FS7: Color science comparison between FS7, Alpha7S and Canon C300

HI,

thanks for the test.
Not really surprising but good to see this anyway.
Of course graded footage will look different though.

The FS7 is a DR monster but has noise reduction shut of
in cineEI mode. This makes it look more noisy than with NR.
 
Thank you for taking the time to build such an extensive comparisons of the cameras and how they behave.

I am curious as to why you chose the High DR (which I assume is actually Wide DR) on the C300 instead of using the LOG like you did on the A7 and FS7?
 
Nice test. I mainly looked at the side by side on the graded test. IMO, the FS7 was nicer than both the C300 and the A7s. On the properly exposed comparison, there was considerably more subtlety in the FS7 tones, probably because of the higher DR. There was just a nicer transition on the face from the darks to the highlights. The C300 was more contrasty.

i know Canon is known for great skin tones, but I actually preferred the more muted skin on the FS7 than the C300 and the A7s, both of which were nice, but looked slightly more artificial IMO. on the overexposed and underexposed, FS7 by a mile. Much better than both cameras.

i was really surprised by how different the FS7 and the A7s looked. We're they both S-Log? If so, I definately prefer S-Log 3 over S-Log 2.

thanks again for the tests.
 
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Thanks for the tests and charts - very useful knowledge. I especially liked that you compared the FS7 to itself, with different profiles and exposure levels. :)
 
Hi Macaholic,
this is the answer from Roberto Cimatti, owner of the Canon C300 and a much appreciated Italian AIC cinematographer
"I read some reviews of Art Adams, Andy Shipsides and Nathan Blair and for this test their articles convinced me to use Wide DR Gamma. I think in some cases it is easier to get good results in color correction. Also by using Wide DR Gamma I need to use less light, compared to C Log, achieving greater saturation in the image.
 
dustylense said:
C300 skin tones for the win...
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Really? I guess skin is in the of the beholder and everyone just sees differently. I wonder if the C300 skintones would have looked different with Log-C? The skintone color looked a bit stylized to me. Maybe because it's 8-Bit, but the C300 image just looked thin compared to the FS7. There just seemed to be more information in the FS7.

It will be interesting to see everyone's reactions as everyone has such different preferences
 
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I preferred the FS7 skintones also, but I'm a bit biased as I'm on the waiting list. Wish I could view this comparison without Vimeo compression on a studio monitor rather than a computer monitor, it would be easier then to form an opinion.
 
I was about to comment that I failed to see how this is a comparison of the color science, but then I finished reading the bottom of your Part 1 article. Doesn't really make sense comparing LOG footage to the C300's HighDR setting, which as far as I can tell is still contrasty and saturated compared to SLog3 or Hypergamma. Part 2 should be much more telling, comparing the de-LOG'd footage and see how much latitude you get with the over/under shots.
 
Hi jshbckr,
within tomorrow I should finish writing part 3 of the article where I tell about the grading process and the major differences between cameras. It's taking me a lot of time since I am also completing a couple of projects and English is definitely not my first language. I see your point though.
 
Tnwonder said:
Final part (3) with conclusions.

http://wp.me/p3touo-rb

Hope to hear what you guys think about it.
Cheers
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I'm one of those who don't see any sense in comparing LOG footage to the C300's HighDR setting. The reason for this choice you provided earlier in the thread (and hints in this regard in your Part 3) makes even less sense (IMHO). But looking at your footage I'm kind of happy that I still shoot with C300 (even if I never use anything other than C-log or its offsprings).
 
Out test didn't only compare Sony log footage with Canon C300 HDR but also HG2 preset for FS7 and PP4 for A7S. I used Canon C300 just once and I cannot say I know the camera and its features. Hence I relied on the hints my cinematographer friend gave us about C300 since he has been using it for quite some time now. Moreover, as far as I know, C-Log is not even a real log recording therefore I think your point (sylin) is quite debatable. Anyway, footage is online, graded and ungraded... you might see something we don't see and viceversa. My judgement about color science is purely subjective and there's no need you agree with it.
 
you guys have done the best work yet on compariing the fs7 to the c300 and a7s. thank you so much for making this test.
 
Man, when I first saw the -3 FS7 Slog3 footage, I thought "yeah... that's pretty noisy." Then I saw the the C300 and A7s! Those were significantly noisier.

And you say you used the color checker in Resolve to match all the shots but I was perplexed by the color shifts in the C300 colors. That red wall was totally different in all three exposures!
 
Color checker didn't do that great of a job, I know, but it was extremely helpful for finding a somewhat "common" skintone for the three cameras. To tell you the truth I didn't focus on the rest of the colors too much since I mainly wanted to understand how skin colors could match through the different exposures and cameras.
 
dustylense said:
C300 skin tones for the win...
Click to expand...

Nope.

I've shot on the C300 since the day it came out. I received my FS7 in the first shipment. The FS7 is more complex to operate than the C300, but it blows it out of the water in every other respect. Skin tone is far superior straight out of camera than the C300 when using an appropriate Look Profile. And, when it comes to pushing the image around in the grade there is simply no comparison.
 
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