A7s best usage of picture profiles recommendations

I

Ignacy

Member
I've been using the a7s for a few months now and have spent the whole of yesterday on the internet looking for more information on the various picture profiles. I want to be absolutely sure that I'm getting the best picture out of this beast without sacrificing too much time switching between too many profiles for all the lighting situations ;)

Here are a couple of questions. I would highly appreciate some of the expert advice on this forum :).

What is the best ISO, similar to Base ISO, to shoot on in a CINE mode? (Cine 1 to Cine 6)
I’ve been reading conflicting information. Some state ISO 100. Phillip Bloom states 320. Yet another forum on Dvxuser.com speaks of 640 or even 1000 ISO.
There seems to be no general consensus :(
Shoud I avoid certain ISO's within the 100 to 3200 range?
How big is the variation in image quality if I stay within the 100-3200 range and keep the exposure around the -0.3 db for most situations?

Is there a place where can I find a graph with information about the ISO latitudes for the A7s for the Cine modes? I know that for S-LOG 3200 is best and the image degrades the higher we go with the ISO from there.

Currently I’m shooting on the Kholi Cine 2 / Pic Pro and Kholi S-Log picture profiles to be found here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1rGxsgFMLk-oATs-05iN6fzb-uGkcgvLBIgJo_2GWvB8/edit#gid=0
I noticed that tn the notes category underneath the Kholi Cine2 Pic Pro profile it states “#ERROR!”. What does this mean? Am I safe to shoot in this mode or should I consider switching to another profile.

Currently for most situations I’m shooting Kholi Cine 2 and only in complex contrasty scenes do I switch to Kholi S-Log.
I think this is good enough but if someone believes there's a better way to go about, please let me know :)

Finally, when I’m at home and shooting family I’d rather shoot with as little grading or sharpening of the footage in post.
What User Picture Profile or sony picture profile would you recommend to shoot with for in-baked easy editing?

Thanks a million in advance for any advice!!
 
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The error is just a formatting error on the spreadsheet, you're safe to shoot that profile. As for what to shoot if you don't want to grade in post, neutral picture profile works for me. Natural color tones and not overly crunchy.
 
caseywilsondp said:
The error is just a formatting error on the spreadsheet, you're safe to shoot that profile. As for what to shoot if you don't want to grade in post, neutral picture profile works for me. Natural color tones and not overly crunchy.
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Thanks for clearing up the formatting error on the spreadsheet.
I've never considered shooting without a picture profile. So you recommend shooting with creative style set to Neutral. I'll check and "research" this out :)
 
https://vimeo.com/150556104
Password: dvxuser

I went out yesterday and shot the same scene with various picture profiles switched on, namely picture profiles 2,4,6 & 7 as well as the Kohli user picture profiles (slog and cine2 Picpro). All of them exposed correctly of course ;)
In daylight Picture Profile 4 conserves the sky details the best although I suspect it recorded the sky more blue than it actually was. Picture Profile 2 looks terribly crushed. It should however be much better for low light situations...
Be sure to check out the video!
 
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Well after a year I have custom profiles from 1 to 7 and i'm not going to reset that so the test tells me nothing. Permission denied anyway
 
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a lot of the info you are looking for is here and on eoshd forums
visit samuel's page
http://www.similaar.com/foto/flaat-a7s/technical-tests.html#waveform

for family I go with slog only. It's the only time to practice it without remorse. kholi's slog + Impulz LUTs or slog sgamma and filmconvert then upload to g-drive and use magisto to edit it.
it's never a perfect edit but it's at least an edit! min. 3h from my life saved on every 30min of footage.
 
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Ok, after a lot of consideration I'm going to work this way:

When I won't have time to grade, I'll be using the preset Picture Profiles. Picture profile 2 for low light and Picture Profile 4 for daytime.
For Professional work I'll be using the Kholi PicPro S-Log User Preset for daytime or high contrast scenes. And the Kholi Cine2 PicPro User Preset in low light, Run & Gun situations.

Final question. What is the ISO sweetspot for none S-log shooting?
I have more than enough ND. If I stick around ISO 800 it will be the easiest to switch back and forth between S-LOG and none S-LOG.
 
S-Log2 mode has a base ISO of 3200 so I dare you to record @ 800 ^^
3200 is the sweet spot for slog. anything more and you loose DR. Avoid iso 1600 it has least DR.
 
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jurny said:
S-Log2 mode has a base ISO of 3200 so I dare you to record @ 800 ^^
3200 is the sweet spot for slog. anything more and you loose DR. Avoid iso 1600 it has least DR.
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:tongue: jurny is correct about the DR in slog2

but, to be fair i always figured slog2 at 3200 handled more like it was around 1000~ iso in regards to skin tones. in fact, before i got an external monitor, i would regularly light in neutral at 1600, then switch to slog2 for actual recording.
 
jurny said:
S-Log2 mode has a base ISO of 3200 so I dare you to record @ 800 ^^
3200 is the sweet spot for slog. anything more and you loose DR. Avoid iso 1600 it has least DR.
Click to expand...

I think you both misread what I meant to say.
If I shoot ISO 800 in a none-slog picture profile it is very similar to shooting in S-log with ETTR overexposure of 2 stops. I would need more or less the same amount of ND filtration wether I shoot in ISO 800 none slog or in 3200 slog, two overexposed.

caseywilsondp said:
:tongue: jurny is correct about the DR in slog2

but, to be fair i always figured slog2 at 3200 handled more like it was around 1000~ iso in regards to skin tones. in fact, before i got an external monitor, i would regularly light in neutral at 1600, then switch to slog2 for actual recording.
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Also maybe 3200 in slog handled skintones that way because of the +/- two stops of overexposure? Just guessing here and assuming my guess is false.
 
Ignacy said:
Also maybe 3200 in slog handled skintones that way because of the +/- two stops of overexposure? Just guessing here and assuming my guess is false.
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Personally I think plus 2 is too much. You start to run the risk of getting skin tones dangerously close to clipping depending on your scene. Plus 1 to 1.3 was my personal sweet spot, but truth be told after not too long I began using the shogun and relied more on false colors to accurately light and expose a scene.
 
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