Flat profiles with 8-bit cameras?

Bern Caughey

Bern Caughey

Veteran
I tend to use a somewhat flat profile with an eye to grading, but not sure if this is best with an 8-bit camera, especially if some of the shadows might be crushed in post.

I'm mostly using the AF100 with Abel Cine Tech's "Range" scene file, & it's worked well for a wide variety of scenarios. We showed footage to Panasonic/LA, & they thought it was a good choice, but I wonder if I'm introducing banding, &/or leaving less information to describe the mids, & especially the highlights.

Thanks,
Bern
 
Unless it's documentary, I control the light, but often not the grade. Most my projects are fast paced, & multi-cam, so need to rely on operators to nail their exposure, which can get tricky.

Even on a stage I light relatively contrasty, where the flatter profile usually work well, but might be willing to change up , & if needed, add fill.
 
The flat profile doesn't introduce banding with sufficiently high precision input data. Transfer curves don't create banding, no matter how flat they are. If you see banding in the source footage this is due to blocks quantization and crappy compression, not because of a particular transfer curve. That said, banding can appear in post when the range is stretched (increasing contrast).
But yes, you are losing tonality in the mids. This article on flat transfer curves is based on Canon cameras, but applies to any 8-bit camera.
 
If you shoot 8 bit and deliver 8 bit there is NO space to grade (because there are no exrtra steps available - there just are not - any grade will band there is no intermediate tone to find)

Sack off the flat profiles, get it right in camera

Or at least shoot too contrasty and too saturated, and dial down and desat in post,

Desaturating does not break a file because you need less steps than you have, same with crushing the toe (ish)

If the information is not there, its not there.

I have had extensive e-mails with Abel in attempts to persuade them that 8bit profiles developed with a stoufer wedge are fools gold that work fine on a Stepped Chart but are useless in tonal rendition which they do not test in any way, I would not go near an Abel profile.

And get a reflector, and some different operators!

(ducks down prepares for abuse!)

S
 
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I mean of course there is a little bit of space to grade really, because, you dont notice banding in complex scenes, and also lack of resolution compression artifacts and noise become more 'noisy' than banding

But on a tonal wall, there really is no space.. at all

S
 
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