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Sony A7s, FHD camera, with 12Mp sensor, big DR
  • 1100 Replies sorted by
  • samsam

    I bought the A7s a month ago. Coming from a GH2 background there are a lot of new things to think about before shooting. Right now I am having a hard time grading the footage. Obviously because I got the white balance wrong the first time and I was new to DaVinci. I did some test shooting last weekend and tried different picture profiles (including Kohli). I played with the white balance quite a bit. But still there was a green tint to it as mentioned above. But not only to skin tones. The whole picture was kind of greenish. Especially when using S-Gamut. After I connected my iMac to an old Philips Plasma to watch my footage, the green shift was almost gone and my footage looked good straight out of the box. Only S-Gamut had a noticeble green shift. So maybe something is wrong with my monitor calibration (any advice here?). Another thing I recognized, the saturation of my footage changed after exporting it from Davinci as ProRes and playing it in QuickTime/FCPX. Strangely this problem is gone since I did a clean Yosemite install yesterday. I don't really get that either…

    But still I am having a hard time finding a good picture profile and work around in Davinci with and without LUTs. Maybe some of you could share their settings and workarounds. That would be a huge help! Thanks.

  • nomadnomad

    Did you experience any of the blue LED issues? There seems to be a strange reaction of the sensor to strong blue LEDs.

  • samsam

    @nomad I only read about it and saw pictures, but I did not experience it with my camera yet. I guess strong blue LEDs are to specific. I really don't use them for my daily work. But I will try to reproduce it by purpose. I will tell you, if I am successful :D

  • duckparkduckpark

    @sage try Samuel H:s flaat setting - can be found easily here. To my eyes, he gets red and green balance right with slog. I get good results even with auto white balance.

  • whynotwhynot

    I am documenting theater with it and found Slog to problematic. Because of changing lights and numerous sources of light I sometimes get a strange green tinge to the skin. Not all the time. I am trying to shoot with one of the non Slog profiles instead now as it allows me to see what I am getting in the view finder. I am still playing around but will probably leave Slog out unless it is a studio shoot or where I have better control over lighting. And yes it does not deal well with blue LED's.

  • Ralph_BRalph_B

    There's a very simple solution to the blue LED problem - use daylight white balance. This naturally suppresses the blue channel and prevents clipping.

  • nomadnomad

    Unfortunately not. I had the chance to try an A7S today and it's the same with daylight or tungsten. But I checked the same position with an A7R and a GH2 as well. They show the same effect, but to a lesser extent.

    First I thought it might be UV (some LED sources are actually UV LEDs and get converted to blue), but a filter didn't change anything. Now my theory is that these specific LEDs have a very strong spike in a very narrow band, which is just perceived as a much weaker light by humans. It's to be expected that the very sensitive A7S shows more of the effect.

  • Ralph_BRalph_B

    I guess it depends on the specific LED being used. Other people have reported success using daylight white balance.

  • utezetutezet

    here i found an impressive one:

  • MikeLinnMikeLinn

  • nopacnonenopacnone

    Just finished editing this epic parkour & rooftopping exploration video, entirely shot at night on the a7s! Gives you a real idea of what can be done with this sensor.

  • SageSage

    @nopacnone

    Wow, very cool.

  • AlbertZAlbertZ

    ungraded test, no slog, Cinegamma4

    description (spanish) http://blogsur5d.blogspot.com.es/2014

  • AlbertZAlbertZ

    Robin & Jenna production are shooting "Brides to Be" a no-budget feature film using the sony a7s, you can give a look here to the beginning of the film

    Here you can find some info about the production if you are interested in the details http://www.robinandjenna.com/team-brides/2014/10/14/our-thoughts-on-low-budget-diy-filmmaking

  • MikeLinnMikeLinn

  • flabloflablo

    The more images I see coming from this camera, the more I want it. I'm just so upset for the impossibility of getting 10bits, even in FullHD, with an external recorder. I don't know if it would be possible with a firmware update, but I think it's not very likely

  • balazerbalazer

    Why are you so concerned with 10 bits? Do you see banding in all of the a7S videos?

  • artiswarartiswar

    @balazer - The A7S is a low light, DR monster, now having shot with it in New Mexico harsh sun. The limitation does lie in the 8 bit codec. It is imperative to expose 2 and 2/3 to 3 stops over to avoid artifacting in the shadows. While it doesn't band and the noise is very filmic, pushing the slog grade can develop some strange splotchy noise in the mid to shadow roll off.

  • balazerbalazer

    That is similar to my experience. I expose at +2.0 to +3.0, and never have any significant problem from the 8-bit encoding. I did encounter noise and banding when I exposed less. Just use the exposure meter and you'll be fine.

    The camera is excellent - best one I've ever used.

  • artiswarartiswar

  • flabloflablo

    @balazer I have a Pocket and got used to the magic of grading 10bit. I'm a bit afraid of the limits in grading 8bit log

  • balazerbalazer

    10-bit log certainly gives you more exposure latitude than 8-bit log. But the a7S has an exposure meter that lets you easily get the exposure within a good range. I find it far easier to get good results with the a7S's 8-bit S-Log2 than even with the Pocket's 12-bit logarithmic raw, despite the Pocket's greater latitude. Zebras and histogram alone are lousy tools for setting the exposure across a variety of shooting conditions.

  • nomadnomad

    Remember, you don't need to shoot everything in log, which forces you into grading.

    The Cinegammas in the Sony are quite nice too…

  • flabloflablo

    @balazer yes you are right, I'd just need to be a bit more careful with correctly exposing the image @nomad yes the Cinegammas look really good, as far as I've seen. Actually in this moment I'm almost at the point of clicking the "order" button :) Think I'll sell my Panasonic m43 lenses and just try to complete my full frame lenses set

  • SageSage

    @flablo I think it is likely that in a few months we will see the return of Black Magic..

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