FS7: FS7 matching AMIRA

I'm impressed also. Looks like a nice match. With exchange rates to the Can$ I'm not sure I'd pay that much for a lut. Or more importantly I'm not sure my clients would notice or care enough to make it a smart purchase. I've been using as a starting base the LC709A lut but adjusted for magenta and warmed up in Catalyst. Its not perfect but its working so far.

EDIT. the exchange rate wasn't as bad as I thought. For some reason I thought the Euro was more than the Pound.
 
Last edited:
Log C is a tad green, while SLog3 is more magenta, but we've never had issues color matching footage from ALEXA/AMIRA, & FS7.

Sharpness, & roll-off, are the more obvious differences, but only the camera department, & sometimes the editors, seems to notice.
 
What a great LUT! I have been enjoying applying it to some footage today. Didn't realize how much magenta was in the original Sony version. Learn something every day!

Using my lens test video below, this is what I found with his new LUT. I took Bert's LUT, Art Adams 709A (new), and Sony's 709A for comparison. As you might know already, Art's LUT is very similar to the original Sony version, just a tweak in contrast and levels.

Comparisons below and full resolution screenshots available at https://www.dropbox.com/sh/hpk1ftehg0tekcj/AABicaqWxCAVjC872jqAW_Cca?dl=0

https://vimeo.com/139046904

Image 1.jpg
Image 2.jpg
Image 3.jpg
Image 4.jpg
 

I tested Bert Degraeve's new FS7 / Arri emulation LUTs on some past footage I shot with Nate Weaver. Might not be Nate's Amira, but this is pretty great for the FS7 and a big improvement over LC709a.

------------- (Cut and pasted from Vimeo write up)

Bert Degraeve came up with two excellent LUTs (Standard and FilmLike) for the Sony FS7 which attempts to emulate the Arri color space. While the FS7 might not be an Alexa or an Amira, it’s a pretty great camera for the price and Bert’s LUTs really elevated the color game for the FS7.

Bert’s original tests can be viewed here.

https://vimeo.com/153091201

You can PayPal Bert 25 Euros for the LUTs: bertdegraeve@gmail.com. It’s well worth the money.

I had some Amira / FS7 side by side footage from a while back and I applied Bert’s LUT to the footage and got very good results. One very powerful feature of the FS7 is the ability to accept custom user created LUTs for monitoring and optional baked in output. Aside from the Sony F5 and the upcoming Red Scarlet-W, I believe the FS7 is the only other camera under $20,000 that allows custom LUTs. This is great because any look can be created in camera, especially since the FS7 / Sony sensor is excellent in real world dynamic range. The sky is the limit on in-camera looks..

Great real world DR test between Amira, FS7, Ursa and C300.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ziQqeU7lTAI

NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS

• Modes tested on the FS7 against the Amira which used Arri LogC to Rec709 LUT. In sequence:
- BertLUT ArriLook709 Standard - What Bert intended as the closest match to Arri Rec709
- BertLUT ArriLook709 FilmLike
- Sony LC709a LUT
- Sony LC709a LUT minus on the Blue Channel. My personal choice before BertLUTs for quick turnaround.
- Sony Cine EI with no LUT. Only adjusted contrast and added saturation.

• Lenses used were Zeiss PL 28-80mm t2.9 @ 70mm on the Sony FS7 and Zeiss PL 70-200 t2.9 @ 70mm on the Arri Amira.

• No colors were shifted. Only adjustments to contrast and saturation to make the footage match.

• Bert’s LUTs were largely left alone - No contrast or Saturation added. On some shot, a slight adjustment in exposure to match the Amira’s exposure.

• Since the base ISO of the FS7 is 2000 vs 800 on the Amira, we had to stop down 1 stop on the FS7 to match exposure. Since Arri is King, I tried to match the FS7 to the Amira.

• The shot with the two cars, the Amira was accidentally over exposed a bit, so I just adjusted contrast / saturation by hand with no LUT.

• Bert’s LUTs seem slightly lower in contrast and saturation vs. Arri LogC to 709. Bert’s LUTs colors matched the Amira footage much better and required less contrast adjustments than Sony LC709a which tends to be more contrasty and a bit higher on magenta. Great job on this Bert.

• The native Arri colors are slightly more green than Bert’s LUTs, but quite close.

• The Sony LC709a LUT is a bit magenta. By subtracting a bit from the Blue Channel in post, it greatly improves the skin tones on Sony LC709a.

• While BertLUT Standard is the closest to Amira, On the Sony side, I personally like the BertLUT FilmLike and my personal LC709a Minus Blue preset the most.

In conclusion, great job Bert!
 
Last edited:
Bought this LUT and it looks great in Davinci. Significantly better than Sony's LUTs, which I am still very confused about.

I am having issues loading it onto my camera though. I keep getting the "NG" when trying to put load it. I have Art Adams' LC709a and Bert's other "Arri filmlike" profile and they load fine but I cannot get this Arri standard profile loaded!

Any suggestions?

EDIT: Nevermind. The "ghost" files were throwing me off. Finally realized the first files in the Sony menu structure on each LUT were trash and had to load second files only.
 
Last edited:
traviswears said:
Bought this LUT and it looks great in Davinci..
Click to expand...

Yeah, I'm pretty psyched on this LUT. Applied it to a bunch of old footage and it looks nice. I had three jobs this past year where FS7 was B-Cam to an Amira and this LUT would have made it so much easier to match the footage as LC709a, which is suppose to be similar to an Alexa, is pretty off.

With that said, LC709a still look great in many situations, just different.

LUT is definitely not an Alexa, but good for situations where you need a quick ballpark match.
 
there is an updated with a balanced LUT. It's absolutely awesome as far as I saw at the first sight

Bert wrote on Facebook:
People who already donated can get them for free as well.
Email Bert with the paypal reference.
Put balanced LUT in subject!!

http://www.bertdegraeve.com/#!Custo...lexaAlexa-Mini/cp35x/56a9eb350cf2953a256919c0

6abe94_648b2fc545ac42fbbbc8c86e43e75ff0.jpg
 
Last edited:
Balanced is really nice. When I would use Film-like I would always remove a hint of green to take the edge off. The balanced LUT gets me there quicker. Examples below.

Balanced
Running - Balanced.jpg

Film-like
Running - Filmlike.jpg

Standard
Running - Standard.jpg

709A
Running - 709A.jpg
 
Thanks for shooting these tests. I have one question about the balanced shot though. It looks great and nicely warm face, but since you appear to be in open shade, shouldn't an accurate color balance look cooler. In actual sun might it appear too warm ? Have you tested both?
 
Just the time saved by not having to balance for magenta in each shot the next 3 years alone is enough to buy this LUT.

Money sent. This looks good. Especially skin tones. LC709A still looks like the real world. We dont want that ;-)

(Sure, ill support you too Hingsberg, it looks good. To the paypalmobile!)
 
Chris Langer said:
Balanced is really nice. When I would use Film-like I would always remove a hint of green to take the edge off. The balanced LUT gets me there quicker. Examples below.

Balanced


Film-like


Standard


709A
Click to expand...

LC709A is just plain ugly compared with the rest. My favorite would be film-like. Most natural yet graded and inviting vegetation, but im a nature/hiking purist though.
 
UPDATE on Balanced LUT.


I know… Only one day after it came to life :-)


After some further "real world" tests I made some adjustments on the newer „ Arrilook 709 balanced LUT”.
The first version I made added a bit of warmth and was slightly too magenta to my likings.
I love the Amira_standard look to match the Amira/Alexa, but for some jobs it adds a bit to much green.
So… Inn comes "The True Balanced” Amiralook. Very subtle.

Balanced_Arrilook2.jpg


Hope you enjoy!
For more info... Visit my blog on www.bertdegraeve.com


 
I tested the new BertLUT Balanced look and it's a good option, but his original Standard LUT is closer to Alexa color space which is pretty green to start off with. On my all my side by sides with the Amira, even with Bert's Standard LUT, the Amira footage is still more green. I personally like Standard and Filmlook as I like the slightly greener look.

I actually still like LC709a a lot, but I feel it's a bit inconsistent compare to BertLUT. Much of time, LC709a looks nice, but then out of the blue when possibly the light is not hitting it right, it just becomes Magenta city. Really weird.
 
Last edited:
I think what Bert's great profile points out is that Sony is obviously great at making top notch sensors and hardware, but cannot quite wrap their brain around the software / color side of things. I feel like you can get any look you want out of the FS7 because it has a great sensor if you have decent grading chops. For myself, I find that using LC709a and subtract a hint from the blue channel instantly makes the skin more appealing and you end up with something ballpark to what Burt made. Makes me wonder is Sony just lazy or do not care? Because tweaking colors is easy S#!T, if you have the eye for it. All Sony has to do is release a few amazing color profiles and along with their great sensors they would be elevated a few notches, but they choose to do nothing. Mind boggling to me.

Black Magic is the exact opposite. Their cameras have a S#!T sensor and terrible hardware, but they make the most of out of it by coming up with a really appealing color profile. Sony has the best hardware / sensors, but just cannot do the simpler stuff like make great color profiles. Just hire a good colorist for a few days and come up with something.

Bert’s fantastic profile shows that all Sony had to do was make a few very minor curve tweaks and they would have a great out of the look box. My main client bought the LUTs from Bert and baked it in on an interview a few days back, and he was ecstatic! I saw the out of the camera image with no tweaks and it looked so good.

Here’s a few frame grabs from an MV that I shot recently, applied with BertLUT. I adjust the contrast a bit and added some saturation, but no color tweaks. I love this LUT.

Link to full-sized grabs

http://www.builtbyugene.com/images_client/Skin2.jpg

Skin2.jpg
 
gene_can_sing said:
My main client bought the LUTs from Bert and baked it in on an interview a few days back, and he was ecstatic!
Click to expand...

Glad to see Bert has joined the community & conversation. Welcome aboard!

Haven't had a chance to test your LUTs but hope to soon. Would love to see Full Range versions for monitoring, burning-in, or one-click application with less technical clients, much like Art Adams did with his AA709A LUT.

http://www.provideocoalition.com/lutcalc-trials-and-errors-plus-a-free-lut
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top