Latest Thoughts on sLog2 Picture Profiles for FS700

R

ric8138

Active member
I have searched and see a lot of discussion over the years about Picture Profiles on the FS700. I am curious if there is a "best practice" summary of how to set up an FS700 for RAW output into a Convergent Design 7Q or 7Q+? I usually shoot 4K Raw to 4K ProRes HQ, and get excellent results, but wonder if I could be doing more. Are there color balance issues with sLog2 that should be adjusted when shooting under different types of lighting? The settings available in the PP setup are pretty obtuse to me who is used to Kelvin color balance settings, and I don't see any effect of setting color balance on the camera with differences in output on the CD monitor or file.
 
You won't see any difference. In fact, the only reason you're advised to set the camera's profile to SLog2 when externally recording RAW is that this setting will produce an image on the camera's monitor that's closest to the RAW output.
 
So no variation in the PP settings has any effect on the raw output? If you don't have the camera set to sLog or Rec 709 the external CD Q7 won't accept the signal, so the gamma setting must effect the RAW output in some way, no?
 
ric8138 said:
So no variation in the PP settings has any effect on the raw output? If you don't have the camera set to sLog or Rec 709 the external CD Q7 won't accept the signal, so the gamma setting must effect the RAW output in some way, no?
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No.

The Picture Profile settings have no effect on the image sent to the Odyssey whatsoever. The Odyssey receives a metadata tag letting it know what Picture Profile has been selected, but the RAW signal is unaffected. The Odyssey then duplicates the standardized curve represented by S-Log2, Rec709 or Rec709(800%). This way the look matches what is seen on the camera LCD so that you can use that for monitoring. Otherwise they could be completely different and you could be basing your exposure off of an image that had nothing to do with what was actually recorded.
 
So again, no white balance setting is relevant on the FS700 whatever, just don't mix sources then correct in the grading software of choice?
 
So I did a shoot a couple of weeks ago and found that it does make a difference. I didn't think it did until I used a lens with a completely different colour space than my primes. I was shooting outside and everything was a really ugly blu-ish, but the custom wb was set to 5500 (cloudy day)... but to get the image warmer for whatever reason I had to crank it way higher than that, and may have gone to the max, but finally I was getting warmer tones and so on.

This was slog2 by the way and I was ONLY USING THE ODYSSEY AS A MONITOR. So I'm only debunking your last comment about the fs700 and wb setting in slog2.

My lens was cheap and although the images are nice, the coatings must be terrible. Anyway I was surprised since I hadn't encountered a wb problem yet shooting in slog2.
 
fatman said:
This was slog2 by the way and I was ONLY USING THE ODYSSEY AS A MONITOR. So I'm only debunking your last comment about the fs700 and wb setting in slog2.
.
Click to expand...

I'm trying to get a better handle on the effect (if any) of camera settings on the RAW output to the Odyssey. We always record to the internal card for backup, regardless of what we shoot on the external. I assume that internal recording IS effected by the WB setting, even if the gamma is set to sLog2, so I generally set it with the manual selector to the appropriate Kelvin temperature. As a still photographer shooting film for many many years I can pretty much squint at a scene and tell you the Kelvin temperature within 200 degrees.
 
I did not say that White Balance didn't effect the RAW signal. It does, as does changing the gain. But the Picture Profile settings do not effect the RAW data.
 
Thanks Mitch. I guess I just don't see the changes in WB showing up much on the monitor, but that's due to low saturation I guess. Thanks for clarification.
 
Hey Ric, best practice for Slog2 into the Odyssey is two fold:

1.) Shoot +2 stops when you can and you will all but eliminate any noise in the image (double check waveform and don't clip the highlights)
2.) On set, check with a colour accurate rec709 -2 monitor LUT. You will be able to judge white balance so much easier

Then in post bring the image down 2 stops and grade from there.
 
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