FS7: another Sony Look or not thread

Unless Im much mistaken all those LED toys can just add emergency sparkle to get you out of jail which is what Len has done here. I have a Dled 4.1 that is the best light you can get in the sticks bag and run off a Vlock but it is really just a toy if you go to battle with the sun.

Id say an actual 'nice' light with a proper flattering 'wrap' and non blown windows with a custom profile probably starts at a joker 400 or a gelled blond through a 8.4 scrim or (and this is what Im saving for/investigating) one of the remote phosphor leds that pull 100-200 watts.

In stills I use something called a Qflash which is highly portable and has more kick than a 2.5k HMI but goes in a satchel. A very bad place to learn lighting for video!

S
 
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Well, I own an Arri L7c here which is my 'nice' light, and it's pretty much the greatest fixture out there if you don't mind the weight - proper fresnel, infinitely variable colour temp, red/green tint and hue, but I've probably conducted over 200 paid interviews using the F&V ringlights. They're also great for taped to a 99p paper lantern to make a great china ball.

Seen them used on plenty of features too. I really wouldn't refer to them as toys just because they're a decent price. Admittedly the L-7c is a different price point altogether.

The Icelight thing is bloody amazing for the price too.


This is a single £100 icelight thingy in tungsten mode

Sony FS7 and COntax Zeiss interview screengrabs by Ben Scott, on Flickr


And in daylight mode

Sony FS7 and Contax Zeiss interview screengrabs by Ben Scott, on Flickr

Sony FS7 and COntax Zeiss interview screengrabs by Ben Scott, on Flickr



Ringtone - A short film by Ben Scott, on Flickr
 
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Yep agreed on all fronts. The L7c looks to be a proper thing.

Coming back to the thread 'is Custom horrid?' - I think really it depends on the lighting package. Custom doesnt have to be horrid.. when some £2g fixtures come to the party or you shoot exclusively at golden hour/in the shade.

S
 
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morgan_moore said:
battle with the sun.
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Isn't the knack knowing which battles you can win and to no pick a fight with the fusion reactor in the sky?

I can just imagine more than a few corporate clients being a little put off by a portable sun turned on them so the window in the background can be exposed correctly!

Eat my lux wideboy in a suit!
 
Ben you added the nice grabs. The ice does seem to be just adding some (valued) sparkle, unlike Lens shot which was basically a dark room. You are using a profile that has nice roll off on those blown elements in the BG. Not sure about the colours which to me seem a little grey. Id say those shots are 'modern' in that you are basically lifting the ambient a touch and presenting a fairly desat final.

Nirv - I think a pretty big light through an 8.4 is not too bad for the talent?

S
 
Thanks for moving this conversation to what makes for good face lighting and away from custom vs cine EI . That's what I was trying accomplish .its a big subject & I'll weigh in later . By the way tho , my shots of the woman were not for a shoot They were camera tests to look at latitude & color and camera settings . I would never light a woman that way.
 
morgan_moore said:
Ben you added the nice grabs. The ice does seem to be just adding some (valued) sparkle, unlike Lens shot which was basically a dark room. You are using a profile that has nice roll off on those blown elements in the BG. Not sure about the colours which to me seem a little grey. Id say those shots are 'modern' in that you are basically lifting the ambient a touch and presenting a fairly desat final.

Nirv - I think a pretty big light through an 8.4 is not too bad for the talent?

S
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Cheers, to be honest I bought them (2 x ebay icelights) on a whim as they were flicker free and I needed something for a 240fps job. I've genuinely been surprised by how much use they have been getting, hence championing them everywhere. Plus you get to pretend to be a jedi and you can't put a price on that!

All shots slog3cine / Cine-EI. The last one graded that way to suit the narrative, obviously :)

Right, that's all my off-topic stuff done.

Len, I'm on board with you. The camera works many ways. In fact it can work in many ways to get to the same final image. But none of it is worth a lick if one doesn't know how to expose properly for their workflow, which is why a lot of people need to stop blaming the camera for their mistakes. It's almost like one should be able to install a firmware which locks out certain features until people pass a test.
 
Dafilman21 said:
@Ben Scott which F&V Ring light are you using?
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I have 2 of these

http://www.fvlight.eu/r300-led-ring-light.html

with the optional mains adapters and both the light stand AND rail adapters in case I actually want to use them as ringlights for a change!

Also have the milk white diffusion filter, although recently bought and loved the softbox they sell for it. http://www.fvlight.eu/soft-box-and-bracket-for-r-300-led-ring-light.html




The Chinese ebay Icelight ripoffs I use are these

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/LED516AS-...ED-Light-Camera-Video-Car-Light-/371093676466
 
Ben Scott said:
I have 2 of these

http://www.fvlight.eu/r300-led-ring-light.html

with the optional mains adapters and both the light stand AND rail adapters in case I actually want to use them as ringlights for a change!

Also have the milk white diffusion filter, although recently bought and loved the softbox they sell for it. http://www.fvlight.eu/soft-box-and-bracket-for-r-300-led-ring-light.html




The Chinese ebay Icelight ripoffs I use are these

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/LED516AS-...ED-Light-Camera-Video-Car-Light-/371093676466
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Thanks for the links.

I've used a real IceLight and thought it was nice for a bit of fill light apart from the price. These are much more in the right ballpark and I'd be interested to know the claimed CRI for these wands? Have you noticed any colour casts with either the ring lights or the wand?

I've been renting lights and studios with lights but I do want us to have a set of "emergency" lights and fill lights for use exactly like you've done in the above pictures.

Thinking out loud, I wonder if there is any detectable difference in image when using LED lights and SGamut3 and SGamut3.cine?
 
To be honest CRI doesn't really mean so much when it comes to LEDs as it's less the colour rendition and more the spikes of green that causes issues.

I'd say you could be perfectly happy with them for using them a lightweight run and gun lights. I often use them when shooting on my own or with one other person or if shooting internationally. In terms of green cast - in tungsten mode (on the icelights, or with the tungsten filter on the ringlights) there is zero issue at all and in daylight mode it really is very very slight. to the point that in Premiere CC you're looking at pushing the red/green slider + 3 to 4, as opposed to the +50 I've had with older LED fixtures. I'd say the ringlights are more accurate than the icelights but I've used them together on a shoot with no probs.


You can see the light setup here...

Bibendum Cocktail Making shoot by Ben Scott, on Flickr

Right in front of the guy on the right is the R300 in its softbox.


Afraid I can't help with using different colour spaces etc. I don't piss about with different gamut settings and whatnot. I leave it in sgamut3.cine and then work with that in every circumstance except when doing live streaming.

I often find myself using the R300 in a softbox as a key with one of the Icelights as a backlight. Sometimes I'll mix colour temps and have a warmer backlight on a subject.
 
Ben Scott said:
To be honest CRI doesn't really mean so much when it comes to LEDs as it's less the colour rendition and more the spikes of green that causes issues.
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That's why I wondered if there was a difference between gamuts. The green spike might be much less obvious in cine.

The making of image is exactly what I had in mind.
 
Lenilenapi said:
I would never light a woman that way.
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I see this as about resources.

To give this context (in the EU?) I often move with two bags - one 'checked' the other 'carry on' - the checked bag is sticks and any lighting, the carry on is camera and a couple of lenses.

I feel that operating under 'minimalist' conditions is where a fat codec will come to the fore - as I said before the Sony codecs are doubtless fine if you have the resource package to manage them.

S
 
Playing the other sport at the weekend. Here is a shot (nikond D600 still straight out of camera) with a pile of blown highlights that I just dont think any Sony 'look' could make.. im sure something would have gone nuclear!

_SMM8884.jpg
 
I've moved on from 'custom' chat as I can't contribute to it. #Cine-EI4Life. Or something.

What's that train show? Is it yours and all shot in custom?
 
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