A7S + Ninja Blade

R

Ryan Lightbourn

Well-known member
I'm about to start production on a feature, and I'll be using the A7S + Shogun as A-cam.

There are two early days that we're shooting next month, and since I most likely have the Shogun in time, I was wondering if the Ninja Blade would be a worthwhile temp. solution? I've seen very little in terms of comparison (XAVC S vs. HD ProRes), aside from people who've used the CYP 4K downscaler, but I don't want to bother with that setup (or spend the money since I won't be using it for very long).

How close is XAVC S to 8-bit ProRes (HQ)...am I going to see much of a difference in post? I know it's not H265, and I remember how disappointed I was when testing the FS-100's internal AVCHD vs. ProRes on a Ninja.

Any advice is appreciated.

Thanks!
 
imho in HD you'll only see a difference when grading. you'll be pulling better keys with 4:2:2. don't forget to budget neat video in order to smooth out that 8bit slog and filmconvert to regrain.
 
I already own Neat video & FilmConvert. Grading is 100% what I'm interested in (I guess I should have specified). So will Slog2 hold up better in ProRes when adding curves, pushing shadows/highlights, changing saturation, etc? There won't be any keying that I know of.

Thanks for your advice & generously donating your first post to my thread!
 
If grading is what you're into then how can you say that there won't be any keying? :D No secondaries for you?
I don't think you're going to see much difference with prores because it's still 8bit. Banding is the new boogie man.

shogun will give you that 4k sharpness (after downscaling to HD) and more color for Implulz. 4k might lessen the banding (after downscaling) but it will still be there. XAVC is a very robust codec so I don't think you'll see much of a diference if you record in HD only.

after my almost 2 months with this camera I would love to have a shogun just for getting sharp shots and onset luts. the dof on this camera is just crazy shallow with f/1.8. I'm starting to understand why the 24-70 zeiss lens is f/4. That's a bare minimum for a dialogue scene @ 50mm.

I'm shooting mostly with nikon 24-70 f/2.8 and dof @2.8 IS shallow. focus pulling on this small screen is a pita

edit:
I'm looking @ my weekend tests atm. Prores should really help you in slow mo. That's when XAVC-s breaks for me.
 
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The budget is very small...The footage will probably just be normalized with curves, then tweaked with highlight & shadow adjustments for subtle looks (the director wants warm mids, cool highlights, and slightly cool shadows). I just don't want the footage from the 2 1080p days crumbling in post. It's being finished in HD luckily...not UHD or 4K. No slow mo unfortunately, so that won't matter but it'll be great to have for some music videos I'm shooting next month.

I'm really excited about the Shogun too. Coming from Red, Blackmagic and GH4, this camera feels incomplete without it. My Ikan D5w is garbage with Slog. I usually peek at the shot without a profile just to get some idea of what it may look like after Resolve. I'm using an array of Zeiss Nikon lenses and the Sony/Zeiss 35mm 2.8. I mostly stick at around 2.8-4 minimum (even on faster lenses). Overly shallow DOF became a cheapo look once the 5DII hit the video world.
 
i'm curious tho if you will get highlight fringing with ext recorder... do let us know :) i shot a sunset in a foggy forest last weekend and it turned out just ugly imho
 
Oh ****...that's not good. I'll do some testing and let you know what I find (probably won't have it in my hands for another week or 2 though).
 
One area where an external recorder would be useful is when you're running high ISO and it's dark. The XAVC doesn't appear to cope that well with really noisy footage so having that little bit extra compression seems to help there.

cheers
Paul
 
paulcurtis said:
One area where an external recorder would be useful is when you're running high ISO and it's dark. The XAVC doesn't appear to cope that well with really noisy footage so having that little bit extra compression seems to help there.

cheers
Paul
Click to expand...

Thanks Paul, that's one of the main things I was hoping for...just hadn't seen or heard of anyone testing it out.
 
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