So what do you with the sky banding in A7SII?

[liork]

It happens in S-Log3 and S-Log2 as well.

Funny, I dont remember it so severe in A7S.

[Guest Ebrahim Saadawi]

4:2:0 8bit H.264 it squished to huge S-LOG3 DR that needs massive stretching, will give bands in-between. Nothing to do sadly other than shoot at lower DR Cine2/Cine4 PPs or OFF.

If you're looking for a desparate post-production solution the only one I tried that helps removing banding in Neat video. You take a noise profile of the bands, it sees it as noise and smoothens it out, without affecting the rest of the image. Not perfect but really helps. 

You can send an a7sii sky frame and l'll see how neat can help with it. 

Anyhow, I'd take some banding over low DR clipped highlights anyday so I prefer S-Log even in 8bit. 

[liork]

Thank you for the reply.

I prefer to prevent it at the shooting stage and not try removing in post.

Tried to shoot with Cine 2 / 4 but it still there in the ungraded material.

[Guest Ebrahim Saadawi]

Could you show us some grabs? 

All 8bit cameras will band shooting a blue sky gradient, all of them, from an iphone to C300, you only have 256 blue gradients while painting a smooth blue sky transition needs a few thousand blue gradients. Actually all 10bit cameras too, just a bit less. 

Does it look unnatural vs normal banding?

A frame grab or video would go a long way in us helping you, 

[liork]

You can see it in the attached sample. Shot with Cine4 S-Log3. Ungraded. You have to look at full size.

[liork]

I shot also with Panasonic G7, its also there, but the pattern is better - not in steps like the Sony. The steps cause worse problem in grading.