Super Impressed With 7d Picture Styles

T

TATmedia

Member
I shot my 3rd Music video with the 7d, and it looks spectacular!!!! I shot the last video, which I hated the results, with that "SuperFlat" crap, and it was HORRIBLE!!! Washed out far to easily, and looked like a dull piece of ****. I used the Standard setting on this new shoot with a little increase in saturation, contrast and color tones, and this image was amazing. I shot from evening on to night. The biggest issue with the shoot was my lights blowing the breakers in this old trap house that we shot at. I had 2 2ks, and 1 650, but I was only able to run each of the 2ks at half power. I did the entire shoot off of a shoulder rig, never touch the sticks or the Steadicam. This was by far the best shoot, best color tone that I have ever gotten out of this camera. It looks soooo much better than trying to color grade in post. Shots in which I went super shallow, Edge to edge was so sharp and crisp on my 50in plasma that it was scary!!!! You could count the pores in the talents skin. It was a great shoot, the footage was so nice that I backed it up to 3 drives in fear of loosing it lol. Even had a few crackheads make some cameos, they even had their own props (shopping carts, trash, crack, etc.) Its amazing how much easier it was to work with a crackhead than a model or rapper!!!lol. The artist called it "Super Hd" lol (rappers are funny, I've heard them refer to my work as "Icy" lol). Pics and vids coming later.
 
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Yes i dont like washed out color either, but i find standard just too vivid on my 550D/t2I i use neutral but with the color pushed up as well as sharness, i agree why play with the colors after when you can get what you want from the recording.
 
flinty said:
Yes i dont like washed out color either, but i find standard just too vivid on my 550D/t2I i use neutral but with the color pushed up as well as sharness, i agree why play with the colors after when you can get what you want from the recording.
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Yes, I'll leave the color grading to the color grading experts. I already have to DP and Edit, and also direct, so enoughs enough. I'll let the camera do its own color grading. I do agree that it is vivid, but with the correct lighting, it pops beautifully.
 
For shooting music videos I'd think you are making the right choice. Superflat is good for something like a feature or a short film where you know you will be doing color grading in post and you've got a good colorist and you need the image to hold up when shown on a very large screen.

That said, Music videos tend to be punchier and more vivid than the kind of look you'd go for in a narrative piece - you want punchier, more vivid colors and so shooting superflat is probably not necessary or even advisable - you've also got a little more freedom since music videos are primarily shown on either TV or the web, not a theater-sized screen.

The guys I know who do documentary work are also finding that superflat isn't really the way to go for them, they get better results dialing in the color they want in-camera.

I think Superflat is still the best way to go on a narrative project, but I think somehow this advice got passed on to everyone for every kind of project, and I am not convinced that superflat is the way to go for everything. In the end all that matters is that you got the look you wanted and your client is happy - whether you do this in cam or in post doesn't matter - it only matters that you know you can deliver a product that you can be proud of and keep the client happy, so do what works best for you and don't worry about anyone else!
 
Superflat is a great picture style if you want to have your talent looking like wax dolls. If you like fiddling in post and making your images worse off, Superflat is the preferred choice since 2009.
 
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Superflat is a great picture style if you want to have your talent looking like wax dolls. If you like fiddling in post and making your images worse off, Superflat is the preferred choice since 2009.
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Depends on how well you light, you can get improved DR by shooting superflat and more filmlike images - but you have to shoot with all this in mind and knowing what you plan to do to the images after the fact.
 
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