F55: F35 and F55 - sLog3 Video and Experiences - Ballet Video

[TheWakePlace.com]

So anyone who has followed previous posts knows that i am a proud owner of a F35, and i have been working with that camera for a couple of years now. I have been quite ignorant of the other sony offerings, as the look from the cameras was not to my liking. But playing with the F55 for the last few months has been interesting. I have maybe grown to like its commercial image with the sLog3, and decided to shoot a little ballet video with it:

https://vimeo.com/122065898




I am still playing with the camera in extreme lighting situations and last night experimented with my Arri 2k Fresnel to see what the extreme light tolerances are of the F55. Low light isn't even an issue anymore with any of these modern cameras, but how they clip is a much more important thing to learn about your cameras sensor i think. The image is kind of close to the F35, but the F35 smokes the F55 for highlight tolerances and capability. I will post comparisons soon...

For the video above i shot the internal 4K into the F55 and did not use the raw recorder. Lenses were Zeiss PL Superspeeds. Camera was mounted on a crane the whole time too. 1250EI sLog3....

I will post more as i discover more...

 

[Doug Jensen]

The cinematography is very nice, but either a lot of it was underexposed or the grading wasn't handled properly in post. Hard to say which one is the source of the problem. A lot of it, particularly every shot of the feet has a lot of noise. And a lot of her skin, particularly in the overhead shots, has a plastic look to it. But then other shots are just fine. Very inconsistent, but you'll learn and improve the more you use the camera. That's my 2 cents, for whatever it is worth.

 

[Doug Jensen]

The image is kind of close to the F35, but the F35 smokes the F55 for highlight tolerances and capability.

That is a bold statement. Can we assume that you have conducted side-by-side tests between the F35 and the F55 when shooting RAW and/or S-LOG2? What did those test show in actual numbers? If you are comparing the F35 handling to S-LOG3, a lot of cameras can beat the F55. S-LOG3 is awful at highlight handling.

 

[TheWakePlace.com]

Yes, side by side tests... the F35 DR is staggered differently than the F55, highlight detail is quite different. I would not say that it is awful, just a different technology approach. You can really crush blacks with both cameras and get away with maintaining a clean and realistic image. The ballet video shows in the skin tones that if you have the correct makeup and lighting, then the sLog3 allow for that 'plastic' almost HDR or something similar look. Adding the sLog to Rec709 built in LUT in resolve is an instant example of this depending on the scene and what you're trying to get across. I don't want to open a can of worms in terms of stats and figures, not interested in conversations that go on and on like that They're different tools for sure, and one thing for certain is that you need to be on your game with lighting to get the best out of sLog. Most of the 'tests' we see are either a candle or daylight stuff, so working with it in a lighting situation is quite the fun game... especially with the EI settings on the 55.
Tonight i will be setting a scene with a 2K Arri Fresnel and some Kino 4x4 banks, some haze and a bunch of other elements. I will post when i have the images, and will also set up some more comparison videos so people can see. I think the cameras are around 5yrs apart, but totally different approaches in a really nice way. The F35 has more grit to it, like an old film stock for anyone who remembers shooting 400ASA film, and the F55 for me is a lot harder to work with in certain situations where traditional lights are concerned, it almost sees too much for some scenes and you're working that much harder to achieve your contrast and shadows. Obviously a lot of the 2K and HMI units are designed for film, or were, and applying the more sensitive cameras to this environment is another fun game. Dion Beebe and Deakins mentioned something about this in the hollywood reporter round table, about it being hard to achieve shadows using traditional methods of lighting. hense the 'log' look that we see a lot where there isn't quite a black in the image.
Anyways, i will keep playing and offering up the results. By no means am i suggesting that the ballet video is a perfect example of the F55, just my first shoot with it, lots more to experience! So this isn't a critique request, just something to use as an example for what the camera might be able to see. Loading up the car now for the shoot tonight, will report when i have something....