Tools like this could persuade me to give FCP-X another go. This combined with the new XAVC plugin from Sony makes FCP-X very attractive right now. ProCutX is free for download for today only, so go grab from the app store quick! https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/procutx-for-final-cut-pro-x/id596946635
There is a lot of hype around shooting flat. Shooting flat has become a fashionable way to shoot and many individuals and companies have released camera settings said to provide the flattest images or to maximise the camera dynamic range. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that shooting flat is necessarily wrong or that you shouldn’t shoot flat, but you do need to understand the compromises that can result from shooting flat.
First of all what is meant by shooting flat? The term comes from the fact that images shot flat look, err, well…. flat when viewed on a standard TV or monitor. They have low contrast and may often look milky or washed out. Why is this? Well most TV’s and monitors only have a contrast range that is the equivalent of about 7 stops. (Even a state of the art OLED monitor only has a range of about 10 to 11 stops). The whole way we broadcast and distribute video is based on this 7 stop range. The majority of HD TV’s and monitors use a gamma curve based on REC-709, which also only has a 6 to 7 stop range. Our own visual system has a dynamic range of up to 20 stops (there is a lot of debate over exactly how big the range really is and in bright light our dynamic range drops significantly). So we can see a bigger range than most TV’s can show, so we can see bright clouds in the sky as well as deep shadows while a TV would struggle to show the same scene.
Modern camera sensors have dynamic ranges larger than 7 stops, so we can capture a greater dynamic range than the average monitor can show. Now consider this carefully: If you capture a scene with a 6 stop range and then show that scene on a monitor with a 6 stop range, you will have a very true to life and accurate contrast range. You will have a great looking high contrast image. This is where having matching gammas in the camera and on the monitor comes in to play. Match the camera to the monitor and the pictures will look great, 7 stops in, 7 stops out. But, and it’s a big BUT. Real world scenes very often have a greater range than 6 or 7 stops.
A point to remember here: A TV or monitor has a limited brightness range. It can only ever display at it’s maximum brightness and best darkness. Trying to drive it harder with a bigger signal will not make it any brighter.
Feed the monitor with an image with a 7 stop range and the monitor will be showing it’s blackest blacks and it’s brightest whites.
But what happens if we simply feed a 7 stop monitor with an 11 stop image? Well it can’t produce a brighter picture so the brightest parts of the displayed scene are no brighter and the darker, no darker so the image you see appears to have the same brightness range but with less contrast, it starts to look flat and un-interesting. The bigger the dynamic range you try to show on your 7 stop monitor, the flatter the image will look. Clearly this is undesirable for direct TV broadcasting etc. So what is normally done is to map the first 5 stops from the camera more or less directly to the first 5 stops of the display so that the all important shadows and mid-tones have natural looking contrast. Then take the brighter extended range of the camera, which may be 3 or 4 stops and map those into the remaining 2 stops of the monitor. This is a form of compression. In most cases we don’t notice it as it is only effecting highlights and our own visual system tends to concentrate on shadows and mid-tones while largely ignoring highlights. This compression is achieved using techniques such as knee compression and is one of the things that gives video it’s distinctive electronic look.
A slightly different approach to just compressing the highlights is to compress much more of the cameras output. Gamma curves like Sony’s cinegammas or hypergammas use compression that gets progressively more aggressive as you go up the exposure range. This allows even greater dynamic ranges to be captured at the expense of a slight lack of contrast in the viewed image. Taking things to the maximum we have gamma curves that use log based compression where each brighter stop is compressed twice as much as the previous one. Log gamma curves like S-Log or Log-C are capable of capturing massive dynamic ranges of anywhere up to 14 stops. View these log compressed images back on your conventional TV or monitor and because even the mid range is highly compressed they will look very low contrast and very flat indeed.
So, if you have followed this article so far you should understand that we can capture a greater dynamic range than most monitors can display, but when doing so the image looks un-interesting and flat. So, if the images look bad, why do it? The benefits of capturing a big dynamic range are that highlights are less likely to look over exposed and your final image contrast can be adjusted in post production. These are the reasons why it is seen as desirable to shoot flat. But there are several catches. One is that the amount of image noise that the camera produces will limit how far you can manipulate your image in post production. The codec that you use to record your pictures may also limit how much you can manipulate your image, the bit depth of the codec may result in banding when stretched and another is that it is quite easy to create a camera profile or setup that produces a flat looking image, for example by artificially raising the shadows, that superficially looks like a flat, high dynamic range image, but doesn’t actually provide a greater dynamic range.
Of course there are different degrees of flat. There is super flat log style shooting as well as intermediate flat-ish cinegamma or hypergamma shooting. But it if you are going to shoot flat it is vital that the recorded image coming from the camera will stand up to the kind of post production manipulation you wish to apply to it. This is especially important when using highly compressed codecs such as AVCHD, XDCAM or P2.
When you use a high compression codec it adds noise to the image, this is in addition to any sensor noise etc. If you create a look in camera, the additional compression noise is added after the look has been created. As the look has been set, the compression noise is not really going to change as you won’t be making big changes to the image. But if you shoot flat, when you start manipulating the image the compression noise gets pushed, shoved and stretched, this can lead to degradation of the image compared to creating the look in camera. In addition you need more data to record a bigger dynamic range, so a very flat (wide dynamic range) image may be pushing the codec very hard resulting in even more compression noise and artefacts.
So if you do want to shoot flat you need a camera with very low noise. You also need a robust codec, preferably 10 bit and you need to ensure that the camera setup or gamma is truly capturing a greater dynamic range, otherwise your really wasting your time.
Shooting flat is a great tool in the cinematographers tool box and with the right equipment can bring great benefits in post production flexibility. Most of the modern large sensor cameras with their low noise sensors and ability to record to high end 10 bit codecs either internally or externally are excellent tools for shooting flat. But small sensor cameras with their higher noise levels do not make the best candidates for shooting flat. In many cases a better result will be obtained by creating your desired look in camera. Or at least getting close to the desired look in camera and then just tweaking and fine tuning the look in post.
As always, test your workflow. Just because so and so shoots flat with camera A, it doesn’t mean that you will get the same result with camera B. Shoot a test before committing to shooting flat on a project, especially if the camera isn’t specifically designed and set up for flat shooting. Shooting flat will not turn a poor cinematographer into a great cinematographer, in fact it may make it harder for a less experienced operator as hitting the cameras exposure sweet spot can be harder and focussing is trickier when you have a flat low contrast image.
Sony have just released a plug-in for Apple’s Final Cut Pro X. The plugin allows you to work with HD and 4K XAVC material in FCP-X. As well as the plugin you will need to first update FCP-X to at least version 10.0.8. The handling of HD and 4K XAVC in FCP-X is very impressive with smooth 4K playback on my iMac and Retina MBP. It even handles scaling to HD for SDI output in real time with ease.
Those clever sideways thinking engineers over in Colorado have been at it again. Convergent Design really made a huge splash with the NanoFlash miniature off-board HD recorder 5 years ago. It was the first of it’s kind and is still one of the best despite the many other off-board recorders that have since followed CD’s lead.
The Odyssey7 is something rather different, but very similar. Initially what you will be getting is a nice 7″ OLED monitor, priced around $1295 USD. That in itself is amazing enough, a high quality 7″ OLED monitor for a great price with waveform, histogram, peaking etc etc. But the Odyssey units are soooo much more than just monitors. They have built in slots for SSD’s, so yes you’ve guessed it, they can also act as recorder, without needing any hardware changes via a software upgrade option. But wait a minute…… normally upgrades have to be purchased. Yes you can purchase upgrades for your Odyssey but you will also be able to rent them if you only need them occasionally. This is a fantastic concept. You can even “try before you buy” many of the options, for example using it as a recorder in trial mode you will get a watermark burn’t into the recordings.
I’m going to take a close look at the Odyssey at NAB. Just as an OLED monitor with built in LUT’s the price is attractive and it should be a great tool to use with my F5 camera as I can use the Waveform display to check my exposure.
For more details on the Odyssey please follow this link to the Convergent Design website.
Want to pretend that you have a PMW-F55 or just learn your way around the menus? Well Sony have released an online menu simulator for you to play with. http://assets.pro.sony.eu/Web/menu-simulator/index.html
So, you’ve upgraded your FS700’s firmware to version 2 (see previous post), how about treating your camera to a nice cheese plate? GenusTech are offering some big discounts on some of their FS700 parts: http://shop.genustech.tv/collections/showroom-display-50-off/products/genus-top-cheeseplate-for-sony-nex-fs700-camcorder-display-stock-special
If your thinking of adding the new SELP18200 18 to 200mm servo zoom to your FS700 then you will need to update the cameras firmware to version 2. You can download the firmware from the Sony Asia Pacific website.
http://pro.sony-asia.com/support/download/548298/product/nex-fs700
I’ve placed a couple of short sample raw files in my drop box for anyone that want’s to have a play. These were deliberately over exposed by 2 stops so you can experiment with grading them. I recommend you try DaVinci Resolve 9 or higher, the free Lite version is fine. If you can’t or don’t want to use Resolve you can also use the free Sony Raw Viewer. There are limits to how many downloads drop box will allow in a day so if the link becomes unavailable please try the next day.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/ftjuq61uwxn8m71/f55-raw-samples.zip
When your buying a camera kit it’s all too easy to focus all your attention on the camera itself and forget about all the other bits and pieces that you need to make your camera kit work at it’s best. One of the most important parts of any decent camera kit is the tripod. You can have the best camera in the world, but if your tripod is wobbly then your pictures won’t look good.
However while wobbly pictures are clearly not desirable you also need to consider how practical your tripod is. there is no point in having a substantial, rock solid tripod if it is so heavy and bulky that you don’t use it.
A good tripod is a long term investment. Cameras come and go in a few short years, but a good tripod will last a decade or more if well looked after. I only recently retired a Vinten 5 tripod that I purchased used in 1991. That tripod was still silky smooth even after 14 years of abuse. It may be that you find you need more than one tripod. For example, when I’m travelling on low budget or self funded projects then the weight of the tripod becomes critical, so I use a lightweight system (Vinten 5AS or Miller Solo). However when I’m filming drama or commercials then the camera can end up loaded with lots of extra accessories and a much more substantial tripod is essential (Vinten 100). Then there are the air-shows and aviation related shoots that I do where stability with very long telephoto shots is paramount. Again a very large tripod is needed. For the airshows we tend to hire in the tripods as these are only needed for a couple of weeks a year (O’Connor 2575).
So how do you select the right tripod for you? First of all I would strongly urge you to stick with the main brands: Cartoni, Libec, Manfrotto, Miller, O’Connor, Sachtler, Vinten all make decent tripods. You can get some bargain Chinese made tripods and these can be reasonably good, but don’t expect them to last, think of them as short term “disposable” tripods. Libec and Manfrotto make good ranges of lower cost tripods that are well made and last well, but for me these are just a little bit too budget and don’t have the feel of the more substantial (and more expensive) brands. There are also blatant rip-off copies of some of the reputable brands. My experience of these is that initially they can be very good, performing much like the real thing. But they don’t last, bits break and they wear out due to the use of inferior materials. Again, if your not fussed about the long term, perhaps these are worth a shot, but as I said at the beginning a good tripod can and should last many many years.
It’s all about the payload.
The first thing you should establish is the all up weight of your camera system. You need to include any accessories that you might add to the camera like microphones, lights, monitors, recorders or high capacity batteries. When your calculating the weight you need to support, for anything mounted more than 5″ or 12cm from the base of the camera (for example a monitor on the top of the camera) I would double the weight of that item to allow for the fact that objects a long way from the tripod head raises the centre of gravity of the system and thus requires a bigger tripod or greater damping effort.
For example if you have a 3kg camera with a top mounted 1kg monitor that uses an attached 0.5kg battery I would calculate a load of 3Kg + (1.5kg x2) = 6kg. Do not under estimate the extra load on your tripod that accessories add. Here’s an example:
Sony FS700 (2kg), Battery (0.5kg), Lens (1kg), Lens adapter (0.3kg), 15mm rails and mount (1.2kg), Matte Box (0.8kg), Top mounted Atomos Samurai with batts (1kg x2 to account for high position). This comes in at 7.8kg.
Once you have your weight then I would add a 20% contingency to allow for changes to your rig, for example a heavier lens or bigger batteries. In this case that brings me to a rounded up figure of 9.4kg max with 7.8kg min.
This is the payload my tripod needs to support. So when choosing a tripod it would have to support this as range. At the same time you don’t want to go too heavy on your tripod. If the tripod is designed for loads significantly higher than your payload you may find that you can’t balance it correctly or that there is too much damping for fast pans. Given a payload minimum of 7.8kg and possible 9.4kg you will probably want to look at tripods with a payload range around 6kg – 12kg or thereabouts.
Counterbalance. It is essential that the tripod head you choose has a counterbalance range that fits with the range calculated above. The counterbalance systems stops the tendency of the tripod head to want to tilt up or down when your shooting with the camera pointing up or down. Not only is this important in respect of getting smooth camera tilts but also from a safety point of view as it will help prevent the camera form unexpectedly tilting on it’s own and potentially unbalancing the tripod which can lead to your expensive camera kit crashing to the ground.
Damping and friction. There are several different methods used to damp the movement of a tripod head. Some use friction clutches with “sticky” grease, some use special fluids, valves and pistons. Provided you stay with a reputable brand these all work well. Best if you can try before you buy. Friction clutches and sticky grease may not be quite as silky smooth as a true fluid head but they tend to be cheaper, maintenance free and robust. True fluid heads can develop leaks over time if not serviced adequately, but offer the smoothest action. If you work in environmental extremes check that the greases or fluids will work at the temperatures your likely to encounter. A lot of the greases and fluids used in tripods become very stiff at low temperatures and can freeze solid in arctic conditions.
Play and Slack. Check for play and slack in the head. There should be none. Also check for twist and flex in the head itself. I’ve come across some tripod heads where if you push and pull the pan bar with a high damping setting the actual head assembly can warp and twist slightly.
Pan Bar. This is what you will use to control your tripod. It should have a good adjustment range for angle and lock into place when adjusted with a rosette type mount. Make sure it is good and secure as does not bend when working against a large amount of friction or damping. Extending pan bars are the worst for this, they can sometimes flex at the joint where the extension piece goes.
Legs and Spreaders. Most tripods use some kind of spreader to control the splay of the tripod legs. There is often the choice of a ground spreader or mid-level spreader. For lightweight and medium weight tripods I would almost always choose a mid level spreader. The big advantage of a mid level spreader is that they work just as well on rough or uneven ground (stairs and steps too) as on the flat. For heavy duty applications ground spreaders are the norm. Carbon fibre legs tend to be lighter than aluminium, but if abused the carbon fibre can crack or de-laminate. Getting shards of carbon in your hand from a damaged tripod leg is unpleasant I can assure you. Aluminium legs, while heavier are often more robust. Check for twist in the tripod legs. Lock the pan lock on the head and use the pan bar to twist the tripod. A small amount of flex may be normal in a lightweight tripod but there should be no obvious easy twisting of the tripod, especially with medium and heavyweight legs. Any twist or flex makes starting and ending pans smoothly difficult.
Leg Locks. Make sure these are good and secure. Test them if you can, lock the legs and make sure that the legs don’t flex around the joint or collapse when you put a bit of weight on the tripod. Lets face it, someone at sometime will lean on your tripod for support! Also look for locks that won’t get tangled up in wires or cables. Quick release locks are easier to use than multi-turn locks. Also check to see if the locks can be adjusted by the end user. Over time they will wear and there may come a time when you need to adjust them to keep them tight. Look to see where the locks are. Locks located high on the legs are much easier to operate than locks at ground level or low down on the legs.
Feet. Some tripods have rubber feet, some spikes. Whichever you choose make sure they are stable. Rubber feet are best for solid floors, you don’t want to use steel spikes on someones luxury wood floor! But if your outside on loose ground spikes are best. If the tripod has removable feet make sure you can get them on and off without having to resort to special tools.
Looking after it. Keep your tipod clean, this helps stop dirt and grit building up around any of the seals that protect the damping mechanism. Wipe it down with a damp cloth if you have been using it in a dirty or dusty environment. When your transporting a tripod, particularly if it’s being shipped, remove the pan bars. I’ve seen several tripods ruined by the pan bar mounts getting broken off in transit through impacts on the ends of the pan bars. Also for transportation unlock the head locks. If the tripod isn’t going to be used for a while turn the damping to zero to prevent the grease from being squeezed out from between the friction plates and reduce the counterbalance setting to relieve the pressure on the spring. In use, avoid tilting or panning when the pan or tilt locks are set, this can damage the head and will eventually wear out the locks. With a little bit of care a decent tripod should last for at least 10 years.
A few weeks back I got a phone call from Dave at DSM…… Hey Alister do you think a battery that works on an EX1, F3 or PMW-200 just like the original Sony batteries would be popular? Of course it would, was my answer. Up to now almost all the 3rd party batteries that have been available for these cameras have had to use a cable to deliver the power to the camera via the DC in socket. This is because if you try to supply the power from the battery directly the camera knows it’s not an original Sony battery and it will refuse to operate. These new batteries from UK manufacturer DSM have new circuitry that allows the battery to be used directly on the camera with no adapter cable. The capacity is quite a bit higher than the similar sized Sony BPU-60 and at 84Wh, enough juice to run an EX or PMW-200 for around 4 hours.
The batteries are made with high quality Japanese Panasonic cells and assembled in the UK. I’ve been using DSM V-Lock batteries for years and they have always been completely trouble free and long lasting. For more information see the DSM website or contact them at info@dsmpower.tv