Sony A7s documentary shoot tomorrow and desperately in need of expert help! :)

I

Ignacy

Member
Hi everyone,

Tomorrow I'll be shooting a video of monument restorers. This will be indoors (from 12 to 4PM) with sunlight coming in through a couple of windows. In other words lots of shadows and highlights. I therefor intend to shoot in S-LOG.
So far I've been shooting in Cine2 picture profile using kholi's PicPro 2 profile settings with quite pleasing results (https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1rGxsgFMLk-oATs-05iN6fzb-uGkcgvLBIgJo_2GWvB8/edit#gid=0).
However even after a lot of research online on how best to best to expose I still have no conclusive idea on how to go about the shoot so maybe you guys could help me out?
Here's a list of questions :) :

1. ETTR 2 stop overexposure vs Wolfcrow 3 stop overexposure?

I found two well respected online guides but they unfortunately seem to contradict each other! One by Alister Chapman who advocates for 2 stop overexposure, the other by wolfcrow who argues for three stops of overexposure...:undecided
http://www.xdcam-user.com/2014/08/e...-on-the-sony-a7s-part-one-gamma-and-exposure/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jRI40Gl4I8g
Upon researching a lot it seems as though Chapman's 2 stop overexposure recommendation is the most popular and so I intend to film that way. Is there anyone who dissagrees, if so why?

2. Metering question.

Since I'll be shooting people a lot I intend to set the metering mode to spot metering, then point the spot to a person's face, and make sure that I'm two stops overexposed.
Aslo, I'll double check that the zebras highlight these skintones at 70 IRE.
Unless the lighting ratio is unnaturally strong this method should suffice right?
Probably during a wide shot scenario, I might set the metering to Multi (evaluative in Canon terminology), overexpose two stops and set the Zebra's to 100+ IRE to double check there's no extreme highlight clipping.

3. White balancing.
Since I'll be shooting alone and moving about quite a bit I won't have time to white balance using a grey card.
I'll double check the kelvin (by metering a white sheet of paper) of the leds they use to shine light on the wall painting. Hopefully it'll be in the 5600 range so that in the combination with the sunny afternoon light coming in from the windows it'll be ok.
I'll also bring a led light of my own (with a handy 3200K filter just in case).
Any extra tips from people with more experience would be greatly appreciated

4. I have not shot in S-LOG2 before, should I risk it?
I've been hired as a DP to shoot an interesting documentary and have not found time to experiment with S-Log 2 yet as video is not the only thing I do.
Should I risk shooting in S-Log tomorrow or would it be better if I stuck to the Cine2 Profile I've been shooting with up till now?

5. This is a question I've been needing to find an answer to for a long while: What is the native ISO of the a7s when not shooting in S-Log?
I know the S-Log native Iso is 3200 but is it also for the other picture profiles??
In this seminar https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zeX-eZXaRtw Phillip Bloom says it's 320 ISO but I can't find any information elsewhere online conferming this...

6. In the Cine Profiles it is best to expose to zero or underexpose by a third of a stop, right?
That's what I've been doing so far (based on a Phillip bloom a7s seminar) and it seems ok, just want to 100% sure ;)

Thanks already for any sort of help and kind greetings!

Ignacy

My Gear:

Sony A7s, Commlite adaptor, two Canon zooms, Z96 portable led light.
 
I like SLOG2 on the A7s and I use it the most as of late. However, if you have not practiced shooting with it and exploring how to grade it, for a paid gig I would stick with what you know and are familiar with using Cine2. I have had some great stuff come out with Cine2 as well.

Depending on how severely different the exposure levels of incoming light vs light inside is, even with Slog2, you might get window blowout in the end anyway. Shooting in SLOG is a different expereince...especially if you don't use a better monitor than what is on the back of the a7s. Focus looks softer because there is less contrast and saturation on a monitor that is already hard to pull accurate focus with for any subjects at a distance. Shooting 2 stops over in my opinion is the max for getting back good skin tones but that is gonna throw your intuitive camera choices out of whack as well. White Balance choices on the fly only viewing through Slog are pretty much impossible. You have to know your white balance by heart or use tools for assistance....because honestly, I have yet to be happy with what auto White Balance has given me on the A7s. Last point I would say is you need a vari ND filter on hand to handle the lowest base ISO of 3200 so you can still pull off your shallow depth of field shots when desired.

Slog is worth exploring for sure as the end result can give you a different look....and yes you get more DR. But cine2 can look fantastic as well.

www.RoughCutProductions.com
 
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Thanks a million for your reply :)!
I ended up not shooting in S-Log2 today and the Cine2 stuff I shot looks good
Maybe I'll just stick to Cine2 for now then, that's until I can afford myself an external screen. As for the variable ND, I got a Heliopan which I had forgetten to mention.

One more question, do you know what the Base Iso of the A7s is when not shooting SLOG?
 
Sure thing, glad you found the info helpful. Sorry for late response, went out of town the day after leaving my comment. I do recommend still tinkering with A7s in SLOG2 even before getting a monitor, it just takes some practice and will give you options of a fun different final look....plus the DR advantage. But yes, something like the Odyssey without doubt improves shooting decisions immensely with a gorgeous accurate OLED screen, real waveform monitor, false color, focus assist and now monitoring luts, etc. it is worth the investment all the way.

Offhand, I am not sure what the NATIVE ISO is for A7s outside of SLOG2, sorry.
 
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