Advice for FS700 user not shooting with any PPs...pros and cons?

S

SGM

Active member
I'm doing a feature next week and I'm thinking of using the stock image of the camera and not using any PP's because I don't do much color grading and I'm getting frustrated with having not much knowledge of the PP's to where I don't want to mess up my image. So my question is does anyone else shoot not using PP's and what are the pros and cons of doing so?

I'm not going to even attempt for this feature to delve into the Picture Profiles with such limited time and practice. I didn't buy the camera for the PP use and I've come from the world of DSLRs to where there were no PP's on it.

Any help is appreciated on keeping the artifacts, noise, etc down to a minimum?

Things I am not changing:

ISO, keeping it at 500, not going above what the lowest is.
Using color temperature to get the color I want (either blue-ish or brightish)

Thoughts?
 
Seeing as its all in the same family, I think you will enjoy this thread I wrote which partially covers use of cinegammas. http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/showthread.php?281862-The-absolutely-amazing-Sony-F3&highlight=amazing

Also attached are the curves to the various cine gammas (courtesy Abelcine) which is also a quick reference guide I put together to help visualize where the dynamic range of the camera is going, as well as the various positions of middle grey for each curve. http://www.starcentral.ca/Sony PMW.pdf

If you don't feel like reading any of this, I can only suggest you DON'T shoot using the standard REC709 for your feature film. You will get more apparent dynamic range by using the cinegammas so that's what I would advise. I would also advise NOT TO use CineGamma 2 because it clips white hard at 100IRE (meant to be a legal signal) whereas the other cinegammas go over 100% IRE. (look at the PDF I linked here you will see what I mean).
 
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Do NOT use the stock setting. It is Awful. Cinegammas are great and if you don't want to grade much just do a simple levels and maybe add a bit of Saturation. It literally takes about 1 minute per shot if even that. Not sure why anyone would not grade their project. Grading is almost as crucial as the camera itself IMO.
 
gene_can_sing said:
Do NOT use the stock setting. It is Awful. Cinegammas are great and if you don't want to grade much just do a simple levels and maybe add a bit of Saturation. It literally takes about 1 minute per shot if even that. Not sure why anyone would not grade their project. Grading is almost as crucial as the camera itself IMO.
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What PP settings do you use for a) overcast and b) sunny days? I would be doing slight color grading nothing heavy.
 
I mainly use Cinegamma 1 for almost everything, but seeing the amazing stuff James Varner is getting with Cinegamma 4, I think I'm going to give that a spin. But I know it has way more with James being a Bad Ass DP than any profile.
 
gene_can_sing said:
I mainly use Cinegamma 1 for almost everything, but seeing the amazing stuff James Varner is getting with Cinegamma 4, I think I'm going to give that a spin. But I know it has way more with James being a Bad Ass DP than any profile.
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I would like to test out your Pp settings. Can you message me them or post them? I am willing to give it a spin and tweak them.
 
Honestly, I don't do much. I just set it on Cine 1, use Cinema as the color mode, Detail = -4 and maybe a few minor tweaks and that's it. James Varner says does very little with his settings and he's getting amazing stuff.

There's been lots of discussions about this lately, but if you're on a Mac and using Quicktime based NLEs which clips the whites and blacks, I would recommend either transcoding your footage with 5DtoRGB for the full range or remapping Output levels in your NLE to 15-235 instead of 0-255 when color correcting. That makes a huge difference in how the footage looks and the dynamic range.
 
I'm far far far from a pro, but i would definitely take Gene's advice and be sure NOT to shoot with "no profile". The Cinegammas are a main reason to use the FS700 and you'll instantly get better footage just by using them.

I tend to use Cinegamma 1 indoors or in lowlight, and green screen to try and avoid noise. Cinegamma 4 on the brightest sunny days.

I never hear anyone talk about Cinegamma 3, but i've been using that most lately. I feel like it handles highlights almost like Cine 4, but captures a bit more shadow detail. The fact that i don't hear people talk about Cinegamma 3 much makes me second guess that i might be doing something wrong, but to my eye it's nice and has become my favorite for most situations.

All i change in the settings is Detail -2 (unless i'm doing green screen then i bring it up 2).
I'll swap between Pro color and Cine Color sometimes too. Just switch them back and forth and see the difference.
I also find my footage is a bit too "green" for some reason (anyone else?) So i've been messing a bit with color depth to try and get something closer to what i'm seeing in the real world. Taking the green down a little bit. Honestly, it depends on the shot.

I have to say again.... i'm far from pro. I just do You Tube as a hobby. These are just some of my findings, mixed with info i've read around the forums.
 
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