FS700 compared to GH4

J

jcs

Veteran
We shot our first piece with the GH4 as the wide camera and the FS700 for close ups. The FS700 also recorded audio. The FS700 is a great, versatile camera, however the 1080p is a little soft (not hitting the Nyquist limit of true 1080p) and has the 'wrap-around' black edge/highlight bug. It's also been a challenge to get good looking skintones compared to the 5D3. The GH4 produces very detailed, clean 4K which produces Nyquist-limit 1080p when scaled down. When cut with the FS700, the FS700 (with a tweaked profile) surprisingly had richer skintones. It's hard to describe, but it appears perhaps the GH4 preserves edge detail very well while smoothing over other areas (to help with bitrate and to reduce sensor noise). 5D3 RAW still takes the crown for skintones and for pleasing colors overall (even with its limited DR of 11.x). The FS700 has pro-audio and NDs built-in, and the 24Mbit/s hold up pretty will for low-motion shots, taking up a minimum of disk space. Someday we'll have a camera that does everything well- until then each camera has its strengths and weaknesses.

More info and video here: http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/showthread.php?324404-GH4-4K-Green-Screen-cut-with-FS700
 
Well it seems like the FS700 weaknesses you mentioned eould all be fixed completely by using the 7Q, so in a way the FS700 does do everything well :)
 
I agree with Noah. You really cannot compare any camera to the FS700 without the 7Q at this point. To me, I personally prefer the FS7Q over both the 5D3 and GH4 in terms of aesthetics. I just love what I'm getting with the S-Log 2, such a lovely base to begin your grade in terms of highlights and color.

As for skin tones, that is really subjective. I personally really like the base skin tones that S-Log 2 gives you (very neutral) and I definitely prefer that over the 5D3 skin tones. I just worked on a post job where the talent was shot with all 5D3 and the skin tones just looked really saturated and almost artificial to my eye. If you want a popular, pre-baked look, the 5D3 is the way to go. If you have a little time to grade, S-Log 2 by a mile.

As for the GH4, most of the clips I've seen I'm not fond of it. Limited Dynamic Range really shows in the GH4 and the color science is just weird to me. It looks kind of saturated, but in a less pleasing way than the 5D3. To me, the Gh4 colors just look really artificial and not natural.
 
Currently shooting with the FS-700/Odyssey 7Q with the 4K>1080 as first camera, and the GH4 as second camera shooting 4K. I wish I had two FS-700/Odyssey 7Q combinations. The GH4 is not bad, but has a more limited dynamic range, or so it appears. I also like the results of the BlackMagic Pocket Camera when mixed with the FS700.
 
Michael Erlewine said:
I also like the results of the BlackMagic Pocket Camera when mixed with the FS700.
Click to expand...

I second this! I have the BMPCC as a B-Cam and I like it. Very flexible in post, beautiful colors and quite easy to match with the FS700/7Q. As a B-Cam the crappy sound is no issue either
 
P.S. I also believe that the forthcoming Sony A7s camera, despite the 8-bits, will be (for me) a very useful camera because I do documentaries. I just have a gut feeling that the A7s is going to mark a change in how we approach things. I will probably be getting the Atomos Shogun to use with it, UNLESS Convergent Design makes shooting 10-bits with the A7s possible.
 
Here's some stills from my shoot this past weekend for a short film using 4K2HD + Slog 2. I LOVE what I am getting out of the 7Q. I love the natural, non-stylized colors, skin tones, awesome highlights and rolloff and just the general aesthetic that S-Log 2 allows. Very quick 2 minute grades for dailies. For the look I personally like, I definitely prefer this over the 5D3 and GH4. I use Zeiss ZF primes 50mm and 85mm. I think the FS7Q is the best deal under the F5.

.01.jpg
02.jpg
03.jpg
04.jpg
05.jpg
 
I don't know if it's the dynamic range issue or what, but skin tones on the gh4 always look screwy to me.
 
Looks great! Especially like the orange shirt! Its a nice contrasty color compared to the color of forest. Makes her stand out nicely.
 
Alan Ting Judson said:
Love this grade!Would like to know how to get this look. Did you desaturate it?
Click to expand...

It's actually just a very basic grade. Just adjusted the contrast using Curves. For skin tones, the Blue channel plays a huge role and the red channel to a lesser degree. In the blue curves channel, I added a little blue which really takes down the yellow in the skin tones and makes it look more natural. Most cameras the skin tones tend to be kind of yellow without treatment. Also, I usually take down the red curve just a little as well. If you want the 5D3 look, you would either leave the red channel the same or even add a little.

Then I just add some saturation. I actually added quite a bit of saturation to this since it's pretty flat out of 4K2HD. Sometimes a quick vignette. Very quick grade, I might have spent about 2 minutes on each of these shots since they're just to give the Director some direction for grading.
 
gene_can_sing said:
It's actually just a very basic grade. Just adjusted the contrast using Curves. For skin tones, the Blue channel plays a huge role and the red channel to a lesser degree. In the blue curves channel, I added a little blue which really takes down the yellow in the skin tones and makes it look more natural. Most cameras the skin tones tend to be kind of yellow without treatment. Also, I usually take down the red curve just a little as well. If you want the 5D3 look, you would either leave the red channel the same or even add a little.

Then I just add some saturation. I actually added quite a bit of saturation to this since it's pretty flat out of 4K2HD. Sometimes a quick vignette. Very quick grade, I might have spent about 2 minutes on each of these shots since they're just to give the Director some direction for grading.
Click to expand...

It's really looking good, love the colour. Raw file of fs700 really bring it to another level, great dynamic range and the noise is not "bad noise", easy been remove or just let it be as film grain.
 
Alan Ting Judson said:
It's really looking good, love the colour. Raw file of fs700 really bring it to another level, great dynamic range and the noise is not "bad noise", easy been remove or just let it be as film grain.
Click to expand...

Actually, this was just 4K2HD and as I stated, it's really just the basic S-Log color pushed a little bit with contrast and saturation since it's use for dailies. You don't have to do a lot to make S-Log look good. It grades really nice. I like it a lot. RAW is even better, but there was too much dialogue for it to be feasible for this project.
 
Over the 5D3? in Raw? I consider that to be the ultimate in image quality at the moment in HD. I like my fs7Q combo, but it's still not quite like a 5D3.
 
Gene- your FS7Q shots look excellent. Agreed the FS7Q 4kto2k looks great and is easier to deal with vs. 5D3 RAW. For resolution, FS7Q is better than 5D3 and about the same as GH4 4Kto2K. FS7Q has better DR and color vs. GH4, however GH4 is a tiny, stealthy package, easy to use handheld, has a great built-in EVF- allows focusing in 4K, and the 100Mbit/s files aren't too heavy on storage. I'm still on the fence regarding adding a 7Q- trying to keep our camera systems small, light, simple, and reliable. Will likely take a look at the A7S when it's released: 50Mb/s detailed 1080p that looks similar to 5D3 RAW with lots more DR in a tiny package would be very useful.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top