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So I can update EOSHD Pro Color for Sony's latest colour science tweaks yours truly bought the new A7R III from Berlin's one and only Sony Store this week. Yes, 3500 euros seems to be Sony's new standard price and yes I am finally broke... but the improvements over the old model turn out to be quite special - especially the new Hybrid LOG Gamma picture profiles. Read the full article

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Today I grabbed my DSLR and went for a short walk around the neighbourhood to take some pics. I wanted to get some shots to test a film look DCP profile I've been working on. As part of my research for this I discovered that most contemporary DSLRs deliberately underexpose when using in-camera metering. This is because for most sensors there aren't actually that many stops between middle grey and totally blown out. For example, my 5D3 will clip at around 3.3 stops above middle grey. I know this because if I shoot a white sheet of paper at 1/3 stop increments and examine the linear RAW values, the exposure that gives me 18% of the maximum RAW value is around 3.3 stops below the one that clips... and that, by definition, is middle grey. However, this leaves very little room in the highlights. The DR of the 5D3 is around 11.5 stops. So there's three and a bit above middle grey, and around eight below. If you were to meter correctly, you would be very much in danger of blowing out highlights. To help combat this, it appears that most camera manufacturers use 12% grey as the basis for metering. The effect of this is to provide an extra stop or so of highlight headroom. And in fact, this is borne out by checking values in ACR, where actual 18% grey sits at around 185 and 12% grey sits at around 119 (the given RGB number for middle grey in a 2.2 gamma). Anyway, that's all very interesting or very dull, depending on your point of view. But for some reason it inspired me to shoot on auto exposure on my walk. Even though I normally think of manual exposure control as being the absolute best, I was now considering that Canon have probably tested this a lot and perhaps auto isn't so bad. So I put the camera on aperture priority with auto ISO and started snapping. At first I was kind of worried as I could immediately see two things happening that I would have rectified straight away if I had been shooting manual: Low contrast shots were looking a bit underexposed (I would normally ETTR in these situations to minimise noise) In high contrast scenes some sky was getting blown out (I would normally protect highlights as much as I can) However, I just went with it. When I got back to my computer I also did something that I never usually do and that was to click the "Auto" button on the ACR exposure tab. I was really surprised with how well everything turned out. ACR's best guess did a great job at expanding or contracting shadows and highlights automatically. All I had to do was tweak overall exposure, and sometimes highlights or blacks as well. Here are some of the results: Are there clipped highlights and crushed blacks? Absolutely. But the pics still look good. Now, I don't know if I would shoot this way for a client. However, I've got to say that it was such a blessed relief to not be constantly chimping the histogram and re-taking shots to get the ideal exposure. And it was also a very good feeling to get the processing done in two or three clicks. It made both shooting and processing a lot more fun. Who knows, maybe I'm ready for auto white balance next!

@mercer, you beat me with the first Like by one second! @hyalinejim, massively great color. Pics don´t look good but fantastic! Awesome write up. Super fun to read. One of the most interesting and enjoyable posts of the last weeks. Thank you!

You as filmmakers are referring to my honest and very positive feedback in a way that does not do anything to give me a smile as well. Did you get me argumentation? You both know the power and craft of silent film. To judge the visual interest of a very short clip is to concentrate on the visuality of a film, espcially when it´s only 1min long. To do a 480p test on Jons video was a compliment and trust towards the very high resolving lens. It´s the only time I have seen such good 480p on youtube. Hey Mattias, great find! It would be awesome, to get this pony running with a Bmpcc speed booster: 0.58x1.796= 1.04, plus 1.7 stops increase in light gathering!

I've collected a few gems from Facebook:

I'd say ISO12800 is the 3200 on GH5, that is, the new territory to avoid, so ISO10000 on GH5S the new 1600 limit on GH5; as my most optimistic bet... about 2 stops and a half for lowlight, not bad. Imagine a f2.8 to let you see light as could be a f1.2 pick. With about 1.15x of crop coupled to SB 0.64x XL version, the new GH5S is the new FF* in town! Even though, from other samples I've seen I'd even include 12800 (where others have also compared 12800 on GH5S to 3200 from GH5 too, so I believe I should not be too much optimistic over here). * Sorry guys but I love to provoke a few minds from these boards... LOL :-)

My first wish is that they (and Canon) just get on with it.

At 8-bit for video, yes.

At CES a rep said it's an "all new sensor," which got me excited... but finally found a video where a rep says 12MP stills so it's not looking like a 1" EDIT: Looks like there will be two sensor options!

You won't see many GH5s in productions like this. This is a showcase, made specifically to promote GH5s. Of course you don't need IBIS if you are using a gimbal and a dolly, but why would you use a GH5 on a shoot like this, where only the daily cost of renting the rig is much more expensive that the camera's price? Why on earth would anyone make a custom set with expensive lighting setups, cranes & remote controlled gimbals to shoot with an MFT camera which hardly delivers 12 stops of DR in a compressed format?

Next step is to watch videos without sound, in B&W, and at 320P

[PS] Well, I see such low light technology brings a new aesthetics approach... The question is if that's good or not under this particular perspective. Night life all shot in the same way is... boring to say the least.

Muaha, muaha, lol! That mimicry of a term is a nonsensical nonterm.There is no such thing as cultural marxism. What this right wing term is describing is in need of a better name. It´s neither cultural forofilmsism nor cultural pannysvhsism, muahaha! To connect Arnold Toynbee to this term is very misleading.

So the Viltrox EF-M2 is getting al the positive reviews from GH5 users as a metabones speedbooster alternative with autofocus and auto Iris controls! http://www.viltrox.com/en/index.php?m=index&a=show&cid=145&id=181 Now I am curious: has somebody tested this adapter with the bmpcc / bmmcc?

This ought to make Zak and others a bit happier. http://www.4kshooters.net/2018/01/12/panasonic-au-eva1-new-firmware-update-ver-1-10-released/

Not a method I would want to Overuse in a video, but defiantly able to do unique stuff the break up the Same O Same O routine. https://nofilmschool.com/2017/12/check-out-awesome-method-making-your-own-camera-transitions

It doesn’t change the situation with Pro Color because the A7R III doesn’t let you select BT.2020 with a standard gamma curve, only LOG (HLG) mode... So you can’t use it for straight out of camera colour (which is what EOSHD Pro Color is for). You need to add a LUT. In the article I say BT.2020 is developed jointly by BBC and NHK. It’s not a Sony standard but a HDR broadcast standard. Canon use it as well. S-Gammut is the Sony equivilent wide colour space. And that needs tweaking to work well and / or expert grading.

I hope the above is tongue in check.

@mercerYes, but I buy a lot of stuff from friends all over the world. The first 2 years of that camera was in Canada, and I own it for a whole year now. I have 4 NX cameras, cover all my bases. Still waiting for the Canonikon mirrorless, or next Sony/Fuji "pro" APS-C to really upgrade from the NX.

This This!!!:) Even for musicvideos I sometimes turn the music off to evaluate the visuals. Even some very trickery and expensive visuals cannot hide their lack of imagination sometimes. I watched a super hip hexy sexy musicvideo a few days ago. I left the music off, to see, if it was more than trickery. It was not, it was a complete rip off of from Wong Kar Wais and Chris Doyles masterpiece "Fallen Angels", but not referrencing or admittingly using inspiration, but copycatting into a lackluster montage and story.

Glenn, in my usual condescend tone addressed to you (sorry, couldn't resist!), no idea if I must say I really do like this post of yours or not... LOL Something I know though, even when I am in doubt or I disagree with you, you still are one of my fav readings over here ;-) E :-)

Their first will probably be like the Sony A7. But I'd consider a 2nd or 3rd gen. Although, they're probably going after fullframe, so... that's really not my space, actually. Doubt they'll go for an APS-C line-up. But I'd actually be up for something along the lines of a D5600 but rather than DSLR, of course in a mirrorless package, including sensor stabilization and full readout 4K, plus mic-in/headphone interface. Time will tell I guess. For now I'm sticking with MFT.

Hey Gregor, tomorrow it´s gonna be beautiful in Berlin. So Andrew should grab a shot or two, don´t you think?:) We would love to see some classic footage from the fleamarket crowd and all the chills and thrills in beautiful sun and sunset, hmm, sunrise too, it´s gonna be a long day of beautiful footage!!!:)

I agree, I just want more mirrorless options. I actually like DSLRs, but it seems that Nikon and Canon May introduce more video oriented features in a mirrorless. To add, at first I thought it was a bad move for Nikon to go with a new mount and make it more difficult for their loyal pros to use the lenses they’ve acquired over the years but since the flange distance is so small, it may have been brilliant in the end for choices. On the other hand, I think a FF Canon mirrorless absolutely needs to be in EF Mount.

What a brilliant find, nice one @Andrew Reid. Especially given that I'm guessing the EOSHD Colour thing is a big earner for you, you could have kept this quiet. I'm guessing the specific colour mode that is in there BT.2020 is a broadcast specific colour mode specifically for BBC? The footage you shot looks really beautiful, would be curious to see it at night and during the day, that is if Berlin feels like having a sunny day anytime soon.

This!!! Films are first and foremost a visual medium. Every film should make sense without any sound. Sure sound enhances the experience but dialogue and sound effects support the visuals. Obviously, an exception would be music videos.

Welcome to my world When I read people talking about getting 14 stops of DR with a camera, in video mode no less, I can only roll my eyes. Nikon/Sony cameras can get sort of close to 14 stops at ISO 100, but nowhere near at ISO 400/800 say (which is where most video is shot) To extend what you're saying. Even if you ignore the camera's suggested exposure, which I agree, is tweaked according to what mode you're in (unlike what a light meter would say) , you have to consider the sensitivity as pixel exposure decreases as you go from brightest to lowest light. So if your middle gray, or wherever the sensor can most accurately read light, is moved up or down, it effects the NOISE 2 stops below it. That is, if you you expose to avoid clipping you may add noise below the image. If you clip, you may get better saturation (less noise) below--AT ANY ISO, because again, ISO just considers your center exposure. Cameras today are truly marvels. That said, it's still very difficult, for me at least, to really nail exposure. It's an art, for sure. Getting a really good exposure, both in setting up lights, and setting the camera up, is no trivial matter. I believe the best photographers really SWEAT those details--getting the center 6 stops in the optimum range. Like Andrew's latest video. The way the lights were blowing out drove me a bit nuts. I wonder, why can't the camera just figure that out? It has a computer in it But it can't. To get the image Andrew really wants, I assume, he'd have to replace all those practicals with low watt bulbs and then bring up the room light to the right ambient level for the camera. The camera, any camera, is really the least of one's problems So when I read people saying they want 10bit, or LOG gammas, I think, I have enough trouble getting 8bit normal gammas working well! I mean think about it, why should we have to set a LOG profile and all those parameters. Why can't the camera analyze the scene and give us some options? Maybe one day. For now, I agree with your last post. You either A) sweat the exposure if you're looking for a certain level of color fidelity or B) put it on Auto and focus on composition. Doing both at the same time. I can't do it. Not even close.

When I'm on holidays I bring a Canon P&S and shoot on Auto and everything looks great. With my DSLR, on the other hand, I was always trying to ETTR as a matter of principle. Yes, it will ultimately lead to a cleaner image but the whole process of taking a shot, checking the histogram, and maybe taking another version of the same shot with slightly different settings, and then maybe again... all this means you're staring at your camera LCD and fiddling with settings. Recently I had a go at shooting on film, and followed Kirk Mastin's excellent guide for those starting out with film. He gives "set it and forget it" settings for shooting in daylight. It was such a pleasure to just shoot through the viewfinder with no image to review, no exposure tweaks necessary. I was looking at the world and not looking at the back of my camera. So if auto exposure for digital can really be trusted, then shooting becomes a whole lot more pleasurable.

Reason why you're also right : ) I love to quote Nils Bohr for such cases: 'The opposite of a correct statement is a false statement. But the opposite of a profound truth may well be another profound truth.' As much as Coppola's choice towards GH2 is completely out of tune for many pros out there. Means digital has changed this medium. Deeper than people out of these boards tend to want to believe.

One of the reasons Canon is King is that their Auto functions work really well. I know this post is about Raw stills but I’ve even shot with Shutter priority and ML Raw... with surprisingly okay results. I think if I had the time to really test it... Shutter Priority, +2-3 stops, in conjunction with AEL Hold, one push AF and an IS lens... the 5D3 becomes a P&S cinema camera. Btw, nice images.

Under motion picture industry perspective, no. The fact is you can mimic any one of the big guys there in much more than 50% of circumstances though. I guess this is where reality fits there. IMO I think they are going through the spot pretty well on that one.

A7SIII should be 10bit. Anyway, 10 bit is nice but not more important for me than things like good video AF or IBIS. I have found 8 bit easily gradable and people have posted master piece 8 bit cinematic videos where you would not tell the difference with 10bit. It does not really change how people see your content. IBIS and AF does. A shaky video is trash, focus hunting is trash. @Andrew Reid I found the HLG different profile significations: HLG: Gamma curve for HDR recording. Equivalent to the HDR standard Hybrid Log-Gamma, ITU-R BT.2100. HLG1: Gamma curve for HDR recording. Emphasizes noise reduction. However, shooting is restricted to a narrower dynamic range than with [HLG2] or [HLG3]. HLG2: Gamma curve for HDR recording. Provides a balance of dynamic range and noise reduction. HLG3: Gamma curve for HDR recording. Wider dynamic range than [HLG2]. However, noise may increase. [HLG1], [HLG2], and [HLG3] all apply a gamma curve with the same characteristics, but each offers a different balance between dynamic range and noise reduction. Each has a different maximum video output level, as follows: [HLG1]: approx. 87%, [HLG2]: approx. 95%, [HLG3]: approx. 100%. AS seen here http://helpguide.sony.net/ilc/1710/v1/en/contents/TP0001211745.html @Andrew Reid which one did you like?

I would love to see Panasonics new sensor make it’s way into the GH6... that would be ground breaking. I think the way the GH5S implements the Starvis IMX294 is not ideal. This dual ISO business clearly has merits, but the idea of capturing both high and low ISO at once and combining them in real time to create a HDR video is more appealing to me. I wonder if this could be enabled in firmware? After all, this is what the sensor was originally designed to do. Instead Panasonic chose to disable this dual capture mode and use them independently... which while somewhat useful, is actually bastardizing the sensor.

It will come. Sooner or later but will come... :-) Certain PR reps make us to feel children, uneducated or retarded... Make a triple pick LOL

I sympathize with your comments. I don't shoot enough with high end cameras to speak from experience. From my analysis, however, I believe that the "don't-shoot-well in low light" reputation of BM cameras is a distortion. All 8-bit video requires a fair bit of noise-reduction. Add to that the chroma softening inherent in 422 or 420 video compression, and you're going to end up with an image that is going to look fairly similar from good light and down. So on an FS5, for example, you won't see much of a color difference between low light and good light, only a difference in noise. With the BM cameras, (or any RAW camera) the god light image is going to look significantly more detailed than the FS5 image. On this I have tested over and over again. I can see the difference between RAW source and compressed. Not a difference most people would recognize, but if you work with video you can see it. So when you look at low-light RAW on a BM and low-light on the FS5, the FS5 will look more quickly usable, but I'm not sure if it would look that different from the BM if the BM was built to process 8-bit NOISE REDUCTION video. Or, if the FS5 did shoot RAW natively, not sure it wouldn't get a bad reputation too. Put another way, the kind of detail a BM camera records in RAW is something one wants to maintain, but is impossible in low light. It feels a negative of the camera, but it's really a matter of EXPECTATIONS LEAD TO RESENTMENT

I don't think Jon is buying a GH5s! But he was not buying a GH5 either.

I see how they are using these ISO's to prove that the GH5s is great in low light. But I hope this does not start a trend. I agree with Jon, how light do you go at night? I always loved it more toward the darker side because of the suspense, scary side of it, making you look harder at it to spot things, on and on. But admit this camera is going to make it tempting to go higher. But I won't like it unless it is more for Documentary stuff, etc., seeing things we have never been able to see before.

I think maybe the second half of this year through to the first half of next are going to be spectacular for "waiters". That rumoured Nikon mount if it is a 16mm flange might allow someone like Kipon or Metabones to even make a Sony E to Nikon Z adapter. That would mean my 55 1.8 and 85 1.8 Sony lenses would not be orphaned if I ever left FF E mount. Might be a very different mirrorless world pretty soon. You know it is coming, question is how soon?

Yep, LEDs get hotter and hotter and they still have color spikes, etc. I have Fiilex lights and I notice in some clips that the color temperature shifts here and there. That never happens with Tungsten. And of course, again, tungsten, though reddish, delivers a nice smooth color spectrum. Of course you know all that. But for any newbie reading, if you see some cheap tungstens jump on them! I see some lowell kits going for near nothing. Except for the heat and their hunger for watts, the quality of the light cannot be beat! Young filmmakers have no idea how lucky they are to have all these quality lights available for pennies on the dollar.

Haha, good catch Max! Living in SE Wisconsin, the winter aspect of it comes into play more often than not. It's still the most consistent, reliable, good-looking light source out there, especially for the money they sell for nowadays.

Yeah, I think that´s an exellent idea. Minus the osiris lut and color will look better too:)

I say skip the Panasonic offerings altogether. "Wha" you say? Outrageous sir! Because you know, and I know as soon as someone releases the same feature set with that coveted bigger sensor and better AF, (which the bar is low) everyone's going to be offloading their G-whatever on eBay like a distant memory, and thus the sickness of perpetual gear-acquisition rages on. I have the sickness too. But I'm starting to ween myself from those shackles and it feels absolutely liberating. Instead, I'm reinvesting in my current setup and investing more time, energy and money into learning more about the filmmaking process outside the camera. I thought buying new gear would scratch some of that itch, but it does not. Yeah, the joy of holding something new is exciting, but the shelf life on this is very short.

Geez with all this great low light tech it seems to have created an aesthetic problem for me... Blown out street lights and signs seems you have to try your best to keep light sources out of your shots or strange as it may be ... Use an ND filter @ night ? welcme to the new word

Max, please feel free to interrupt! The original request is a rather odd one, I might say. I fell for it. Odd too, I must say.

If this has a 1" sensor and h.265 I'll buy it in a heartbeat, even considering my bad experience with Autel's X-Star premium. A folding P4 Pro? Yes please! Otherwise it's not worth the risk. Had the XStar and it lost contact constantly with the remote and initiated "return home" all the time. Ended up returning it after 3 weeks. The yaw was a big problem, too: impossible to make smooth panning motions.

Every scene had movement in it, mostly up and down. I don't see how you can tout your GH5 as being ideal the way it is outputting. I know we are all guilty of moment in videos, but that is why they invented 4000 dollar tripods. I have seen pretty much NO videos out of a GH5 that are rock solid handheld. So it is not your fault totally. But you have a pretty intense video rig and you are still getting movement. Now I guess to the average person that will watch it they will not notice, but I see it. One problem is you are a old turd just like me LoL. Shake and Bake.

You are not trolling, I hope! http://www.newsshooter.com/2017/11/16/wooden-camera-creates-pl-mount-panasonic-eva1/ Bye:)

The only way to stop all of the shit is to not participate. Teach younger kids to find more substantive content. I've been off of Facebook for 4 years now and it feels good!

Ha! Limitations? Looks more like strengths looking at the video above. ? The diffused lighting is really helping to tone down the aggressive detail of the NX1 sensor and help rolloff gradients a bit smoother. It's a good look in my opinion, 8bit or otherwise. This could definitely hit a distribution channel like Netflix. You've definitely earned a new fan. ? It also looks like there's some attention given to wardrobe/set color coordination? I've always had a propensity towards pulling the most out of less and challenging conventional wisdom where I feel it's misplaced or dogmatic. Not to dismiss the obvious lush and creamy images of say a RED EPIC or Arri Alexa. But as much as they are awesome, they're equally uninteresting, if that makes sense? There's a certain, "Go big or go home mentality" I'd like to see get challenged because I personally feel filmmaking should be accessible to anyone who has a passion for it but may not neccsarily have the funds to match. I really get annoyed at those filmmakers who use top gear as a barrier to entry and job security. Even if they're very skilled, I feel they have lost their way. I remember starting my interest in filmmaking as a young kid shooting with VHS camcorders. I didn't think at that time that my little films didn't look like what I saw in the movie theater (not even close) but I do remember learning about other things like creative lighting, and fun and interesting ways to frame the world I see. And having fun with friends creating scenes. I was focused on improving my craft with each time I picked up my camera. I actually took my camcorder to bed with me. I was totally hooked. I'm sure I wasn't alone. (Before the interwebs) Maybe it's me but I don't see a lot of articles talking about those magical formative years. I do see tons of articles professing over this camera, or that camera and their respective specs. There is a forum for that, don't get me wrong. But it's a bit less magical and relies heavily on convention, which sometimes comes off as arrogant and a bit jaded. I can't imagine a young child just getting into this field and reading, "No kid, you're nothing without an Arri Alexa". That's a horrible message. There's a handful of children's filmmaking workshops that teach aspiring young minds the art of filmmaking using smartphones and simple household tools I couldn't be supportive enough of this movement. Sorry guys, I know I ramble a bit. Hey, I'm a 44 year old single father of adult children and get a bit lonely at times, especially during time off from work. I'm surrounded by professionals who work with million dollar budgets and get whatever equipment they request. It gets boring always talking about how this gear allowed this or that. I'm done now.