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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 →
Our stab at doing a focus breathing test failed miserably, but gives us a pretext to share some screen grabs demonstrating how to expose ProRes RAW HQ. Avoid bright orange and red of the false color guide of the Ninja V. The touch of red at the top of the clothes rack will be a... Continue Reading →
We used to mount the Ninja V directly on the Tilta camera cage with the SmallRig cold shoe mount, but that solution had several serious drawbacks. (1) It was necessary to tighten the mount to the cage with an Allen key; (2) there was no convenient way to carry the camera; (3) the lack of... 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 →
The secret is to (a) shoot ProRes RAW HQ; (b) use the false color of the extraordinary Ninja V as a guide; (c) avoid the false colors bright orange and red; (d) transcode to ProRes 4444 in Apple Compressor; then (e) grade in DaVinci Resolve Studio. The shadow, midtone and highlight wheels of Final Cut... Continue Reading →
There can never be too many blog posts on exposing for HDR! Ninja V False Color False color is a practically foolproof method for determining exposure for HDR. Avoid bright orange and red - colors that indicate overexposure. DaVinci Resolve 17 waveform before color correction. Although the tee shirt looks completely blown out on our... 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 →
Part I: Project settings, Project Render Settings, Generate MaxCLL and MaxFall HDR10 Metadata Part II: RAW Part III: The Grade Avoid Y’CbCr Limitations of Y’CbCr with wide colour gamut and high dynamic range Quantization distortions due to bit depth limitations with the increased colour volume. Chroma subsampling distortions due to a perceptually uneven distribution of code words.... 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 →
In the video, we demonstrate one way to create depth and contrast for HDR in a hopelessly cramped living space (16 m2) using lighting modifiers - specifically the Nanlite Projection Mount and Aputure Lantern Softbox - along with the Nanlite Forza 300 and Forza 60. Nanlite PJ-FZ60-19, Forza 60 We've spared no effort in order... Continue Reading →
We care about color. We've white balanced using the X-Rite ColorChecker Passport Video. We've calibrated our display with Calman Home for LG. We've aligned the color chips on the vectorscope with hue vs. hue. We've begun working in DCI-P3. So what's next? ☺️ Have a look at the white balance in the two RGB parade... Continue Reading →
Now that we were able at last to get our hands on an Arca Swiss QR plate and SmallRig swivel and tilt monitor mount for the Tilta a7s III cage, we've got a very portable setup leaving us no more excuses not to shoot RAW with the Ninja V. So in the coming months, expect... 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 →
Last night at a quarter to eight, there was a knock at the door. The landlady was standing there smiling, holding out a tiny white envelope; the Arca Swiss quick release plate that attaches to the bottom of my Tilta cage had really arrived! After waiting what seemed like forever, my local dealer suggested ordering... Continue Reading →
They seem to be everywhere, spamming the comments section of review after review with their cult-like nonsense about Blackmagic being the best camera at any price, with image quality rivaling Arri. Well first, let’s note that most of us - if we’re fortunate to be employed at all - are doing documentaries, travel and nature... Continue Reading →
The Daejeon Chronicles 