FS7: Harsh glow on street lights in footage

Abaddon said:
So in other words, when shooting S-Log, always go with Cine EI.
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I would yes.. its designed to be used in Cine EI mode with one of corresponding log color settings..Personally Ive never seen the sense of LOG in custom .. just use a good custom set up.. and use log .. well ..when want to shoot log .. as properly designed .. to be graded in Resolve etc..esp if your worried about highlights burning out.. but car head lights etc will burn out anyway.. I dont think its a major problem.. ( I mean your not going to set your exposure to the headlights usually ) in 99% of evening,nights shots..
 
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Abaddon said:
So in other words, when shooting S-Log, always go with Cine EI.
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I thinik 'always' is a poor word.

Given a low light low dynamic range scene (not the scene we have here - the headlights make it a high dynamic range scene) I think one can get good performance with customEI. If sony launch 'ISO' for EI as is rumoured in another thread the answer may well become 'always'
 
You might be getting a bit mixed up .. there is no customEI setting.. its one or the other .. EI is only Slog with log color gamut ..
 
Three things going on here.

1. Custom mode matrix is all out of whack. Remedy; use Cine EI.

2. ISO 4000. You are putting 1 stop of gain into the highlights, enough to cause them to clip. Remedy; use Cine EI.

3. Energy saving bulbs in the street lights. Some of the newer street lights I have come across have very weird colour reproduction. Remedy; no idea.
 
The rear/brake lights on alot of cars are LED now.. that bus for sure..bright/red/LED.. seems to never look good on CMOS sensor camera,s.. but I really wouldn't be worrying about their exposure unless they were a big close up.. any wide shots of evening /night streets ..car head lights ..just let them blow out .. audiences will except that.. I wouldn't call it a high DR scene just because of car headlights in a wide shot.. as much as a highlight glint off chrome on a sunny day.. I mean I wouldn't be setting your exposure for the car headlights.. biggest problem is usually refections off filters..
 
Yes those blue LED,s are death.. red has never been the friend of video.. but these LED lights are bad.. esp as now used at alot of concerts ..
 
Abaddon said:
So in other words, when shooting S-Log, always go with Cine EI.
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Never say never. S-LOG can be used in Custom sometimes but the margin of success or failure will be much narrower than with CINE EI and it also requires choosing complentary paint settings that will make it work. But since you're gonna have to grade it anyway, why not just shoot with CINE EI in the first place? It is simpler, more fool proof, and will most likely result in a superior graded image.

I agree with Donny that this example is not a high DR scene. The tail lights and headlights can be allowed to blow out, but in CINE EI they would blow out more gracefully. No matter what you do, the camera only has so much DR available.
 
Doug Jensen said:
Never say never. S-LOG can be used in Custom sometimes but the margin of success or failure will be much narrower than with CINE EI and it also requires choosing complentary paint settings that will make it work. But since you're gonna have to grade it anyway, why not just shoot with CINE EI in the first place? It is simpler, more fool proof, and will most likely result in a superior graded image.

I agree with Donny that this example is not a high DR scene. The tail lights and headlights can be allowed to blow out, but in CINE EI they would blow out more gracefully. No matter what you do, the camera only has so much DR available.
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Why is everyone recommending CineEI? Wont it be noise hell when you pull up middle grey from 10 IRE exposure?

ISO is a requirement for a lot of us... Im using less and less CineEI myself, because of exposure. Natural light and all that.
 
It all comes down to how you expose and how you handle the footage in post. I pretty much never shoot anything that isn't CINE EI because 99% of the time I am either handing footage off to an experienced client or I am handling grading, editing, etc. myself so I am in total control from start to finish. Now if I was handing over footage to a client that can't handle LOG -- that is the only time I'd go with Custom today. In other words, the choice of Custom vs. LOG is not dictated by the type of shooting to be done (indoors, outdoors, lowlight, HFR, etc.), it is dictated by the sophistication of whomever is going to be handling the footage in post.
 
Martin.G said:
Why is everyone recommending CineEI? Wont it be noise hell when you pull up middle grey from 10 IRE exposure?

ISO is a requirement for a lot of us... Im using less and less CineEI myself, because of exposure. Natural light and all that.
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The original shot was captured at ISO4000 in custom mode. A better strategy would have been CineEi ISO1250. Expose normally. #Bam, no noise...
 
Liam Hall said:
The original shot was captured at ISO4000 in custom mode. A better strategy would have been CineEi ISO1250. Expose normally. #Bam, no noise...
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But that means f/1.4 and almost nothing in focus.

Am i missing something on the versatility of post production on cineEI files?
 
In daylight yes. But im talking about low light. For example in candlelight and other situations.

How would you use CineEI for a properly "Barry Lyndon" exposed candlelight scene?

I used HG7, Sigma 35 1.4, and ISO 8000 for my latest documentary. Obviously in Custom mode. I used HG7 to bake in a lesser extreme curve onto XAVC-L files to save space on cards. The film took place in the mountains 10 hours from my office, and no pc in sight.
 
It is my opinion that at some point of lowlight/low DR using EI is not optimal.

One is best to spread ones data across the full range of the file (with an 'ISO boost') and certainly use noise reduction before compression (which is now available in EI iwth firmaware - making the 'agrument' less clear)
THe trouble with exiting Slog is one enters 'sony hell custom' which has (maybe) poor highlight management.

So with a dark scene with some specular highlights one hits issues (unlike a dark scene without specular highlights)

One must therefore evaluate the trade off between noise (Slog) and horrid speculars (custom) - pick the devil you dislike least :)
 
But small specular high lights can just burn out.. .dont worry about them.. car head lights in a wide shot.. glint of a chrome bummer in day light... sun off a window.. day or night .. they are not part of your DR considerations.. one can let them go sir .. there is no display in the universe that will keep them..
 
Donny 123 said:
But small specular high lights can just burn out.. .dont worry about them.. car head lights in a wide shot.. glint of a chrome bummer in day light... sun off a window.. day or night .. they are not part of your DR considerations.. one can let them go sir .. there is no display in the universe that will keep them..
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In theory, yes, on film yes, in Slog maybe.. but in custom they can get artifacts all around them or go whaky nuclear colours. (as exactly seen in the OPs image)

Thats the trade off. Wonky speculars or noise.
 
I understand the theory of shooting low light using custom mode, as there is limited dynamic range, but my side by side tests always look best in Cine EI. Always.
 
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