FS7: Roll your eyes, but what is the most common FS7 setting?

Spartacus

Spartacus

Veteran
Yeah, this kind of question.
A guy who has never shot with the camera asking for a get out of jail card, pfffft.
I know: Read the freaking manual! No scene is the same! That's why they say art and craft, earn your she-at!
Still there are those who might be on a job, using their trusted equipment, then having to jump right into another project asking for the FS7.
Well, don't take the job then!
Says the guy without mortage and kids to feed.

So, without further ado: What's there to watch out for when using the FS7 in hindsight to getting the best "negative" to work with in post?
I'll be shooting sunny exteriors with a little human subject, if this might be of interest.

Any help greatly appreciated, thanks!
 
Put it in Cine EI mode. Leave it on ISO 2000. Use any number of the onboard exposure tools. Don't underexpose. Don't blow your highlights.

Apply Sony LC-709TypeA LUT in post, add a little contrast curve, take out a hint of magenta, add some saturation and you're done. Even my cat can make footage from the FS7 look halfway decent.
 
Ha! One day cats will rule the planet!
So what about Gamut and Slog?
Always the highest number = 3 for both?
 
yup. If you wanna go crazy set zebra 2 to 75% and use it for an exposed to the right 90% white guide as opposed to Sony's recommended 62%
 
Isn't ISO 20000 going to be a little noisy unless you put NR on?

Also should give him some advice on a viewing LUT or how to use high low .
 
I have never had an issue with noise at EI2000 and I never use in-camera NR, but then I expose my footage properly.

I also don't bother with viewing LUTs while I shoot.
 
Lenilenapi said:
Isn't ISO 20000 going to be a little noisy unless you put NR on?

Also should give him some advice on a viewing LUT or how to use high low .
Click to expand...

Nope. And nope.

Since version 4:00 came out the LUT and Waveform work properly if shooting at normal speed, so LUTs are much more useful than they were. But I still advise using a combination of WFM and zebras to gauge accurate exposure. I sometimes use a LUT for a better image when judging focus or colour, but never for exposure.
 
Spartacus said:
So to recap: I get the camera from rental, I'll do a factory reset, put it in Cine EI @ ISO 2000, watch my waveform while ETR and shoot happily?
Click to expand...

Your factory reset will actually set the ISO to 1600. Set it to 2000 in the menu. But, that's only important if you are using a monitor LUT. The camera ALWAYS records at ISO2000 in CineEI.

Don't expose too far to the right, that will end in tears. Overexposure by a stop is fine, but you want wriggle room in those highlights and you want your mids and lows in the right place for decent image. Reflective white should be 61%IRE. Note, that's reflective white and not peak white.
 
Ben Scott said:
yup. If you wanna go crazy set zebra 2 to 75% and use it for an exposed to the right 90% white guide as opposed to Sony's recommended 62%
Click to expand...

Hi Ben, what is the advantage of that?
Sometimes I feel a higher zebra setting is better but I am not yet brave enough to do that.
 
Because most people who has spent time with it feel the FS7 brings better and cleanerresults when you expose 90% white at a higher IRE than Sony's 61% recommendations.

75% works well. and you can then pull down later in post or have an exposure compensated LUT
 
To be honest I'm a little confused by these recommendations. I haven't shot anything in about 4 months because I've been ill, but as recall the general recommendation ( pretty sure this was Alister Chapman's) before NR was introduced- was that ISO 2000 was too noisy and people were generally shooting at 1000 or 800. So when did 2000 become the norm? Does this have to do with new firmware or have I just been asleep.
Also is it being suggested to put whites at 90% when shooting Slog3 without a LUT? That just sounds like your rating it at 1000 or lower & just putting the whites down where they're recommended.
 
Cine-EI mode is natively EI/ISO2000

90% whites to be put at 75 instead of 61.

Alister Chapman talks about 7 kinds of bollocks. Hope that helps.
 
yes I know its natively at 2000 but a year ago general consensus was it was noisy and you should overexpose it and sacrifice the extra high;right stop unless you absolutely needed it. I'm not arguing with your choice just that it seemed like accepted canon around here.
 
Ben, I hope your comment will not ignite a flame war.

Are there others using a higher zebra setting?

I came to the conclusion that a bit over exposing (outdoor) gives a better result and less noise. So tomorrow I'll try the 75% zebra setting.
 
Lenilenapi said:
To be honest I'm a little confused by these recommendations. I haven't shot anything in about 4 months because I've been ill, but as recall the general recommendation ( pretty sure this was Alister Chapman's) before NR was introduced- was that ISO 2000 was too noisy and people were generally shooting at 1000 or 800. So when did 2000 become the norm? Does this have to do with new firmware or have I just been asleep.
Also is it being suggested to put whites at 90% when shooting Slog3 without a LUT? That just sounds like your rating it at 1000 or lower & just putting the whites down where they're recommended.
Click to expand...

Len, you are talking LUTs. Ben and I are advocating using the underlying Slog to accurately set exposure. The ISO you set only matters when using mLUTs. The OP wanted a simple solution. Zebras and WFM are fail safe if you have a basic understanding of what they do.

Sorry to hear you ill BTW.
 
Lenilenapi said:
yes I know its natively at 2000 but a year ago general consensus was it was noisy and you should overexpose it and sacrifice the extra high;right stop unless you absolutely needed it. I'm not arguing with your choice just that it seemed like accepted canon around here.
Click to expand...

No idea what the consensus was but there were (and are) a hell of a lot of people who spouting all sorts of nonsense and stating it as fact. Alistair has done this several times - most recently about the FS5 artefact issues.

I'm just telling the OP how to quickly dive into using the camera with good reproducible consistent results.
 
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