FS7: Low Light Music Vid shot on FS7

K

Killick

Active member
Hey all,

I shot a music video for a Richmond, VA band recently on the FS7. It was the first real shoot I did with the camera aside from a few tests. I wanted to share it with you to get your thoughts on the low light quality, and perhaps how to optimize settings for similar situations in the future.

It was shot in sgamut3.cine/CineEI, mostly at 120 fps. Unfortunately because we were only using available light and it was super dark, most of the shots had to be underexposed by 2-3 stops even with the lenses wide open. This was the first time we had worked with slog footage, and instead of delogging with the sony LUTs, we used a random LUT we had used and liked with c300 footage before. We also didn't have a good NR program to work with, and it was a really quick turn around.

I'm still pretty pleased with the way it turned out, but I know it could have been better and am excited to see what the camera is capable when used properly. So I have a few questions.

I know that underexposing footage in CineEI mode will give you some noise, especially at 3 stops under. I also know that higher frame rates will produce more noise. In this situation, what could I have done to reduce the noise in camera? Would I have been better off shooting in Custom mode and applying NR in camera?

Would the Sony Slog3-Film1-3under.cube be an ideal of delogging this footage, and does that bring the footage into a 709 color space? If that is the case, do you need to then hand grade the footage or is it possible to add additional looks to the footage?

This is my first time working with a camera with such latitude, and grading in general, so I'm trying to fully understand it's capabilities. Thanks in advance!

Ryan

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6C0U3GV9qh4

Edit: Looking at it again, I'm sure the web compression doesn't help. Not sure if you can decipher noise from compression.
 
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Your best bet would have been to have some artificial light with you. I wouldn't want to miss my lightpanels with v-mount for such situations, even if bounced off a wall, you would've gained about a stop of light. Additional problem is, you have to raise the shutter when shooting slowmo. Overall, theres nothing wrong with low key and your Video is only about a stop underexposed. There is sometimes raw noise in your Video even after Youtube compression, but I don't even mind it too much. Looks cool overall.
 
i like the overall look as well, i guess i would have shot it at 60fps in 4k to get a slightly slower shutter speed and more pixels usually means less noise in final HD....you said you shot wide open, but i don't see any real shallow dop shots? i probably would have gone with all 1.4, 1.8 or wider (maybe metabones speed? or the 0.95 e mount lenses?) because unless you are using a couple of spots (fiilex makes some great inexpensive, adjustable color with fresnels) you will probably destroy the party mood by just upping the light....so squeeze as much out of what is there....
i haven't played with in camera NR and am generally not a fan of NR but in this case a combination of everything should do just fine....
i find that the FS7 is not really a low light camera, 800 is a realistic iso but for my taste i try to overexpose probably a stop to make sure that shadows are really clean....
maybe i should look into NR more...
 
You should not be scared of NR/in camera amplification. I mean no one would buy a 5d or C300 and only use it on base ISO?

My 'big tip'.. Correctly exposed 8000 is cleaner than under exposed 2000

Under exposure is the source of noise.

Yes I agree the 2000 should be treated as 800 in the main.

S
 
Thanks everyone for the sincere responses, it's all great advise. Really liking the camera so far but I think it's definitely one that performs best when you have a strong knowledge of the science.
 
Honestly this camera is a no brainer to use.. you almost have to unlearn everything that you may have learned to get older sony cameras to work.

Put it in Slog3 get a nice full wave form. job done. post will effortlessly get you the rest of the way.

You will read a load of moans on the board about lack of WB in EI or whatever.. none of it matters its almost like shooting raw where you dont really care about anything but exposure. which is how I like it :)

S
 
morgan_moore said:
Honestly this camera is a no brainer to use.. you almost have to unlearn everything that you may have learned to get older sony cameras to work.

Put it in Slog3 get a nice full wave form. job done. post will effortlessly get you the rest of the way.

You will read a load of moans on the board about lack of WB in EI or whatever.. none of it matters its almost like shooting raw where you dont really care about anything but exposure. which is how I like it :)

S
Click to expand...
i could not agree more, coming from working exclusively with red raw, the slog3 files out of this camera are like raw files....
still trying to squeeze the best quality out of the camera...but so far, i am surprised how great it is....
haven't done any low light experiments yet, this video actually inspired me:)....
 
Personally, I thought it looked really cool. I noticed a bunch of show (Walking Dead, The Americans) seem to be showing really under exposed images. It does look pretty cool when done right. I think they probably shoot it correctly, then intentional bring it way down to avoid noise. I guess in the end, it's pretty similar either way.
 
I must say I was expecting the very worse but it looked kind of cool. A bit dark in places but if you were in Slog 3 wouldn't you have had an ISO of like 3200 available? And wide open lens...which lens? I'm thinking you may have more latitude available and that you might be able to pull more out.
I kind of agree at shooting at a lower frame rate and then ramping in post but that's an artistic call. Maybe splitting the difference and shooting 96f might have helped in the darkest of areas. I also agree even when you are under the gun, try for some ancillary light. My favorite unit in these kinds of situations or in bars is one or two lanterns. They are cheap, easy to rig and are not obtrusive. And you can put them on a dimmer for better control. Great tool for just generally boosting the ambient. Aside from those observations, good job, mostly!
 
Youtube compression mangles any real ability to judge the finer aspects of the image quality like noise, but as-is, I couldn't see anything objectionable about the impact of the noise on the end result. The look worked really well for the piece IMO.
 
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