F55: First Time

Also, quick question . I saw this in the manual - this doesn't apply a LUT to the monitor?

MONITOR LUT - P1, P2, P3 - Sets the MLUT when shooting in Cine El mode (which I assume is SLOG2 / S Gamut)
 
Chris Langer said:
With the FS700/FS100 we can change various settings like contrast, detail, hue, etc... When shooting in S-Gamut/SLOG2 I assume all of these are turned off and it applies SLOG2 throughout? If not, what should I set those settings to? On my FS700/FS100 these are called the Picture Profiles.
Click to expand...

I haven't tried but slog2 alone might allow you make some adjustments, once you turn on a gamut (separately through menu) I dont think anything can be changed
 
Yes. The 128 are Pro+. I only specify these because that is Sony's spec. While I am confident in Dennis' and others' experiences with other levels of cards, I just err on the side of conservatism.

Ned
 
Ned just reminded me of something else, if you plan on doing any transfers while shooting you will appreciate the newer cards which transfer faster than the old ones.
 
Chris Langer said:
Also, quick question . I saw this in the manual - this doesn't apply a LUT to the monitor?

MONITOR LUT - P1, P2, P3 - Sets the MLUT when shooting in Cine El mode (which I assume is SLOG2 / S Gamut)
Click to expand...

Those LUTs are only in CineEI mode which is only available when shooting raw using the AXS-R5.

If you are shooting XAVC there are no LUTs available. If you are shooting slog2+sgamut and want to expose for it properly be sure you can adjust the brightness/contrast on whatever VF or Monitor you are using. Depending on the scene images might appear "ok" in your monitor but otherwise if you're shooting in lower light conditions or high contrast scenes images will be so dark that you won't see them well. You could be inclinded to open your iris but you risk shooting out of the sweet spot of slog2.

As mentioned earlier in this post with slog2 a white card reflecting 90% sits at 60% and middle grey 50% sits down at 32%. These levels are so squashed together that really if you are going for consistency from shot to shot and changing camera/lighting setups a lot you will not want to use a monitor as any kind of gauge. I would strongly suggest using a 3G-SDI external monitor with waveform, it is your best tool to look at the details of the meat of the signal which will be 0-50 IRE.
 
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The Sony F55 was amazing. It was a great tool to work with on set and was super easy to learn. The range on this camera is insane even for the 4K XAVC internally. We were using Zeiss STD primes and the lenses held up quite nicely. I am really excited to see where this camera goes with firmware and the support Sony gives it over the next year or two. I also am wondering what others have thought about the Sony F5 and how it compares to the F55. Is it basically the same thing minus some big things like internal 4K and the shutter? It seems the F5 is quite the camera if the F55 is any indication.

I have attached some grabs from the past weekend. I did some light color correction just so you weren't looking at flat images. Let me know what you think! When the short is released, I will post it on here for comments/critiques. Thank you everyone for helping me through this camera. I was able to pick it up from the rental house and hit the ground running that night with our first practice setup.

Thanks again!
Chris

995926_10152964782360366_247174742_n.jpg1001749_10152964782785366_450205769_n.jpg1044366_10152964782440366_1873682562_n.jpg
 
Really great looking grabs!

F5/55 differences. Shutter and internal 4K as you point out. F55 also has the S-Gamut as well as a wider gamut sensor (more like the F65). I think there is a big difference between the two cameras and any number of potential F5 buyers I know have decided that the F55 is well worth the difference for the kind of work they need. Having said that, the F5 is no lightweight.

Ned Soltz
 
Hey Chris, glad things worked out well with your shoot and the F55 lived up to your expectations.

I'd be curious to know what you used to gauge exposure, what iso you shot with, and if you decided to shoot in slog2 mode.

Your stills look great so far, looking forward to seeing more. My only critique on lighting itself would be in the first frame, on my display device at least, the background is very black and I might have lit something in the background just to add some depth to the scene and see what's back there. But I'm well aware how expensive it can be to light night exteriors, as I did on the last film i DP'd.
 
Hey guys,
Thanks for the comments on the screen grabs. They are a tad bit dark but in the original file, you can see detail in the background. I always try to create depth in a night scene when I need to. I didn't add much depth to the guy pushing down on another guys chest because I wanted it to feel enclosed around what was happening. During the camp scene, you can see the trees in the background.

I shot everything around 1250 ISO and used Zebras, light meter, and some of the monitor to gauge exposure. I shot in the SLOG2 / S-GAMUT mode like everyone said to, and the files look really good. Lots of room in post to move things around.

For the night scene we had two HMI's to use on our grip truck so we utilized those for most of our night stuff. During the daytime we used flags, reflectors, and defusers to modify the sun and brought in an HMI for extra pop where I needed it. I always enjoy lighting during the night because you start with a blank canvas and build up your lighting to what you want. During the daytime you battle with what the sun gives you at the moment of lighting and try to either fight with it or work with it.

I think we are going to work on getting a teaser trailer out soon and then the final short film by August. Let me talk to my director, may be able to release some clips privately to you guys so you can see some stuff.

Thanks,
Chris
 
oops sorry I do see your background now, I was initially looking on my mobile device which does tend to show things darker but here on my computer I see a tree back there now! sorry for my earlier comment.

Are you planning to edit using the 4k XAVC files directly or use proxies, and are you planning to grade within your NLE software or going to something else for color/grading like Davinci?

Cheers
 
Dennis,
My camera operator is editing it in Premiere and we are going to use the XAVC files natively and change the resolution in the viewer to speed things up. We are also going to try to use Speedgrade for color-grading because we do not have the funds to purchase Da Vinci Resolve. We have used it before on 1080p work but since this is 4K, we had to make a new workflow. I don't really color-grade within the NLE, I like having more control in other programs.

If I post a few clips, I will try to color-grade them how I would like the film to look when its finished. Do a before and after type deal. Those screenshots were just simple Photoshop edits.

Chris
 
What kind of computing power is your editor using and how responsive is he finding Premiere CC editing 4k XAVC?

For the last film I DP'd we are using proxy based workflow because the editor is using CS5.5 but also it was much easier to give him 12GB for 3.5 hours of footage (instead of 500GB) and I just get an XML file back and grade in Resolve, then output him HD, 2k or 4k files he just puts back in the edit, etc..
 
He has a nice setup that runs the files natively pretty well. We are going to use Adobe Premiere CC to edit this film. If it starts to bog down, we will probably make proxies to relink up later with the full resolution.
 
This is an extremely informative thread; the best I have read so far about this camera. Thank you everyone for your input.

One recurring comment I saw was to shoot in S-Log2 and S-Gamut. I wasn't aware 2 settings needed to be utilized. I thought S-Log 2 was just 1 setting... what does S-Gamut do, and if the F5 doesn't have it, what other setting would replace S-Gamut on that cam?

Thanks,
Adam
 
Hi Adam,

Yes the F55 has a different CFA on it which gives it an extended gamut, according to Sony's marketing "exceeding the color space of even film" and "adhering to the ACES specification". Anyway, to activate it you have to enable it under "color space" in "base setting" buried deep in the System menu option.

The F5 does not have an extended color gamut and there would be nothing to replace it since the F5 uses a CFA more like the F3 which is more within REC709 color space.
 
S-Log2 transposes the linear values of the sensor to log values so that a greater range of stops can be stored. S-Gamut is the native color gamut of the sensor and is wider than REC 709 (I don't believe Sony has specified exactly how wide).

In short, log effects the range of stops, and gamut effects the range of colors.

Cheers.
 
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