AF100 - First Screenshots

Thanks guys...very encouraging. I was talking to a friend and told him the reason I get a little worried when I look at the waveform is it's not uncommon to see the majority of my shot end up int he 55IRE or below range. For some reason my brain sees something at 50IRE or 30-40IRE and goes (ahh! It's gonna be dark!). But, I get home and find that it's really not that dark at all. It's not black but it's not bright, it's just well exposed. It seems a good rule of them depending on the subject is to have 20% or less of the image in the 70IRE+ range...because it's likely you're overexposing (unless you have a ton of sky or something specific that would make this statement false).

Is that fair to say?
 
I have been noticing the exact same thing. I expose an image i find pleasing on the lcd, nothing bright, but nothing dark, because i find skin too bright on video looks really videoish. Then i click waveform and notice the same thing, most of the image is under 60 ire or sometimes around 50 ire. So i take a couple of seconds of video and then for fun bring everything up to around 65 70 ire. When compared in the editor, with some minor color adjustment, the darker image both holds up better, looks more natural and more "film like". Learning learning :)
 
DO NOT TRUST the image on the LCD. I did the first day I tested the camera and everything was at least a stop overexposed!
 
Definitely don't trust the LCD image; trust the zebras and the waveform. And yes, I think the early rounds of AF100 shooters were addicted to shooting overexposed for whatever reason -- either the LCD was showing the image darker than they liked, or whatever. And overexposure is just bad bad bad bad bad on video. It's what causes the blown-out highlights and the yellow skintones and all that. So don't do it! Expose properly. All your skintones should be BELOW 70. Only the very hottest reflections of direct light on the whitest/fairest skintones should even hit 70. Everything else should be in the 50's-60's. Keep it there and you'll probably start loving your AF100 footage.
 
Barry_Green said:
Keep it there and you'll probably start loving your AF100 footage.
Click to expand...

Way ahead of you ;) I've dialed in my EVF to be more proper exposure wise so in the sun when my LCD will show me something darker I can get a more trustworthy picture of my image. I still don't trust it but it's good for occasional reassurance that things are fine. I haven't been able to figure out a way to see the Waveform on the EVF, is that possible? Out in the sun it's tough to even see the waveform let alone anything else.
 
It seems a good rule of them depending on the subject is to have 20% or less of the image in the 70IRE+ range...because it's likely you're overexposing (unless you have a ton of sky or something specific that would make this statement false).

Is that fair to say?
Click to expand...

I dont think thats quite correct or the best way to think about it. Its subject dependent and also what you are trying to achieve creatively.
Shooting inthe snow will be diiferent to shoting in a coalmine for example.

High key, low key, noire etc are creative decisions and exposure requirements are different. Therefore the wfm will appear different.


Excuse me if you already know this Kyle but heres a tip:


Start thinking and seeing everything tonal (and forget color.) Look at the subject / scene and consider the parts of it and where everything appears as part of the tonal range.

Black, Mid (grey) , White. ie.Shadow , mid tones, highlights. All these are represented accurately on the wfm so you need to make the decision where you place the specific tone on the scale. ( EXPOSURE) .

Do a bit of test time shooting a correctly exposed Grey scale card and a include a subject such as a face. Bracket your exposures and watch where the tones shift.

Familiarise with tones and the gray scale.
Its the key to exposure and control. Its the key to shape and modelling. Its the key to CC and grade.
Its the key to our abilty to see things.

(You can see something that is not colored but you can not see something that has absolutely no tones.)
 
Yes I understand, thanks for the tip. I did mean that comment of mine on a "by subject basis." The only reason I said it was that in almost every circumstance I've found myself in outside, 70 and lower has been the greatest compromise for exposure/dynamic range with this particular camera. Higher and it starts to emphasize hot colors / tones on things like sidewalks or anything in direct sunlight. I've found it really rare even when I've lit something specifically to expose much higher than 70 because most of the time there's a face in the shot. If I had 100% control that's a different story but I'm mixing an uncontrolled source with a controlled one a lot. Only on shots of objects where it's completely my light have I been able to push it a bit more and touch the top and bottom of the scale really well.

My older camera setup I had used for so long that I learned exactly how it would respond to what kinds of light and what values. Most of the time I nailed exposure without a ton of effort and no waveform to speak of, just basic zebras and by eye on a calibrated monitor on set. It probably would've looked crazy to some who use waveforms but now I don't have much choice. I'm totally okay with that though as the AF is the camera I've chosen and provides me with that kind of tool. I would be stupid to NOT use it and learn how to read it properly. Color-correction and a waveform were always like PB and J for me but adding it to my shooting side of things has taken some getting used to.

Thanks again for the information. It's all a learning process.
 
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