Category Archives: Uncategorized

Picture Profiles and scene settings for the PXW-X200

June 10, 2015 alisterchapman 20 Comments

The new Sony PXW-X200 is externally very similar to the old PMW-200, but under the hood it is a very different camera. For a start it has new and much improved sensors and processing. That combined with 10 bit 422 XAVC means that there is a noticeable improvement in image quality, in particular noise levels. As a result the pictures from the X200 actually grade really well.

However for the best results when grading or for general purpose shooting I feel you can benefit from a few simple changes to the cameras picture profiles. Out of the factory the camera uses Rec-709 gamma with a knee. This gives a reasonable picture but the highlights can look rather crushed with some neon colours. I feel that the X200 really benefits from the use of a Hypergamma gamma curve. Below are some settings that you can change in the Picture Profiles for better image quality, change ONLY the settings listed:

General Purpose Profile for day to day shooting (NOT Broadcast Safe, 109% peak white):

Gamma: HG3, Black Gamma -40, Black Level -3.

White Clip: OFF

Matrix: ON, Select 1, Level +10, Phase -4, R-G +8, R-B +6, G-R -10, G-B -8, B-R -5, B-G -12.

HD Detail: Level -10, Frequency +15
Aperture Level +25

Recommend setting zebras 5% lower than you would normally.

General Purpose Profile for day to day shooting (Broadcast Safe, 100% peak white):

Gamma: HG1, Black Gamma -40, Black Level -3.

Matrix: ON, Select 1, Level +10, Phase -4, R-G +8, R-B +6, G-R -10, G-B -8, B-R -5, B-G -12.

HD Detail: Level -10, Frequency +15
Aperture Level +25

Recommend setting zebras 4% lower than you would normally.

Profile for high dynamic range shots, suitable for grading.

Gamma: HG4, Black Level -3.

White Clip: OFF

Matrix: ON, Select 1, Level +2, Phase -4, R-G +8, R-B +6, G-R -10, G-B -8, B-R -5, B-G -12.

HD Detail: Level -12, Frequency +15
Aperture Level +15

Recommend setting zebras 6% lower than you would normally.

Profile for night shooting where low light performance is critical and noise may be an issue.

Gamma: STD5, Black Level -3. Black Gamma +25

Matrix: ON, Select 1, Level +2, Phase -4, R-G +8, R-B +6, G-R -10, G-B -8, B-R -5, B-G -12.

HD Detail: Level -15, Frequency +15

Crispening +40

Low Key Sat -30

Uncategorized

Convergent Design Odyssey Firmware version 5

June 3, 2015 alisterchapman Leave a comment

Today Convergent Design have released a major update for the Odyssey. This update adds amazing LUT capabilities to the 7Q, so now you can load user 3D LUT’s in to the Odyssey as well as use the built in preset LUT’s. In addition you have anamorphic de-squeeze for the majority of anamorphic aspect ratios, dual zebras and a whole raft of other new features and bug fixes. For the full details go to the Convergent Design web site.

Uncategorized

PMW-F55 and PMW-F5 Firmware Version 6 now available.

June 1, 2015 alisterchapman Leave a comment

So here it is. Firmware version 6 for the PMW-F55 and PMW-F5.

http://community.sony.com/t5/F5-F55/NEW-Version-6-Firmware-F5-and-F55/m-p/506807#U506807

This adds the ProRes capability to those with the optional codec upgrade card. It also brings User 3D LUT’s to Slog2 and a few other bug fixes.

PXW-FS7, Review, Uncategorized

My PXW-FS7. Add-ons and configuration.

May 31, 2015 alisterchapman 14 Comments

I though I would share a few pictures of how I like to configure my Sony PXW-FS7.

I mainly use the FS7 for run and gun type shooting, so portability and ease of use is very important.

So here is the overall package:

One of the key parts to the whole rig is the Vocas base plate. Vocas offer a couple of different base plate options. The one I have is shaped to follow the contour of the base of the camera so keeps the center of gravity as low as possible. It’s also compatible with a standard VCT quick release tripod plate so a great way to get the camera on and off a tripod really quickly. The shoulder pad slides forwards and back so you can adjust the balance point a bit, but the shape of the FS7 does tend to mean that the rig will be a bit front heavy (unless you add rear rods and a battery as I do). Attached to the left side of the base plate are a couple of Vocas lightweight arm sections and a beautiful wooden hand grip. I can’t recommend the Vocas hand grips enough, when you are out shooting all day a comfy hand grip makes a big difference.

A really weak area of the Sony FS7 is the viewfinder attachment. Fortunately Vocas have a solution for that.

The Vocas FS7 viewfinder arm can be attached to the existing Sony 15mm rod that the original viewfinder arm attaches to, or it can be attached to a supplementary 15mm rod attached to the Vocas top cheese plate (you’ll see that in a picture further down the page). The great thing about this Vocas VF arm is that you can slide the viewfinder fore and aft or move it up and down without the viewfinder drooping as it does with the original mount. This helps maintain a level horizon on the viewfinder screen which is really important when shooting handheld. A droopy viewfinder can easily lead to shots that are tilted over as it is very easy to miss that the horizon in the viewfinder isn’t level.

On the right side of my FS7 you can see that I have a Shape hand grip arm. Vocas make a very similar one if you want to keep everything one brand, but I got given this shape arm to test while I was in Canada. It has a big red quick adjust button that allows you to alter the angle of the arm as well as a single thumb screw to alter the length. This is so much nicer than the standard Sony arm. In addition the combination of the wider Vocas base plate and Shape arm means that the remote handgrip arm now no longer fouls the tripod head in the same way that the standard Sony one does. The microphone mount is one from Alphatron that attaches to a 15mm rod and the microphone is a Sony stereo microphone (from one of my F3 cameras). The tripod shown in these pictures is a Miller Compass 15 head on a set of their really incredible “Solo” carbon fiber legs. This is a very light weight system, great for travelling, yet still stable and robust. The legs can extend to well above head hight and collapse down to just a few inches above the ground.

On the top of the camera you can see my trusty Convergent Design Odyssey 7Q monitor/ProRes recorder as well as an Alphatron Tristar 4 LED light.

While the Tristar 4 doesn’t look all that different from many of the other LED lights on the market it is quite a remarkable little light. For a start the quality of the light output really is quite exceptional. When tested by Alan Roberts it scored 86 on the TLC Index. TLCI index measures the spectral performance of a light in a way that determines how it will perform for video and television applications. This takes into account things like green shifts and other color issues common with LED and fluorescent lights that CRI does not measure very well. A score of 86 is very good, especially for a compact light at this price point. It’s called a TriStar because each of the LED’s actually has 3 emitters which helps provide a very uniform yet high power light output.

Another great thing about the Tristar 4 is it’s build quality. This light is built to last. It’s is very tough and can be dropped on a concrete floor or bashed into a door frame while walking through it with the camera on your shoulder without breaking. The Tristar 4 has variable intensity and color balance and can be powered from standard Sony NP-F type batteries. The light comes with a D-Tap cable and a ball head for camera mounting. I choose to power it from a D-Tap outlet on my PAG battery system.

I love the PAGLINK battery system! I have them mounted on a V-Mount plate attached to a pair of 15mm rails on the rear of the camera. This helps balance the camera on my shoulder much better. If you are using the FS7 extension unit then the PAGLink batteries will go directly on to this. I’ll be writing more about these innovative batteries soon, but the key feature is the ability to stack several batteries together to produce a higher capacity pack or to charge several batteries at once with a single charger. Each battery has a sticker indicating that it complies with current regulations for hand carrying Li-Ion batts on aircraft and a copy of the test certificate is included with each pack. If you need to power accessories such as the Tristar 4 video light or the Convergent Design Odyssey then you can clip on the PAGLink Powerhub which can be configured with up to 4 D-Tap or Hirose connectors. It can also charge your phone via a USB socket on the bottom.

For lenses I am typically using either a Commlite EF adapter or Metabones Speedbooster EF adapter. I have a large selection of EF Mount lenses from Sigma, Tamron and Samyang.

As most of these lenses are quite small I don’t need a giant matte box. So to keep the weight down I use a Vocas MB215 matte box. This has a single rotating tray for up to 4×6 filters plus a clever holder for a 4×4 filter in the front of the hood. One thing I really like is the 16×9 shaped aperture at the front of the Matte Box. This really helps reduce flare in the lens without having a big flag or barn doors which often get in the way when shooting run and gun. You can attach the matte box directly to the lens as a clip-on, but I prefer to mount it on rails. The rails at the front of the camera help protect the lens from bumps and knocks when putting it down on the ground.

The final part to show you is the Vocas top cheese plate. If you look at the front of the cheese plate you will also see the additional mounting place for an alternate viewfinder attachment rod. The nice thing about this cheese plate is that you can install it without removing the handle, so you retain the cameras GPS and hotshoe functions. There are plenty of mounting points for accessories with both 1/4″ and 3/8″ threaded holes. The underside of the cheese plate is mostly hollow so it adds very little weight.

So there you have it. A quick run down of what my PXW-FS7 like to wear when it’s going out on a date.

Don’t forget I still have one place left for my wild weather workshop in June. Click here for details.

Review, Uncategorized

And now for something completely different: The Cinemartin NEXT (part1).

May 15, 2015 alisterchapman Leave a comment

So many of us will have used an external video recorder before and I’m sure everyone reading this has used a computer at some point. The Cinemartin NEXT is an interesting fusion of a highly portable video recorder with a super compact high end computer. Designed to go on the back of a camera the NEXT can record in beautiful uncompressed 4K 444 RGB in 10 bit at up to 30fps with an update/upgrade coming later that will allow 4K at up to 60fps via dual 6G HDSDI.

It can also record compressed and all the way down to SD resolution. But what makes the NEXT different is that it is also a very powerful PC. The sample unit I had was running windows but you can also install the majority of operating systems on it. There are some clever tools installed as standard including the capture applications and a very clever background renderer that will transcode whatever it is you are shooting to ProRes or H265. Internal storage goes all the way up to 1TB and it’s very, very fast. Memory up to 32GB.

With so much computing power on tap you can do all kinds of things. For a fast turn around job like news you can shoot directly on to the unit and then edit the footage as soon as you have finished shooting. There’s no need to transfer footage from the camera to the NEXT, it’s already on there. It can run pretty much any edit software, I used Premiere CC and editing on it was quick and easy. As it has a direct HDSDI output (as well as 4K ready HDMI outputs) you don’t even need to render out your finished edit to play it back. In most cases you could cut your news story and play it out directly from the timeline to the uplink truck. If you don’t have an uplink truck then being a computer you can render out your story as a file to upload over the internet.

There are 4 USB3 connectors and 2 ethernet connectors so you can connect to the internet either directly via ethernet or by using a wifi or 3G/4G wireless modem.

Power consumption is a very modest 15 to 29w so it will happily run of a D-Tap from your camera batteries for 3 or 4 hours. If your in a hotel room or studio you can plug in up to 2 external computer monitors (as well as an HDSDI/HDMI monitor) to expand your desktop beyond the built in high brightness touch screen display.

In the next installment I’ll take an even more in depth look at the NEXT from Cinemartin. Including some image quality comparisons.

Uncategorized

Storm Chasing and Film Making Workshop, 1 place left!

May 6, 2015 alisterchapman Leave a comment

Me shooting a tornado with the PMW-F5 and AXS-R5 on my Miller Solo tripod.

As usual I am running a combined film making workshop and tornado chasing tour. This year the trip runs from June 16th to June 25th. There is one place still open if anyone is interested.

What do you get? For a start over a week to pick my brain and learn about shooting run and gun. I will be shooting with a PXW-FS7, but you are welcome to bring whatever camera you wish. As there are only 3 guests on this trip you can be assured of plenty of one to one time.

The trip will start and end in Denver, Colorado. Where we will go in between depends on the weather. Each day I will make a detailed weather forecast and we will go to the area most likely to produce severe storms. Do note that I do not wish to get as close as possible to a tornado. I want to get photogenic footage of the storms and sometimes this means hanging back a little to find the best position taking in to account light and the motion of the storm. It should be an exciting and adventurous experience, but I am not doing this as a thrill seeking event and I don’t wish to put myself or anyone else in danger.

You can expect to see impressive Supercell thunderstorms that can produce incredible lightning displays, giant hail and damaging straight line winds. If we are luck we may even see a tornado or two. We may spend a lot of time in the car, last year we drove over 1,300 miles in 10 days. 300 to 400 miles a day is not uncommon, sometimes a lot more. In June the storm systems tend to move slowly giving some of the best video opportunities. We should end up in the Northern Great Plains, so Colorado, Nebraska, Montana and South Dakota are normal, but we could also end up down in Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas.

The cost is $1,500 USD plus hotels at cost (allow up to $1,500 for hotels). For more details please drop me a message using the contact form.

Uncategorized

Canon Launches C300 Mark II.

April 9, 2015 alisterchapman 1 Comment

In the run up to NAB the rumour mill has been working hard and one of the cameras expected to be seen was an update to the Canon C300. Well, here it is, the C300 Mark II.

Externally it’s very similar to the original C300 but slightly larger and heavier overall. The key change to the camera body is ability to change the lens mount between EF, EF Lock and PL mounts. Other headline additions to the Mark II are a new sensor and a new codec that allow the camera to shoot in HD, UHD and 4K. I’m not going to go through all of the details here, for those you can take a look at the Canon web site.

NEW XF-AVC CODEC.

The new codec XF-AVC is very important to this camera and Canon as it adds the ability to go beyond the HD limitations of Mpeg2. It’s based on Mpeg4/AVC. The C300 Mark II can record UHD and 4K at up to 410Mb/s, 10 bit 422 and in HD can even record 12 bit 444. Now it is a little unclear in the released information what frame rates this does allow. But it appears that in 4K you are limited to 30fps but HD/2K goes to 60fps. The camera records to a pair of CFast 2.0 cards.

There is also a Long GoP version of XF-AVC for use at 2K/HD. This has a bit rate of 50Mb/s up to 60fps and in addition there are also Proxy version at 25Mb/s and 35Mb/s for recording compact HD files on SD cards within the camera.

Unfortunately this does mean yet another codec family to be added to everyone’s editing software, but Canon claim that support will be in place by the time the camera is released around September. You know I really wish ALL the camera manufacturers would get together and use one or two common codecs rather than each manufacturer having their own codec. Just imagine the chaos if every car new type of car used a different type of fuel!

Compared the the F5/F55/FS7 this new codec is very similar to XAVC. It’s interesting to note though that the C300 Mark II at the time of launch doesn’t appear to have any 4K frame rates faster than 30fps. It can record at up to 120fps in it’s slow motion mode, but this is limited to 2K/HD and uses center crop of the sensor, so all your lenses become much longer lenses. The plus to this is that it will minimise any aliasing artefacts, something that can sometimes be an issue on the FS7, although the FS7 will get center crop functionality in a future firmware update. Of course the F5/F55 have the benefit of both full frame and crop modes as well as the ability to change the optical filter depending on the mode you wish to use. In addition the FS7/F5/F55 can all go up to 180fps internally and 240fps in raw.

The C300 Mark II can also provide a simultaneous raw output to feed to an external raw recorder such as the Convergent Design Odyssey or Atomos Shogun.

NEW SENSOR, NEW LOG.

The sensor on the C300 Mark II is also new. It is a 9.84 Mega Pixel sensor with 8.85 active pixels (each pixel has two photosites) which Canon claim can provide up to 15 stops of dynamic range, which is very impressive. To record this Canon have a new log curve Canon Log 2 and the native ISO is 800, with the best dynamic range from 800 ISO and up. According to Canon above 800 ISO the dynamic range remains a constant 15 stops. It will be interesting to see what actually happens with the dynamic range at high gain levels as most cameras see a drop off in dynamic range above the native ISO. I’m not sure how you can increase the gain and have a constant dynamic range in a fixed recording range as sensor noise is always a limiting factor. It will be interesting to see this in the real world. From what I can tell from some of the web clips about the camera Canon Log 2 has a fairly low mid grey point around 36% with 8.7 stops below mid grey and 6.3 above. With 8.7 stops crammed into a pretty small range it will be interesting to see just what can be squeezed out of the shadows. I’m sure it will be good, but the question is just how useable is it?

As well as a new log curve there is also a wide range of gamuts including 709, 2020, P3 and “film gamut”. Some of these gamuts are huge. Film Gamut appears to extend beyond the visible spectrum according to the chart in the video above. I have some doubts as to whether the camera can actually fill them (in the same way that an FS7 or F5 cannot fill the included SGamut and SGamut3 gamuts, only the F55 can fill them). Again this will be an area to look at closely once the camera is launched, but the options are certainly good looking.

With this wide range of gammas and gamuts, LUT’s will be important and the C300 Mark II does have LUT’s but I can’t find any information beyond the facts that it has LUT’s and that the LUT’s can be output over the SDI and HDMI outputs as well as baked in.

One area where Canon do have some very clever technology is in autofocus. The C300 uses a technology called Dual Pixel AF and this is also included and improved upon on the C300 Mark II. You can do some clever things like move the autofocus target area and change the response times of the AF (see the video above for more details). It’s a clever system and I’m sure many shooters will find it helpful when shooting 4K.

All in all the C300 Mark II does look like a very interesting and capable camera. I’ll be sure to check it out at NAB. It’s obviously going to go up against the cheaper Sony FS7 as well as the F5. It has some very nice features. I think not being able to shoot above 30fps in 4K is a bit limiting and you only have a single, new type codec so there is no legacy codec support. Lets hope Canon get good XF-AVC support supported quickly.

I didn’t really get on with the ergonomics of the original C300, that’s a personal thing, for me as a traditional video shooter I just don’t like the top heavy layout, but I know many shooters that love the layout. In particular it’s well suited to those from a DSLR background.

It won’t be available until September and the price is set to be around $16k or £11K. I’m sure it will be very popular so get your pre-orders in now. I will have to get hold of one to figure out the best way to use the new Canon Log 2 curve and the cameras LUT system as I’m sure many people will want some in depth workflow and exposure help with this camera.

cinematography, Shooting Tips, Uncategorized, Workflow

Tales of exposure from the grading suite.

March 30, 2015 alisterchapman Leave a comment

I had the pleasure of listening to Pablo Garcia Soriano the resident DiT/Colorist at the Sony Digital Motion Picture Center at Pinewood Studios last week talk about grading modern digital cinema video cameras during the WTS event .

The thrust of his talk was about exposure and how getting the exposure right during the shoot makes a huge difference in how much you can grade the footage in post. His main observation was that many people are under exposing the camera and this leads to excessive noise which makes the pictures hard to grade.

There isn’t really any real way to reduce the noise in a video camera because nothing you normally do can change the sensitivity of the sensor or the amount of noise it produces. Sure, noise reduction can mask noise, but it doesn’t really get rid of it and it often introduces other artefacts. So the only way to change the all important signal to noise ratio, if you can’t change the noise, is to change the signal.

In a video camera that means opening the aperture and letting in more light. More light means a bigger video signal and as the noise remains more or less constant that means a better signal to noise ratio.

If you are shooting log or raw then you do have a fair amount of leeway with your exposure. You can’t go completely crazy with log, but you can often over expose by a stop or two with no major issues. You know, I really don’t like using the term “over-expose” in these situations. But that’s what you might want to do, to let in up to 2 stops more light than you would normally.

In photography, photographers shooting raw have been using a technique called exposing to the right (ETTR) for a long time. The term comes from the use of a histogram to gauge exposure and then exposing so the the signal goes as far to the right on the histogram as possible (the right being the “bright” side of the scale). If you really wanted to have the best possible signal to noise ratio you could use this method for video too. But ETTR means setting your exposure based on your brightest highlights and as highlights will be different from shot to shot this means the mid range of you shot will go up and down in exposure depending on how bright the highlights are. This is a nightmare for the colorist as it’s the mid-tones and mid range that is the most important, this is what the viewer notices more than anything else. If these are all over the place the colorist has to work very hard to normalise the levels and it can lead to a lot of variability in the footage. So while ETTR might be the best way to get the very best signal to noise ratio (SNR), you still need to be consistent from shot to shot so really you need to expose for mid range consistency, but shift that mid range a little brighter to get a better SNR.

Pablo told his audience that just about any modern digital cinema camera will happily tolerate at least 3/4 of a stop of over exposure and he would always prefer footage with very slightly clipped highlights rather than deep shadows lost in the noise. He showed a lovely example of a dark red car that was “correctly” exposed. The deep red body panels of the car were full of noise and this made grading the shot really tough even though it had been exposed by the book.

When I shoot with my F5 or FS7 I always rate them a stop slower that the native ISO of 2000. So I set my EI to 1000 or even 800 and this gives me great results. With the F55 I rate that at 800 or even 640EI. The F65 at 400EI.

If you ever get offered a chance to see one of Pablo’s demos at the DMPCE go and have a listen. He’s very good.

PMW-F55, PXW-FS5, PXW-FS7, Scene Files and Luts, Uncategorized

Over and Under Exposure LUT’s for the PXW-FS7, PMW-F5 and PMW-F55

February 5, 2015 alisterchapman 14 Comments

Here are two sets of LUT’s for use in post production with the PXW-FS7, PMW-F5 and PMW-F55.

These LUT’s are based around the Sony 709(800) LUT and the Sony LC-709TypeA LUT (Arri Alexa look). But in addition to the base LUT designed for when you shoot at the native ISO there are LUTs for when you shoot at a lower or higher EI.

When you shoot at a high or low EI the resulting footage will be either under or over exposed when you add the standard LUT. These LUT’s include compensation for the under or overexposure giving the best possible translation from SGamut3.cine/S-log3 to rec-709 or the Alexa look and result in pleasing skin tones and a nice mid range with minimal additional grading effort.

If you find these LUT’s useful please consider buying me a coffee or beer.

cinematography, PMW-F55, PXW-FS7, Uncategorized

Using the High/Low key function on the PXW-FS7, PMW-F55 and PMW-F5.

February 5, 2015 alisterchapman 6 Comments

A very useful feature not well documented on the FS7, F5 and F55 cameras (and the F65 too) is the High/Low Key feature.

The High/Low Key function works by changing the brightness range of the image displayed in the viewfinder, this is very useful when shooting in the Cine-EI Mode and using a LUT to help judge your exposure.

My preferred LUT for exposure assessment is the 709(800) LUT. As this LUT is compatible with the gamma curve used in most TV’s and monitors it provides a nice contrasty image with what I would call “normal” brightness levels (middle grey at 42%, white at 90%, skin tones around 60-70%). So if you expose via the 709(800) LUT so that the pictures look right on the screen or in the viewfinder then your S-Log recordings will also be correctly exposed.

But the 709(800) LUT, like most LUT’s cannot show the full 14 stop capture range of the the S-Log recordings. So sometimes you might see an image via the LUT that looks correctly exposed but the highlights might look clipped or blown out as they are beyond the range of what the LUT can show as in the image below where the sky looks blown out. This is where the High/Low Key function comes in to play.

Normal range 709(800) as seen in the viewfinder. Is the sky over exposed or not in the Slog recording? It's hard to tell. — Normal range 709(800) as seen in the viewfinder. Is the sky over exposed or not in the Slog recording? It’s hard to tell.

To access the function you have to assign High/Low Key to one of the cameras assignable buttons. Once assigned to a button on the first press of the button the viewfinder or monitor image will show the High Key parts of the shot. To do this the VF or monitor picture is made darker so that you can “see” into the full highlight capture range. “High Key” will be displayed in the top left hand corner of the viewfinder. As you can see in the image below we can now see that the sky is not blown out, so we know the S-log recording will be OK.

The High Key function darkens the LUT range and we can see that the sky is not over exposed so the Slog recording will be not be clipped or over exposed. — The High Key function darkens the LUT image so we can view the High Key range of the Slog recordings . We can see that the sky is not over exposed so the Slog recording will be not be clipped or over exposed.

The second press of the button shows the Low Key (darker) parts of the scene. This is done by making the image much brighter so you can “see” into the shadows better and the entire under exposure range of what is being recorded is shown. “Low Key” is displayed in the top left of the viewfinder screen.

The Low Key function brightens the LUT image so we can see whats going on in the deepest shadows and dark areas of the Slog capture range. — The Low Key function brightens the LUT image so we can see whats going on in the deepest shadows and dark areas (Low Key areas) of the Slog capture range.

The third press of the button returns the image to the normal range that the LUT can show.

So by using the High / Low Key function you can see the entire range that the camera is capturing, check for over exposure or under exposure issues without having to turn the LUT on or off. This is a really useful function that I recommend you take advantage of when shooting with CineEI and LUT’s. However do remember to make sure you are back to the standard view range when setting your exposure level.