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DougJensen

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Everything posted by DougJensen

  1. Although I have no interest in using these presets I decided I would try installing them to see if they would change the Assign Buttons on my FX6. And they did. It only took about 2 minutes to download and install them, and they worked exactly as Sony said they would work. So, there is nothing wrong with the Presets and you must be doing something wrong on your end. If you will provide more details about what steps you are taking I might be able to help pinpoint what you have done incorrectly. However, with that said, after I tested the ALL files I immediately reset my camera back to my own ALL File because there isn't a single setting of these Sony files that I agree with. What a total mess. I can't imagine anyone wanting to actually use these settings. Terrible choices. Keep in mind that ALL Files generally don't change anything about how the camera "looks". They aren't LUTs or Paint Menu presets. ALL Files are basically intended for saving/recalling your own personal preference files for YOUR camera. So, if you install these files, be warned that you will be essentially setting your camera up for what somebody else prefers. It's kind of like letting someone else get into your car and adjust the seat position, tilt of the steering wheel, rearview mirror, side mirrors, radio station presets, etc. they way they like to have them -- and then expecting you to get in and be happy with those same settings. Be warned that literally hundreds of custom camera settings will be changed when you load those ALL files, not just the few settings that Sony lists. My advice for anyone thinking of loading either of these presets is to be sure you are aware that nearly every personal setting you have made to your camera will be erased. So you should save your own ALL file first -- that way you can revert back to your own settings if you don't like the new files from Sony. My other advice is to take a few minutes and customize your camera so it works the way YOU want it to function -- and then you will be a much happier and more efficient camera operator.
  2. Here are the reasons that I think the FX6 is the best camera ever made for filming wildlife: 4K XAVC-I codecs. Touch-tracking auto-focus. Slow-motion @ 120 fps. Up to 30 seconds of Picture Cache. The ability to use Picture Cache and Slow-motion simultaneously (the only Sony camera to offer that functionality). Dual ISO Sensitivity. Variable ND for perfect exposure. Slow-motion, Dual Sensitivity, and Picture Cache can all be turned on/off instantly with one button push. Ability to record on ordinary SDXC cards. There are no other cameras that offer all these advanced features. If you think there is a better camera for wildlife, what is it?
  3. The primary reason S-gamut3.cine/SLog3 exists is because it is designed to mimic Arri LOG C. Therefore, colorists who are used to working with Arri footage can apply the same grades to Sony S-gamut3.cine/SLog3 and be assured of getting similar results. But again, you should really ask your colorist what he/she wants you to shoot.
  4. I suggest you ask your colorist which one they prefer. But with that said, I don't know anyone who does not use the .cine version.
  5. It's hard to say what the issue may be, but I've had my FX6 since the first week the camera started shipping (3 years) and I can honestly say that I've never had a lens come off my FX6 or even get loosened during transport. The lens that is on my FX6 about 90% of the time is the relatively heavy Sony 200-600mm. I keep my camera completely built during transport, regardless of the lens. The other 10% of the time the lens would be my Sony 70-200 or 24-70. Never any issues whatsoever with any of them coming loose.
  6. Videosoul is correct, this is very strange. I spent about 2 hours yesterday matching all the settings on your camera that I could see in the viewfinder and trying to recreate your problem. No matter what I do, VND functions normally. So, I then reached out to one of the top techs at Sony overnight to see if he could figure it out , but he's stumped as well. Here is our advice: STEP 1: First of all, make sure your camera is running the latest firmware, which is V4.0. If it is not, then you can download and install it here. https://www.sony.com/electronics/support/interchangeable-lens-camcorders-ilme-series/ilme-fx6v/software/00259043 STEP 2: RESET the camera: Menu > Maintenance > All Reset STEP 3: Load my custom ALL File. After I matched all the settings on your camera (at least the ones I can see) I saved an ALL File. You should download my ALL file via the link below and load it into your camera. It will be called "VND-TEST1" when you see it in the camera's menu. After you have loaded the ALL file, check to see if the VND functions correctly now -- it does on my camera with those settings. If you still experience the same issue then there is probably something wrong with your camera. ALL FILE: https://vortexmedia.cimediacloud.com/r/PIFxEvRjExYn Disclaimer: Just to be clear, none of the settings saved in the "VND-TEST1" file are settings I would ever use myself except for 4K XAVC-I. So, if anyone else is reading this thread, I do NOT recommend the settings in this file. I'm just trying to troubleshoot Nailer's problem. STEP 4: Report your findings! 🙂 Good luck.
  7. What are your other exposure settings? It sounds like Iris, Shutter Speed, or Gain/ISO might be set to automatic and is then cancelling out the changes you make to the variable ND. https://vimeo.com/ondemand/fx6 Please provide more details or, even better, shoot a video with your phone that shows the settings on the camera's LCD screen while you adjust the VND. I'll bet that will show exactly what the issue is.
  8. Yes, I can say with 100% certainty that it is a non-desctructive workflow. I use it on EVERY shoot to cut down the amount of footage I ingest, and I wouldn't do that if I wasn't sure it is 100% safe.
  9. Hi Mark, no problem! It is actually in the YouTube description. *** Spoiler Alert *** Test 1: A: XAVC-I B: ProResHQ Test 2: A: ProResHQ B: XAVC-I Test 3: A: ProResHQ B: XAVC-I Test 4: A: XAVC-I B: ProResHQ Test 5: A: ProResHQ B: XAVC-I Test 6: A: XAVC-I B: ProResHQ
  10. Are you talking about all flavors of X-OCN or just X-OCN-XT? Although I have never shot with a Venice, I have been shooting 4K RAW, X-OCN-ST, and X-OCN-LT with my F55+R7 recorder for about seven or eight years. I have never had any trouble viewing and editing X-OCN in Catalyst Browse or Catalyst Prepare. I have no experience with X-OCN-XT, so I can't say whether it is compatible with Cataylst or not. However, if "XT" is the specific flavor or X-OCN you are referring to, I think you should say so, rather than painting all X-OCN codecs with the same brush.
  11. Well, that's the kind of thing that sounds good on paper, but usually turns out not so good in practice. There's no way of creating a better REC709 scene file than S-CINETONE for the FX6 because there are virtually no paint menus to make it with. Not that I think S-CINETONE is very good. The lack of paint menus is probably the second biggest shortcoming of the camera. As for baking-in an MLUT, I've never seen it done successfully. I'm not saying it is impossible, but I would have to see some actual real-world video that shows a custom MLUT in practice. Until then, I'm a skeptic. 🙂
  12. Thanks for taking a look and for the feedback. I agree that the results are subjective and may look different on different monitors. That's kind of why I made two. If the news station in the UK is shooting with FX6's then I don't blame them for choosing S-CINETONE since the only other viable option is S-LOG3 -- on that camera. If they are shooting with any other Sony cameras, then I agree that it is an odd choice.
  13. The first two S-CINETONE BOOSTER LUTs I created work great for B-roll. And now I have now created two more BOOSTER LUTs that are specifically intended for use on human faces --- i.e., interviews and headshots. Here's a video that explains it. There's a download link in YouTube comments section.
  14. I've created two custom LUTs to to quickly help me get better-looking images from my Sony FX6 -- when I do NOT want to shoot with S-LOG3; and I'm making them available free to anyone who wants to use them. My LUTs are called "S-CINETONE BOOSTERS" because they make it faster and easier for anyone (regardless of how inexperienced they are at color grading) to quickly improve their S-CINETONE footage. They are compatible with S-CINETONE footage that has been shot with any Sony camera that has an S-CINETONE shooting mode. Just to be clear, the LUTs are NOT monitor LUTs for the camera. These LUTs are designed to be applied to S-CINETONE footage in post with Resolve, Premiere, Final Cut Pro, and any other NLE that allows you to import custom LUTs. I'm teaching a 5-day Interview Lighting workshop in Maine next month that will give me some sample footage of human faces indoors. I'll post an update video after I've had the chance to use the LUTs on people. Maybe a third LUT will be forthcoming. We'll see. Download the free LUTs: https://vortexmedia.cimediacloud.com/r/wXoENupq9U68 Watch Doug Jensen's FX6 Master Class: Watch Doug Jensen's Wildlife Cinematography Master Class:
  15. Sometimes I hear people say that Sony's XAVC-I codec isn't good enough for shooting LOG and that they prefer recording Apple's ProRes codec with an external recorder. Using an external recorder for this reason always seemed like a huge waste of time and effort to me, but I'd never done a comparison between the two. So I decided to do some tests between XAVC-I and the HQ version of ProRes. XAVC-I @ 24 fps records at 240 Mbps while ProResHQ is over 700 Mbps. That means that (all other things being equal) a ProResHQ file will be 3x larger than the XAVC-I version. In other words, you can get 3x more footage on a memory card when you shoot XAVC-I. But do you pay a penalty in image quality when using XAVC-I? To answer that question, I decided to shoot a few test shots with my FX6 to see how the two codecs compared. I recorded XAVC-I internally onboard the camera while simultaneously recording the camera's 10-bit output via HDMI to a Blackmagic 5" Video Assist. In these split-screen tests, the XAVC-I version is on one side of the screen . . . and the ProResHQ version is on the other. Both were shot with the exact same camera settings (S-LOG3) and have had the same grading applied in post. Only very minor adjustments have been made in Resolve to fine-tune and match the Lift/Gamma/Gain. Can you tell which is which?
  16. Sometimes I hear people say that Sony's revolutionary Electronic Neutral Density Filter (found on the FX6, FX9, Z280, etc.) affects the picture quality and isn't as good as using a traditional glass ND filter. So I decided to shoot a few test shots with my FX6 to see if that was true or not. In these split-screen tests, the Variable ND Filter (set to 1/8 ND) is on one side of the screen . . . and a very good Tiffen .9 ND filter (3-stops) is on the other. Both were shot with the exact same camera settings (S-LOG3) and only very minor adjustments have been made in Resolve to fine-tune and match the exposures. Having the white card in the shot helped me match exposures and check for white balance variations -- there were none Can you tell which is which?
  17. Really nice work, Julien. Remember us little guys when you get ASC membership.
  18. Who's going to NAB this year? My wife and I hit the road on Sunday for a 7-week national parks road trip that includes a stop in Las Vegas for NAB (April 15-19). This will be the 15th year in a row (not counting Covid) that I've worked for Sony in their booth. If you're coming to the show, please stop by the ENG camera area (Z750, Z280, etc.) and say hello. And if you're not planning on coming to NAB -- it's not too late! Get a free pass courtesy of Sony here: https://pro.sony/ue_US/events/nab See you there! Doug
  19. I'm a huge fan of Dual Sensitivity on my FX6, but I'd be surprised if that feature matters very much to the makers of feature films. Dual Sensitivity is great for news, documentaries, sports, wildlife, and other production environments where we are not in control of the lighting. But most film production, including sci-fi is produced under very controlled circumstances with man-made lighting. If there isn't enough illumination to get the exposure . . . add more lights. I don't see Dual as changing that. Even in my own situation, I certainly wouldn't kick the camera over to HIGH while shooting an interview, product shots, etc. where I was in control of the lighting. In fact with a lot of today's cameras, the base sensitivity is already too high. I can't remember the last time I shot an interview with any of my cameras that didn't have some ND added just to give me more elbow room with the lighting ratios and DOF. And anyone who thinks there isn't some image quality loss between HIGH and LOW is just fooling themselves. It's there, and you don't have to look that hard to see it. That's why Sony calls it dual SENSITIVITY instead of dual ISO.
  20. The F35 was purposely designed to have the physical look and feel of a traditional film camera, right down to the way the SRW-1 recorder mounted at an angle at the rear of the camera -- similar to a film mag on a Panaflex. It was an interesting camera for it's day, but completely outdated by today's standards. I know there is a fan base that have formed a cult around the F35, but don't get it. If I'm going to invest my time, money, and effort into shooting something, it certainly wouldn't be with outdated technology such is this. Fun to play around with though, I guess. I remember back in my early days buying some old B&W video gear from a TV station surplus sale just because it was fun to experiment with and the price seemed amazing for what the stuff must have cost originally. But then I got older and realized even the most expensive stuff eventually has zero value. Five years ago when I moved from Rhode Island to Florida I donated a lot of old lighting gear and other stuff to a local school, but some stuff I just threw away. Chucking two Ikegami Betacams into a dumpster, that originally cost over $50K each, seemed strange when I did it, but it was the right thing to do. But I digress . . . 🙂
  21. Just to be clear, if it was my shoot, I'd still be jam syncing TC on the two cameras.
  22. Danny, you should reinstall Premiere or check your hardware configuration. I edit on Premiere and grade in Resolve, almost on a daily basis, and I cannot even recall the last time either one crashed. Both are rock solid. I'm on couple of MacBook Pros. Now I probably just jinxed myself. 😀
  23. Thanks for the trip down memory lane. My very first professional camera was a M3A with a VO-4800 U-matic recorder attached via a multi-pin umbilical that I got in 1984. It put me on the map and I don't know if I'd be where I am today if it hadn't been for that camera. I traveled with it all over the country and world. Like you say, it doesn't meet today's specifications, but it was a very reliable camera that looked very good for its day. In fact, I still recall how disappointed I was when I sold my M3A and moved "up" to a Hitachi CCD camera. The aliasing on that first generation CCD was awful but it was too late to go back to the Sony. It's cool to hear you like the look of it, and I'm looking forward to seeing the short film you make. Good luck. PS. Don't ever point those tubes at the sun!!
  24. Jason, welcome to the the Sony forum. I don't know anything about the C300, but I know the FX6 inside and out. It does not have a genlock connector, so you will not be able to sync the cameras in the way you describe. Fortunately, it makes no difference anyway. There is no reason to sync the shutters on the cameras. Outside of a "live" switching environment or a two-camera 3D rig, there will be no benefit to that kind of synchronization. Nor would you ever be able to detect any difference during your edit if you could jump through those hoops. So take that part of the plan off the table and you just made your job easier right there. If the C300 has either timecode IN or OUT (which I assume it does) you will have no trouble syncing the timecode. I suggest using the FX6 as the master and the C300 as the slave. If you need more details on how to do that, let me know. But it is easy and takes just a few seconds. You should also leave the cameras connected during the shoot to prevent them from drifting a frame or two over the course of the shoot. But eEven if you didn't use timecode at all, syncing a two camera interview is super easy these days in the major NLEs if both cameras are being fed the same audio. Putting extra effort into the lighting, composition, makeup, audio, having matched lenses, etc. will ultimately pay much bigger dividends on screen than sync. If this is a super important interview, it might be worth it to rent a 2nd FX6 and have perfectly matching cameras. Could save a lot of time in Resolve. That's my 2-bits, I hope it helps.
  25. Good question. Whether I'm shooting a launch with four cameras or all eight (Z750, F55 w/R7, FS7 w/R5, FX6, Alpha1, Z280, S1H, Z90, every camera is set for full manual focus and full manual exposure. Since I only have two hands, most of the cameras are on locked-down shots either aimed at the launch pad, or at some point in the sky where I know the rocket will pass through. All of those cameras are pre-focused using peaking to judge the focus. During the launch, I will operate one camera the entire time, or sometimes switch from one camera to another in mid-stream. Each camera/lens combo has it's own unique advantages so sometimes it is necessary to jump over from camera to another in mid-flight. But I know in advance that I'm going to do that, so everything is pre-set on the 2nd camra. On either of the two cameras that I'm operating (with a high-power telephoto lens) to track the flight, I am just focusing manually using peaking as my guide. Usually the two cameras I operate manually are the Z750 with it's excellent Sony EL30 viewfinder or the FX6 with a really nice Zacuto Gratical EVF mounted. Both of those viewfinders offer edge-enhance peaking, so I am not stuck using inferior colored peaking. On some of the launches, the booster(s) return to land back at Cape Canaveral, and that is really stressful to pick them up in the sky and track them back down. Also very hard not to bobble with when the sonic boom hits. I know it is coming but it still just about knocks you off your feet. But a lot of fun.
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