FS7: Why no S-Gamut3.cine color space in Custom mode?

B

BarryLichtner

Active member
I wrote a long-winded post and it was accidentally deleted, so I'll keep this short.

Why isn't there an option to shoot in the S-Gamut3.cine color space in Custom mode on the FS7? I know that selecting that theoretical option would have to disable many/most of the paint functions, but I would be fine with that. Does Custom have to stick to a REC.709 color palate by some mandate or convention? The results I can get shooting in CINE 4 and S-Gamut3.cine on the a6300 or a7sII, for example, are great. I like the dynamic range of CINE 4, or HG 7/8, and the reduction in noise I get (since I'm not cramming all 14 stops of DR into a delicate log curve). I rarely shoot scenes that exceed more than 10 stops anyway. So in a sense, a HG plus the SG3.cine color space seems like the best of both worlds to me. Can anyone explain where my logic may be off, or why the FS7 is set up this way? I'm still feeling the camera out, so I'm very interested in this. Thanks!
 
SG3.cine gamut is not a delivery gamut that's why one would not expect to find it as an option to be paired with a HG curve. One shoots SLog3 with .cine because it is an intermediate step and the user will then transform these data into a deliverable colour space with a LUT.

Custom mode is built on top of SGamut colour science whereas CineEI is built on SGamut3 and its subset SGamut3.cine. Custom and CineEI are two distinct modes on the F5/55 FS7 and never the twain shall meet so one can surmise that they have fundamentally different ways of achieving their goals.

I would hope the next round of Sony cams would have just one mode built on top of SGamut3 (or later) and there is no delineation between custom and CineEI, that is, the user can choose to shoot which gamut or if they're shooting REC709 legal profiles like the HGs they'll be derived from SGamut3 and custom white balance will be available in all modes.

If you don't mind shooting in CineEI and are able to live with the 3 preset WB temps you could build yourself a camera LUT in LUTCalc that combines HG gamma you prefer and combine it with, say, the LC709A gamut. When shooting burn this LUT into your footage and you'll have a nice full fat 10 bit file and nice colours. I do the same with low contrast scenes where SLog3 is making poor usage of the available bits, I tend to favour the Varicam V709 gamma combined with the LC709A gamut.
 
Thanks for the reply. That helps me understand how those features are separated. I think I need to get more comfortable flipping between the two camera modes, because as much as I like to shoot completely manual, there are times when it's nice to have some of the conveniences in Custom. The fact that color spaces (and other features) are divided the way they are, feels a little disorienting. But, I see what Sony was doing with CineEI, and I think the idea in concept is pretty cool.

Thanks for the advice on creating some special gamma/gamut combos for the CineEI mode. That's exactly what I plan to do next. Much appreciated advice, thank you.
 
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