Mark Romero 2

What I "need" for both RAW stills and video is good low light ability, great dynamic range, great UI, awesome colors, weight low enough to use on a smaller sized gimbal. The UI of my a6500 is killing me. It just frustrates the heck out of me. The X-T3 looks tempting despite lack of IBIS. Not a FF but it might be a great hybrid solution (my main concern with some of the Fuji cameras I have seen in the past is that the auto ISO function looks "stepped" with noticeable changes in ISO). The new Panasonic L cameras look interesting too. As does the Z6. However, with the X-T3 and the Panasonic L cameras doing 4K 60p, probably next year we will all be saying "4K 30p is so 2018."

Thanks!

Well... that brings up the point of "what is accurate?" And how much does it differ from us using prosumer cameras (either 8 or 10 bit) and those who might be using higher model cameras. Hi @jonpais Can you elaborate a bit on HOW you meter for the highlight? Are you using the zebras? If so, what have you got the zebras set to when shooting SLOG 2? Thanks in advance.

Q: "What is the medium format look?" A: an empty wallet...

Thanks for sharing your experience!!!

Well... according to the sony help guide scroll to the bottom of here: http://helpguide.sony.net/ilc/1420/v1/en/contents/TP0000435736.html ), that seems to be what they are saying: "Setting [ITU709(800%)] or [S-Log2] may cause an error in the white balance custom setup. In that case, set the exposure bright first and then perform custom setup." Although it is hard for me to interpret that...

Thank you for the input. Have you had a chance to try the HLG profiles?

Beautiful work!

One more question for everyone: How does the HLG profiles of the 3rd Gen Sony mirrorless cameras (a7 III, a7R III) fit in to all this? I understand that 1) It isn't really supposed to be for grading, and that it is is supposed to be for "out of camera" footage that will be shown on HD TVs, but is there a benefit when shooting for (eventual) Rec.709 distribution like youtube? For example: If shooting HLG and then editing on a Rec. 709 timeline, can I at least get the same 12 stops of DR that Cine4 at 0EV or SLOG2 at +2 provide without having the nasty Cine4 rolloff and without having to deal with the SLOG2 workflow? I really have only seen the videos comparing SLOG2 with HLG by the one guy Scott Jeschke and they don't seem really conclusive to me (maybe I missed it). HLG 3 seems a lot nicer than the STANDARD / oicture profiles off: But not really sure about head-to-head with SLOG2

Thank you for the input. I can understand your findings. I guess the sadness for me is that the highlight rolloff of Cine4 is... how should we say it... pretty bad... So having the hghlights clip is pretty upsetting to me. Your testing seems to confirm my (rather haphazard) comparisons between Cine4 and Slog 2. There is not a whole lot more DR in a SLOG2 shot that has been overexposed by two stops. It seems that the main benefit in this case is that SLOG2 gives a less harsh rolloff though. All other things being equal, in regards to skin tones, would you say that Cine4 at 0 EV gives better skin tones than SLOG2 at around +2 after grading? Or are they about equal? You said with regular grading they both look about equal, so i am assuming that also refers to skin tones being on par with each other when exposed optimally. (I haven't been able to test on skin tones really.) Yes, that is definitely a concern. Cine4 is much easier to use in the field (on an a6500) but the rolloff is nasty. Even using in-camera LUT (I don't know what sony calls it exactly... gamma assist???) when shooting SLOG2 the issue is that they recommend switching OUT of SLOG when doing your white balance, which is really difficult on a gimbal with the tiny buttons on an a6500. Thanks for your input. I think the "real question" for me, though, is maybe more along the lines of, "is it worth it to step up from a budget 8-bit camera if I want to shoot log / get more dynamic range"? Admittedly, I did only allude to prosumer cameras. Hopefully that won't dissuade people from sharing findings about some of the more affordable cine cameras though. Yes, wave forms or false color would make it a lot easier, I believe, as would just having a larger, brighter, more detailed screen. (The screen on the a6500 is pretty useless).

Do other LOG profiles (aside from SLOG) benefit from significant overexposure (plus 2 stops), or is SLOG the only one that is really noisy if it isn't overexposed? Curtis Judd suggested about one stop over for Panasonic V Log. Some people on other forums said that with the GH5 you don't really need to overexpose any more. Anyone heard anything about N-Log yet regarding overexposure? Do the actual Pro Log S profiles used in EOSHD Pro Log 3 and Pro Log 4 require 2 stops of overexposure? (sorry, Andrew, if I am dipping in to the secret sauce too deeply) Shooting in SLOG is just such a frustrating experience on my Sony a6500.

Yes, it is. Using ND filters is quite a pain. Although i am looking into possibly getting one of the polarpro combo ND / polarizer filters.

Thanks for posting your video. To me, the IQ looks something like that of an 80D. However, I can see why you love the voitlander 40mm lens now. Do you think you will keep your a7 II??? Or do you think you will sell it? If you think you will keep it, may I make a suggestion? I would suggest trying out SLOG and seeing if you are ok with the workflow required for using SLOG. I say this because in the few shots in your video where it is bright and sunny, the highlight rolloff is pretty bad. Most sony picture profiles have nasty highlight rolloff (IMHO). SLOG will give you a bit more dynamic range and the rolloff is less nasty than the other profiles. But the workflow is harder. Of course, if you are going to sell this camera than that is irrelevant. Anyway, please keep us updated on whatever you end up deciding to do.

The codec is supposed to be the same (XAVC-S) as on other 100mb cameras, like my Sony a6500 when shooting in 4K. I find it pretty easy to edit 4K footage in resolve because of the automatic Cache feature (as @Inazuma alluded to) and the ability to create proxy files in 1080p if I need to. i7-6700 @ 3.4GHZ, 24MB RAM, win 10 64-bit, 256GB SSD, GTX 960 2GB version

Well.... I have bought a few courses on the standalone version of fusion on udemy. We will see how it pans out. I feel that the youtube videos on fusion have been pretty lacking when compared to the general youtube videos on resolve. Maybe I just haven't found the right ones yet.

Thanks for sharing your results and your feedback.

So many cameras to choose from... The lack of IBIS is kind of a bummer for me. Wonder what the DR is going to be like.

Yes!!! That would be great.

Brilliant work!!! It's a really captivating show reel.

It's not a bug... it's a high-tech hand warmer...

Yeah, I find the skin tones in your recent vids with the a7 III to look really good. On the other hand, I am the type of person who finds canon skin tones to look way to red (and I often try to reduce the red that the EOSHD profile has on my a6500 as well). Personally I am probably a big fan of the Fuji Eterna skin tones and Nikon skin tones.

I like it, but agree with @mercer that a bit more contrast would make it even better.

I really like most of the footage. There were some shots where her face was really, really green (assuming that was light reflected off the river / canal). But in many scenes her skin tones looked really nice.

NICE!!! Great work.

That is much more of a surprise to me that it is that good. My a6500 regularly takes about 100 more stills on it's dinky battery than my D750 took with its beefier battery. Of course, I shoot 95% of my stills in LiveView, and the D750 was a battery hog for me when shooting in liveview. I could get about 450 stills on a single battery on my D750 shooting in liveview, and about 550-ish with the a6500 using LCD screen. (Apparently, the EVF of the a6500 takes up more power than the back LCD screen does.) On the other hand, the LCD screen of the D750 is much, MUCH better than that of the a6500, so not a surprise to me that it soaks up so much juice. Anyway, good on Nikon for having good battery life.