FS7: Harsh glow on street lights in footage

I agree. Cine EI all the time in any light and any shooting situation. That always gives me the best results and the most flexibility in post.
Custom is only used when proper grading will not be part of the workflow, for whatever reason.

It's great to have a camera that allows both options: Grade in camera or grade in post. Many other cine cameras force you down one path or the other.
 
morgan_moore said:
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.
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Ok right.. sorry I thought you were referring to Cine EI mode.. apologies
 
Doug Jensen said:
I agree. Cine EI all the time in any light and any shooting situation. That always gives me the best results and the most flexibility in post.
Custom is only used when proper grading will not be part of the workflow, for whatever reason.

It's great to have a camera that allows both options: Grade in camera or grade in post. Many other cine cameras force you down one path or the other.
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What is the proper CineEI workflow to get these superior results?

I still cant understand how underexposed CineEI will look so much better than high-ISO custom mode. Im sure im missing something.
 
Martin.G said:
What is the proper CineEI workflow to get these superior results?

I still cant understand how underexposed CineEI will look so much better than high-ISO custom mode. Im sure im missing something.
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Amadeu made so many threads that this question was put to the bottom.

Anyone able to answer my confused mind about this workflow?
 
I still cant understand how underexposed CineEI will look so much better than high-ISO custom mode. Im sure im missing something.

These are my opinions based on stress testing the camera with FW 1.0 (ages ago)**

1) Custom goes wonky as you get close to clip (probably because of legacy 'knee' algorithms hanging around in custom)
2) Custom delivers a better S-N ratio in the shadows* (probably because it does a signal boost before compression)

So "CineEI will look so much better than high-ISO custom mode. " is IMO is not a true statement.

I would suggest the situation is this..

1) When the scene is just dark, with no specular highlights Custom will be better
2) When the scene is dark and contains specular highlights that clip when you iris open to catch light, EIslog will be better

Or rather..

Use your DOP skill to make a choice depending on your scene/client/personal aversion to dodgy highlights/ability to add a fill light/budget for denoising in post etc.. and then

Choose Noise or Wonky Highlights

Personally I would only go custom when I have a choice of going home or going custom as the camera is not really reading in Slog. Ive only suggested it once on a paid shoot - a shoot where we were only allowed to use the Cn17 and were therefore nailed to T3.9 at the long end even though sun had set hours before.

*I have not retested the camera since NR in EI was added in firmware, my opinions could change :)
** by stress testing I mean shooting a dark scene where the WFM did not get above 30% in EI mode and then trying to correct the file in post - horrific underexposure.
 
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Martin.G said:
What is the proper CineEI workflow to get these superior results?
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Martin, if you are truly interested in learning my techniques I have a 4.5 hour video. I totally understand if that is not something is you want to watch, but on the flip side, please understand that I cannot condense a 4.5 hour video into a few paragraphs on a forum post. Grading with S-LOG is fairly easy once you understand it, but it is not that easy to explain the entire workflow that starts from the minute you turn the camera on and ends when you export the clips. Everything needs to mesh together for a successful result. So, for a few bucks someone can get the benefit of what it took be a couple of years to refine if they care enough about it.

https://vimeo.com/ondemand/resolve

 
I think ive been through it Doug. Didnt learn much new, aside from what i got from your first, excellent FS7 series and a good Davinci tutorial i was into.

But to ask more clearly:

How do you distribute properly data into the IRE range during recording of CineEI in low light?

If there is only data in the 0-30 range. How the cow do you grade that to look better than a proper 0-100 IRE custom recording?

Im asking for that one single trick that i clearly dont know ;-)
 
I dont think there is a simple trick, I think data in the 1-30 range is outside of Dougs remit.. he would go home, not go custom.

(I dont mean that in a bad way I just mean it may not have come into his tests)
 
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I shot a full documentary on a mountainfarm in custom, with ISO 8000 indoors and native + ND64 outdoors. No electricity and staying out in the mountains 4 days at a time means no lights.

And i really like low-light estetics so this is why im asking. Is it really true you can shoot absolutely every scene in CineEI on this little beast? Because i thought you couldnt.
 
morgan_moore said:
I dont think there is a simple trick, I think data in the 1-30 range is outside of Dougs remit.. he would go home, not go custom.

(I dont mean that in a bad way I just mean it may not have come into his tests)
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I think thats nail on head.. there are people who's work allows them to either "go home" its too dark..or light the side of a mountain with 10 tons of HMI,s.. and 99.9% of this forum who just have to shoot it.. up to a point of putting their reputation on the line.. ie 9db.. :).. and just telling a dir . no we cant shoot this now..
 
Martin.G said:
I shot a full documentary on a mountainfarm in custom, with ISO 8000 indoors and native + ND64 outdoors. No electricity and staying out in the mountains 4 days at a time means no lights.

And i really like low-light estetics so this is why im asking. Is it really true you can shoot absolutely every scene in CineEI on this little beast? Because i thought you couldnt.
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Really why not get the camera, turn the lights off shoot a few frames whak them into resolve pull a few sliders and see what you like best.
 
morgan_moore said:
Really why not get the camera, turn the lights off shoot a few frames whak them into resolve pull a few sliders and see what you like best.
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I know what i like best. Ive shot most of my projects in CineEI but for my last three projects ive had to be in Custom because of high ISO and lowlight. But from what others posted, it looked like i was a fool to do so. That had me curious :-)
 
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