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We added sharpening to the XAVC S-I clip just to make it a little more challenging. Can you tell which is which? https://youtu.be/LvywZXFZkFA Sony a7s III XAVC S-I internal noise processing is splotchy and exhibits banding artifacts. ProRes 4444 noise reduction in post. Settings: Temporal - Faster - Medium -Luma 2 - Chroma 2. Noise... Continue Reading →
ProRes RAW HQ transcoded to ProRes 4444 is brighter, less green, has greater contrast, increased saturation and significantly higher resolution than the internally recorded S-Log3/S-Gamut3 XAVC S-I codec. Below are screenshots of the HDR footage dropped onto a rec. 709 timeline with a custom curve added to preserve highlight detail and a hue adjustment to... Continue Reading →
ProRes RAW HQ 4.2K 24p HDR footage for download. https://youtu.be/CwajLXYxmGE Ninja V waveform monitor Ninja V false color Downward curve applied to ETTR clips Color correction using X-Rite ColorChecker, Hue vs. Hue and vectorscope Skin tone line on vectorscope
Having seen the reviews and checked out the footage, we're afraid we're going to have to take a hard pass on the long awaited a7 IV. The colors aren't as nice, it appears to have worse underexposure latitude, the rolling shutter is pretty awful and there's that 60p crop. For reasons they couldn't pinpoint, CVP... Continue Reading →
Back in May, when we tried racking focus with Imaging Edge, the app seemed sluggish and unresponsive. We thought we'd revisit the app again, and just as before, tap-to-focus wouldn't respond when tapping on the curtains behind us. The aperture was f/1.8, transition speed set to 1. https://youtu.be/EZSMZ0ElaHY If you notice something different about the... Continue Reading →
Graded with Colloid 2.0. https://youtu.be/3YTXYGYEL6o
CineD recently published an article in which the author disputes Sony's claim that the FX9, FX6 and FX3 shoot 16-bit RAW video but brings no facts to the table, only unfounded speculation. The very first paragraph proclaims, "In fact, a true 16-Bit sensor readout only belongs to high-end cinema cameras. Yes, that’s one of the... Continue Reading →
How well does the new Voigtlander Apo 35mm f/2 aspherical stack up to the Sony 35mm f/1.4 GM? In the most critical areas, like architectural and landscape photography, the two lenses might be difficult to tell apart (although we still think the Sony will prevail); however, with its fast f/1.4 aperture and the quickest, most... Continue Reading →
For our friends who are still shooting with the a7 III, here are some exposure tips. First, it is highly inadvisable to shoot either S-Log 2 or S-Log3, with the a7 III. It will result in ugly banding which cannot be removed in post. Those who think banding only occurs in skies are sorely mistaken -... Continue Reading →
While there are exceptionally few examples of actual living, breathing human beings in HDR YouTube videos, of the negligible number that do exist, too many suffer from one or more of the following: bizarre colors, excessive noise, outrageously intense specular highlights in teeth, eyes or jewelry and an obnoxious lack of tonality, hues, texture and... Continue Reading →
We had to re-upload this video because the soundtrack is being released on a label and the owner revoked the creative commons license. Not sure how kosher that is. https://youtu.be/etGpDFxM9FA
Since we picked up a set of Nanlite Forza LED monolights and started grading ProRes 4444 in DaVinci Resolve Studio 17, it's like we're dealing with a completely new camera altogether! Skin tones are the most accurate we've seen from any mirrorless camera and the image quality rivals that of cinema cameras costing thousands more.... Continue Reading →
I just picked up the Sony 50mm GM this afternoon. It's surprisingly compact for a lens of those parameters and feels reassuringly solid. The FX3, on the other hand (which I had a chance to play with at the shop), missed an opportunity: the awkward placement of the joystick, record button and on/off switch were... Continue Reading →
For a long while now, we've been keenly aware that highlights in skin tones and light-colored fabrics have been difficult if not impossible to recover in post, leading us to re-examine our ETTR method. After watching a video by Gerald Undone, we tried using two zebra settings, aiming for an ETTR of only +1.66 stops... Continue Reading →
We hear repeated online the lie that Sonys are dreadful in mixed lighting, so we set about to disprove this fallacy, recording in a cafe illuminated by daylight and tungsten. Of course, they'll say it's gotta be a mix of tungsten, halogen, neon, fluorescent and daylight and HLG3 at ISO 50 or some other such... Continue Reading →
Leaked images of upcoming Sony 14mm f/1.8. Source: Nokishita The 12-24mm GM, 14mm GM, 20mm f/1.8 G, 24mm GM, 35mm GM, 50mm GM and 135mm GM are each indisputably the very finest instruments in their class - smaller, lighter, sharper, quieter and faster than any of the competition. We feel really sorry for all the... Continue Reading →
We put Gerald Undone's recommended exposure settings for S-Log3 to the test! He suggests setting C1 to Std+Range 55% for 18% gray, then using C2 Lower Limit 94+ to check for highlight clipping, resulting in an ETTR of +1.66. Previously, we just used the C2 setting by itself but often found it difficult to recover... Continue Reading →
Buying the latest and greatest is seriously tempting, but is it really worthwhile? Going from the MeFoto RoadTrip to a Gitzo carbon fiber tripod; from the a7 III to the a7s III; from the Shogun Inferno to the Ninja V; and from the iPhone 7 to the iPhone 12 Pro Max: those were all substantial... Continue Reading →
The Daejeon Chronicles 