FS7: S-Lo 3 Newbie

thefilmaddict

thefilmaddict

Veteran
So I am learning how to use our FS7. I want to do a test shoot using S-Log 3 to get the most dynamic range. I don't have an external monitor with waveform or a waveform monitor to set exposure. In a run and gun situation, when you only have a tripod and the camera and no Gray Card, what's the simplest way to get proper (or close to) exposure?

Here's what I was thinking (I could be totally wrong):

1. Put the camera in Cine EI shooting mode/color space SGamu3c
2. Record 3840 24p XAVC-I
3. Make sure Gamma is S-Log 3
4. Make sure the LCD monitor LUT is set to Pl:709 (800%)
5. Don't let the whites go over 90 percent zebra using a standard white piece of paper placed in the scene???

In edit, the footage will look like log (not what I saw on the LCD screen), but it should look normal when I drop a s-log 3 LUT on it (I currently own the impulz luts for s-log 3).

Sound good? Should the zebra be set to something else? Should I use the internal waveform instead?

Also, I noticed that all of the white balance settings are in preset mode and they would not allow me to set a manual white balance. Do you not have to white balance in s-log 3 mode (that sounds wrong to me)?

Thanks a million!
 
Just gave this advice the other day.

For run and gunning I would stick to zebras and you can set one zebra stripe for skin or something white (90% white reflectance) and set your second zebra stripe to 99% or 100% which should really only show up on light sources or scene elements with very high reflectivity. i.e., maybe highlights off the trim on a car or the hood for example.

My only caution about LUTs is that they all have somewhat different mapping points for both grey and white which can be a problem if you don't know how the tone is mapped. It's less of a problem if you use the 709(800%) LUT as you had planned. Later before you add the Impulz LUTs just be sure to adjust your exposure before the LUT - since generally they expect a proper exposure to work best.

No there is no white balance in cineEI / slog3 mode, only the presets. I wrote a big article about the differences in color between the two modes on the F55 and why there needs to be some kind of color adjustment while previewing in CineEI mode - heck even if its not baked in, at least on-set for monitoring: http://www.dvinfo.net/article/acqui...ng-cineei-mode-in-custom-mode-on-the-f55.html

Overall it sounds like you got everything under control!
 
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Thanks! Great info. So as far as getting proper exposure, do you still stick to those rules in extreme lighting conditions (like intense bright light and dark shadows)? The reason I ask is because when I used to shoot raw with my blackmagic camera, I had amazing control in grading in post, but if I always protected my highlights and then cranked up my shadow areas later in an extremely dark and bright lighting situation, I would introduce a ton of noise later. Is there certain instances where you let the whites or highlights go above 90 because you know you will introduce too much noise later?

As far as the white balance presets when shooting s-log 3, I know when you would use 5600 and 3200, but whats the other white balance preset used for?
 
Also, in lighting situations that are not high contrast, will you still see the benefit of using s-log 3 vs. just normal shooting?
 
Your follow up question is a good one and in part why I feel that "proper exposure" is never all that clear cut. So much so that I wrote an "ultimate exposure guide" last summer for the F5/F55 camera every bit applicable to the FS7 since it offers the same dynamic range, gamma modes and RAW that the F5/F55 does. :cool:

In the guide, I try to explain that in such cases of "extreme" conditions as the one you describe where scenes may exceed or even meet the dynamic range of the camera you are always going to be faced with making the decision of what part of the tonal range is "more" important to you. Is it the highlights or noise free blacks and shadows? It's obviously best to control the dynamic range of your scene if you can so its manageable, but that's not always possible either.

In reality the Sony has a pretty good signal to noise ratio so that even in the deep black tones things look half decent when shooting at the camera's native ISO. Me personally however if I feel the scene has a lot of highlights in it then I tend to underexpose which really is a bit on the bad side since it will only introduce MORE noise later, so you're quite better off exposing to protect your highlights using a waveform monitor and then rebalancing your mid-tones later, maybe cleaning shadows with noise reduction software.

As for the presets, I doubt 4400k gets much use but if mixing tungsten and daylight it can be useful to get that in-between look..
 
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