FS7: Best Low Light Settings For FS7

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karma17

Well-known member
I'm wondering about the best low light settings for the FS7. I've studied the issue for a while and there doesn't seem to be a clear consensus. Some say use HG3 and others say S-LOG 2 or even S-LOG 3 is fine. When I say low light situation, I am primarily referring to a very dark scene with no extra available lighting such as a dark alley or side street with maybe one street light or a couple of store fronts. In my own tests, it did seem like HG3 gave cleanest but darkest image and while s-log 3 the brightest, but noisiest; however, the shadows could be brought down to mask it, but then at that point, the image wasn't wildly different from Hypergamma 7.

Do you just shoot in s-log no matter what and clean things up in post or is it better to use one of the hypergammas?

It does seem awkward to have to switch from CINE EI to Custom Mode for a low light situation and I'd prefer to stay in CINE EI once I'm in it.

Thanks!
 
I go with slog3 cine-ei. Basicly the sensor has a certain amount of juice and cine-ei use the most juice the way I see it. The thing with lowlight is
1. Are you gonna underexpose things in your scene?
2. Do you need a clean look?

If you underexpose stuff it will be noisy in slog3 and just pitch black in other profiles. Slog3 and careful, properly set up NR in post is the best IMO but you could also use interbal NR for a quicker but less effecient and more crude effect. Buy a speedbooster and a 1.4 lens will get you pretty far though.

I shot this in slog3 with a boosted 24 and 50 both 1.4

https://youtu.be/q2eV9egVnaA

Only available light.
 
The big question is what will be in your scene. If you don't need a great deal of highlight attitude and you need to use a higher ISO then get of cine EI and Slog altogether. The Hypergammas or even standard gamma will give you extremely quiet blacks at high ISO's . which one depends again on how much highlight attitude you need. HG7 gives you a lot but be careful you don't get flesh tones in the compressed upper part of the curve. I find HG4 to be good if I don't need too much compression at the top and its safer for faces.
 
If it's really dark do yourself a favor and make sure you have the option to switch over to an A7s or A7sii. We always bring one along as a backup, and occasionally it comes in really handy (with a 1.4 or 1.8 prime). I've rated it as high as 80,000 ISO when necessary, but try to keep it no higher than 40,000 ISO. And yes, these are real jobs for paying clients -- who end up being very happy the camera can see into the dark far better than their eyes can (and hire us again because they know we'll be prepared for anything.) Obviously these are situations where we are forbidden to add any light - but being prepared for the worst has saved us more than once.
 
Thanks for sharing that footage. It looks great to me. Wasn't sure what you meant by "interbal NR." Is that the Noise Suppression setting on the FS7?

I like the idea of shooting with the fastest lens possible, but I guess in a low-light situation some areas are bound to be underexposed and therefore noisy. However, isn't it possible to darken the underexposed areas in post and mask the noise? Or do I just use something like Neat Video to try and clean it up?

Honestly, don't like using too much NR in post because it seems to really take a lot of time and processing power.

Thanks again.
 
stokstad said:
I shot this in slog3 with a boosted 24 and 50 both 1.4

https://youtu.be/q2eV9egVnaA

Only available light.
Click to expand...

Boosted 1.4 may give you a lot of light on the sensor but the range of the in-focus subject is very very small. In your sample the necessity becomes a virtue but it won't work for other shots where you need proper focus and more sharpness or depth of field. I'd follow the advice of a A7s II as B- and low light cam.
 
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