For a Low Light shoot with FX6 / FX9 - best ISO and Color profile settings?

[Doug Jensen]

I've been monitoring with a LUT applied on output, so the waveform only tells me the LUTted IRE levels (so with the camera set to 3200 EI, 6400 EI or 12800 EI - nothing changes waveform wise, the values are measured based on the EI value, not the underlying base ISO mode). Plus I'm still a light meter guy, so for the most part I just set that to the relavant ISO and meter accordingly.
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LUted or not, you must have some IRE target in mind for the underlying S-LOG or are you just judging by how it looks. What is your threshold?
On the rare times that I use a monitor LUT, I just have to know where the whites need to land with the LUT in order to hit my 72 IRE target for the underlying S-LOG being recorded. It's just a simple adjustment of my zebra levels.

 

[Grug]

LUted or not, you must have some IRE target in mind for the underlying S-LOG or are you just judging by how it looks. What is your threshold?
On the rare times that I use a monitor LUT, I just have to know where the whites need to land with the LUT in order to hit my 72 IRE target for the underlying S-LOG being recorded. It's just a simple adjustment of my zebra levels.

It's not something I particularly quantify in terms of IRE %, I just use Exposure Index the way it's intended - you're shifting middle grey up or down, so with overexposure I'm just factoring in 1-2 stops less highlight headroom, and that's basically it.

And given that I'm mostly using high-base ISO in low-key situations, it's normally only things like street lights clipping out that I need to worry about. For insert shots (where it's handy for stopping down for deeper focus) those shots are normally all about the mid-tones, so the thinner highlights aren't a big issue there either.