly in SLOG, I take it with a pinch of salt!

With the compressed 100Mbit/s codec the main issue with the noise is how blotchy it gets... because it is a highly compressed long GOP codec, it doesn't do a nice raw-like fine random grain... instead it starts to macro block and kinda crawl, break up.

I find a good low light grade can do a lot though. Especially if you do a James Miller style raised blacks LUT over it.

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At 1h50min. into the video, does Alister basically say: "If you record in 8bit, do not use SLog3, period."
Or am I mixing something up?

Edit//

This comparison makes a lot more sense to me now, after hearing Alister talk about Slog3 in 8bit vs 10bit:
https://vimeo.com/143132608

There is so much more colour information available in the 10bit files from the FS7.

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At 1h50min. into the video, does Alister basically say: "If you record in 8bit, do not use SLog3, period."
Or am I mixing something up?

Edit//

This comparison makes a lot more sense to me now, after hearing Alister talk about Slog3 in 8bit vs 10bit:
https://vimeo.com/143132608

There is so much more colour information available in the 10bit files from the FS7.

Have you shot XAVC-L on the FS7? (codec on the FS5). 

XAVC-I is vastly superior... I'd be worried about using XAVC-L if weighing up an FS5. Loads of issues in the image. 

 

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Have you shot XAVC-L on the FS7? (codec on the FS5). 

XAVC-I is vastly superior... I'd be worried about using XAVC-L if weighing up an FS5. Loads of issues in the image. 

 

It's worth pointing out that XAVC-L is still better than XAVC-S of the a7s. While it seems obvious now, I didn't exactly realize that until watching the presentation. I think Alistair does a pretty good job of explaining what this camera is, and more importantly, what it isn't.

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Have you shot XAVC-L on the FS7? (codec on the FS5). 

XAVC-I is vastly superior... I'd be worried about using XAVC-L if weighing up an FS5. Loads of issues in the image. 

 

No doubt the XAVC-I is a superior codec.
My point was more the "revelation" of how Slog3 does not actually use all available data when recording internally on an FS5/A7SII etc.
Just another case of knowing your camera and it's limitations.

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No doubt the XAVC-I is a superior codec.My point was more the "revelation" of how Slog3 does not actually use all available data when recording internally on an FS5/A7SII etc.
Just another case of knowing your camera and it's limitations.

Well after using Slog2 on the RX10 II on some low budget shoots - I think I can pretty much confirm that the limitations of the camera almost makes Slog2 unusable. I believe this is because the camera is not only very light hungry, but also the codec is too weak to manage it. The noise is absolutely horrendous, even at 2+ ETTR. 

I've got decent results shooting outdoors and indoors using very bright lighting. Sadly I'm not enjoying the camera much now. 

Tried using Slog3 and XAVC-L on the FS7 again. Not bad, but it's a waste really. I'll only shoot XAVC-I from now on (when not completely desperate). 

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