FS7: First shoot with the FS7

Doug Jensen

Doug Jensen

Carbonite Member
My FS7 arrived earlier this week but I didn't really have time to take it out of the box until yesterday. It was a joy to shoot with last night in an "available-light" situation with many mixed light sources after dark. I must say that it lived up to all my expectations for being easy to shoot with handheld -- even with a lens that weighs more than the camera itself. There's no doubt that FS7 is going to make a great companion to my F55. Too bad it doesn't have S-LOG2 yet because I'm not happy with the look of S-LO3, especially at night. But it will get better next time!


http://vimeo.com/111380009
 
So far this is my favorite footage seen from the FS7- well shot, great composition and love the use of slomo. Personally I like the image quality, considering how bright those torches must have made the faces of the vets, the dynamic range of the camera seems to handle it well. Only thing I would change is the music- maybe replace with an orchestral patriotic score. Maybe something like this:

http://www.revostock.com/Stock-Music/53405/Our-Flag-Seamless-loop.htm
 
Is Slog2 supposed to be introduced with a firmware upgrade in early 2015? i hope so, only so that it will make it easier to intercut various Sony cameras. That should be seen as a big plus for Sony marketing. I hope they realize that instead of using it as way to distinguish lines. I don't have any opinion on the merits of 2 or 3 personally.

What i noticed about the video aside from the nice movies was how pleasing the overexposed faces looked . That's always the biggest problem with video in my experience and here they just look natural and gentle .
 
I do believe Sony has Slog2 on the roadmap for a January firmware update. I can't remember where I read that exactly but it was listed in the update with true 4K and pro res (for module).
 
Thank you Doug for posting this. I've never used Slog3 (I'm still on the first S-Log with my F31): What about slog3 is problematic?

Thanks.
 
Doug Jensen said:
My FS7 arrived earlier this week but I didn't really have time to take it out of the box until yesterday. It was a joy to shoot with last night in an "available-light" situation with many mixed light sources after dark. I must say that it lived up to all my expectations for being easy to shoot with handheld -- even with a lens that weighs more than the camera itself. There's no doubt that FS7 is going to make a great companion to my F55. Too bad it doesn't have S-LOG2 yet because I'm not happy with the look of S-LO3, especially at night. But it will get better next time!


http://vimeo.com/111380009
Click to expand...

Thanks for the great video, Doug. I'm looking forward to the FS7 instructional video mentioned at the end of the video. Since the FS7 would be a bit of a step-up for me, I hope the instructional video explains not only what features do, but why I would or wouldn't want to use them for a given situation.
 
skimmel said:
Thank you Doug for posting this. I've never used Slog3 (I'm still on the first S-Log with my F31): What about slog3 is problematic?
Thanks.
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For one thing, highlights top out at 95% and clipping begins. No matter what you do, nothing can exceed 95 IRE anywhere in the picture. Secondly, the midtones are elevated and it can be a real ***** to put them back where they are supposed to be. Midtone adjustments are the hardest ones to make. And finally, S-LOG3 pretty much requires the use of a LUT in post to de-log the curve properly. But S-LOG2 is much easier to grade by hand with just a few quick adjustments and the use of a LUT would be optional. I never use a LUT with S-LOG2.

if you're interested, here's some S-LOG2 footage I shot with my F55 last month in Arches National Park. Obviously the shooting environment wasn't as challenging as burning torches on a dark night, but you get the idea. The Arches footage didn't take much effort at all in post and I look forward to that same easy workflow with the FS7 some day.

https://vimeo.com/110962175

.
 
Ken Hull said:
Thanks for the great video, Doug. I'm looking forward to the FS7 instructional video mentioned at the end of the video. Since the FS7 would be a bit of a step-up for me, I hope the instructional video explains not only what features do, but why I would or wouldn't want to use them for a given situation.
Click to expand...

That is the hallmark of all my training videos and books! I spend much more time on the why, why not, what if, than on "push this button". Nobody ever accused me of keeping my opinions to myself.
 
Thanks for the vid, Doug. Though you might not be 100% happy with the footage compared to what you've gotten in the past with other cameras, it's definitely better than what I've come to expect with my DSLR... so for me, it will be a welcomed improvement. And fwiw - i liked your edit, as well.
 
Doug Jensen said:
For one thing, highlights top out at 95% and clipping begins. No matter what you do, nothing can exceed 95 IRE anywhere in the picture. Secondly, the midtones are elevated and it can be a real ***** to put them back where they are supposed to be. Midtone adjustments are the hardest ones to make. And finally, S-LOG3 pretty much requires the use of a LUT in post to de-log the curve properly. But S-LOG2 is much easier to grade by hand with just a few quick adjustments and the use of a LUT would be optional. I never use a LUT with S-LOG2.

if you're interested, here's some S-LOG2 footage I shot with my F55 last month in Arches National Park. Obviously the shooting environment wasn't as challenging as burning torches on a dark night, but you get the idea. The Arches footage didn't take much effort at all in post and I look forward to that same easy workflow with the FS7 some day.

https://vimeo.com/110962175

.
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Thanks Doug. And, by the way, that is some seriously steady camera handholding! You clearly have a ton of experience doing this.
 
Thank you for the compliment, but I have to admit that I used Premiere's warp stabilizer on two shots: 2:06 and 3:37. That is an amazing tool and almost gives it a steadicam or drone look as the camera sweeps in.
http://vimeo.com/111380009
 
Hi Doug,

Nice to know you are back. I am going to hold off on the FS7 till your video is out so I can get up to speed quickly and go right into production with the camera.

Be interested if Sony let you borrow a few of their lens for the training video?
 
Nice work Doug! Look forward to your future contributions as I wind down my FS100 and consider moving down the road to this exciting camera.
 
Doug Jensen said:
Thank you for the compliment, but I have to admit that I used Premiere's warp stabilizer on two shots: 2:06 and 3:37. That is an amazing tool and almost gives it a steadicam or drone look as the camera sweeps in.
http://vimeo.com/111380009
Click to expand...


I was just about to ask as I thought so on one of those. Beautiful stuff. I haven't seen very much of this type of rich saturated look yet. Many others have been graded so lightly. It's a pleasant and welcome addition to what's coming out. Thanks. Also that Arches video is crazy fantastic. Thanks for sharing them.
 
Doug, you responded to my comment about the base ISO, but said that it's 800 in Cine EI mode.

It was my understanding that in Cine EI mode, while using an MLUT, you can set your "EI" rating to a certain ISO (said, EI 500, EI 800, etc) and it will show you what the shot will look like if you darken the footage to that exposure rating. Long story short, even when you shoot EI 500 in CineEI mode, you see a darker "ISO 500" shot in the viewfinder but the camera will record ISO 2000 Slog3 to the card. Then it's up to you to darken the shot to achieve the look you saw when monitoring in EI 500.

Am I mistaken? Or did you apply an MLUT to the internal recording for this video (therefore allowing yourself to burn-in an EI 800 image to the XAVC file).
 
Sorry Josh, I think you are misunderstanding a few things about how Cine EI works. First of all, I never apply an MLUT in the viewfinder because that would interfere with my ability to accurately set the exposure. Second, I would NEVER record a MLUT in any circumstances. The video I saw in my viewfinder looked exactly like the video I recorded and saw in post Prior to grading the footage.

With the camera set to Cine EI and S-LOG3, the base ISO is 800 and that is what the camera will always record in Cine EI. Even if you turn on an MLUT in the viewfinder (which I never do) and even if you change then EI value, the camera is only going to record at the base ISO setting. Adjusting Cine EI up or down is just smoke and mirrors and changes nothing in the actual recorded video. The only thing that changes is the metadata.
In CIne EI that base setting is 800. In Custom Mode the base ISO can go up to 2000, but it totally depends on the gamma choice and could be much lower than 2000.

That's the best explanation I give you in a forum like this, but I do go into much more detail in my F55 book and my forthcoming FE7 training video.
 
I was under the understanding that Cine EI locked the camera at the native ISO of the sensor which on FS7 like F5 is ISO2000. This was stated in a seminar with Alister Chapman and repeated again by a sony rep when I was checking out he FS7 in person at a trade show.
 
RatLabProductions said:
I was under the understanding that Cine EI locked the camera at the native ISO of the sensor which on FS7 like F5 is ISO2000. This was stated in a seminar with Alister Chapman and repeated again by a sony rep when I was checking out he FS7 in person at a trade show.
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Yeah, same here. I just poured over the FS7 manual and found no reference to base ISO, but I know Alister Chapman has said it before and it's been reported in several blogs. Just curious as to where Doug got his info.
 
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