FS7: Matching Rec.709 colour profiles on FS7, FS5 and A7s3

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Paul_Moses

New member
Hi All,

I have a three camera shoot in a couple of days using FS7, FS5 & A7S3, i need to shoot it in rec.709 not Slog this time and i'm wondering what colour profile / picture profile would be best to use on each camera on an indoor shoot?

Just looking for minimal colour work in post. Will dial in manual white balance and try and use similar ISO to achieve as close to a uniform colour across 3 cameras.

Thank you in advance!

Paul
 
It's a good question that I would like to hear an answer to, too. I know that Abe (ahalpert) has an FS7 and an A7S3 so maybe he can chime in...
 
The answer is always some form of LOG if you want to be safe, but because it's noted that post work should be minimal then you can pick any picture profile because none of them will perfectly match regardless.

Non-LOG gamma curve picture profiles in any camera are baked-in looks that affect contrast, saturation, colors, sharpness, and/or any other parameters in their own way.

So even if you chose "OFF" for all three cameras and rolled with their defaults, the look most likely will still differ in these three different cameras.

Meaning...there is no perfect match. You have to match these cameras internally by painting them with your fingers in the settings if the goal is to have minimal work in post.

That's what network television/production trucks do when combining different cameras.
 
scorsesefan said:
It's a good question that I would like to hear an answer to, too. I know that Abe (ahalpert) has an FS7 and an A7S3 so maybe he can chime in...
Click to expand...

I haven't attempted to match in-camera yet (although I will get to it eventually) because:

1. I've mostly shot them separately (a7siii for doc/events/gimbal, fs7 for interviews/livestream)

2. My first choice would be to shoot both slog3 and sort it out later

3. It's hard to get a perfect match between different cameras and I've sometimes made one or both cameras look worse than they could have by trying to match. Unless I'm shooting a/b angles of an interview or a narrative scene, I just try to make each camera look its best because having a good-looking image is the most important thing.

I did do an event shoot recently with an FS7 trained on the podium and the A7SIII shooting b-roll angles around the room. The lighting was so different for the FS7 shooting someone in front of a bright window and the A7SIII shooting the reverse angles that I dont think it would have mattered too much if they had actually matched.

The other issue is that i have 5 different SOOC profiles for the A7SIII (although theres one I use most frequently), so I probably wouldn't be able to match them all.

I'm sorry that this post is of zero use to you. I recommend matching the A7SIII to the FS7 and not vice versa because the A7SIII might be more flexible.

My personal opinion is that matching color balance is the most important thing. You may want to balance to a white card. And if you're in a fixed setting (like a studio shoot or something), maybe you can audition some different profiles in the A7SIII on set while comparing its image to the FS7 and find something that works in that setting.

What is your starting point? Do you have settings for the FS7 that you plan to use?
 
My best experience with matching the FS7 is with SLOG2 (with panasonic G7 or Sony A6500). Easiest to match with Davinci that is. Most of the time a bit tweaking the color-temperature is enough.
 
Paul_Moses said:
Hi All,

I have a three camera shoot in a couple of days using FS7, FS5 & A7S3, i need to shoot it in rec.709 not Slog this time and i'm wondering what colour profile / picture profile would be best to use on each camera on an indoor shoot?

Just looking for minimal colour work in post. Will dial in manual white balance and try and use similar ISO to achieve as close to a uniform colour across 3 cameras.

Thank you in advance!

Paul
Click to expand...

I simplified my life some years back when I started to use 3D Lut Creator. Start with a number of different camera 709 images. Choose the one you want to emulate. Create 709 correction LUTs for the other cameras. Pretty quick and simple as long as you have a color chart sample from each camera in the same location under the same lighting. With a couple of minor tweaks you are home fairly painlessly. I see Davinci Resolve 17 now has a similar function. Haven't checked it out yet to see if it works like 3D Lut Creator.

Chris Young

 
Cinematch works well. Unfortunately they don't have a profile for the A7Siii yet. They've said it is coming in the next few weeks.
 
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