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Verité documentary: do you prefer to bake in or grade later?


IamOakley
Go to solution Solved by DougJensen,

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I'm always curious about what others are doing when shooting non-fiction. Obviously, there are many different kinds of documentary productions, and some allow more careful planning and lighting than others. But when you're literally shooting from the hip, adjusting lighting, framing, and focus as fast as you can following whatever is unrolling in front of you, there's a lot of room for error. Do you have better luck with a baked in Picture Profile (e.g. S-Cinetone) or shooting S-Log3?

On one hand, with S-Log3 you'll have more dynamic range to play with, and plenty of options for looks and LUTs. It feels like it's a safer bet because you or your colorist have more options in Post.

On the other hand, committing to a Picture Profile, what you see is what you get. There's less time spent on the end grading the footage (if you're the one who has to do it) and there are less exposure surprises or errors - in theory -  that you can make.

Since I shoot a lot on the FX3, before the v2 update, it was easy to decide on Picture Profiles. But now that you can bring in LUTs to view in Log Shooting mode, I find myself shooting everything in S-Log3. I like that I can actually choose a different look/LUT after the fact. Because honestly with documentary, the story often emerges during the edit, and so it's nice to have the ability to go different directions with color at that time too. But now I also spend a lot of time in Post grading. And sometimes it's just to get the image to where it could've been from the beginning.

Anyone have any thoughts? I'm curious what others in the community are doing!

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I couldn't imagine not shooting in log, even more so when it's a hectic run and gun. When you're moving quickly, you're more likely to make mistakes, and having the flexibility to possibly correct some of those mistakes in post is priceless.

If you're too lazy to grade it, you can slap an SLog3 to 709 LUT on all your footage with one click and be done

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When I'm shooting with my F55 or FS7 I always shoot S-LOG (or RAW) and then grade in Resolve. Almost no exceptions to that workflow with those two cameras.

However, after doing a lot of controlled testing and experimentation with my FX6, I feel that I generally prefer the results I get when I shoot with S-Cinetone and then do a final grade in Resolve.  Now, someone might argue that if I'm going to run the footage through Resolve anyway, I might as well shoot with S-LOG3, but I've done my testing with FX6 footage, and I actually prefer grading S-Cinetone footage rather than S-LOG.

I know that S-Cinetone is promoted as being a WYSIWYG shooting mode that shouldn't require grading, but in my opinion, S-Cinetone can really benefit from some grading in post.  Here's a split screen demonstration I uploaded to my Youtube channel that shows the difference between Ungraded S-Cinetone and Graded S-Cineteone.  I prefer the images on the right.

 

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Often this is a question that is led less by how you shoot and more by how (or who) will be doing the post production.

 

If you do all your own post production then it really is a matter of personal preference. Do you wish to give yourself the best possible "negative" to work with in post by shooting with S-Log3 or do you want a fast turnaround with minimal extra post production effort, in which case you may chose to shoot with S-Cinetone or a baked in LUT. As not every project you may do will be the same, perhaps sometimes you will shoot S-Log3 and others S-Cinetone. Don't be afraid to switch depending on each projects individual needs.

 

There is no right or wrong with either.

 

Where the decision becomes more complex is when you are handing off your footage to someone else to edit/grade. Do they know how to handle S-Log3 correctly or are they going to make a mess of it? For the vast majority of TV news type applications they will want something that can go direct to air with as little work as possible, so they are unlikely to want S-Log3. But for other types of productions the water is much muddier so a conversation needs to be had with whoever will do the post production to make sure that what you are giving them is what they want.

 

Generally for S-Log3 I will not bake in a LUT in camera. I don't see any reason to bake in a LUT as adding a LUT in post production is such a simple and quick process, depending on the software being used it sometimes happens automatically or a LUT can be applied to an entire timeline or project. If you have been careful with your exposure and have set the white balance correctly then no further grading should be necessary to get to the same look that you had at the time of shooting.  

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  • 2 weeks later...

When I'm shooting with my F55 or FS7 I always shoot S-LOG (or RAW) and then grade in Resolve. Almost no exceptions to that workflow with those two cameras.

However, after doing a lot of controlled testing and experimentation with my FX6, I feel that I generally prefer the results I get when I shoot with S-Cinetone and then do a final grade in Resolve.  Now, someone might argue that if I'm going to run the footage through Resolve anyway, I might as well shoot with S-LOG3, but I've done my testing with FX6 footage, and I actually prefer grading S-Cinetone footage rather than S-LOG.

I know that S-Cinetone is promoted as being a WYSIWYG shooting mode that shouldn't require grading, but in my opinion, S-Cinetone can really benefit from some grading in post.  Here's a split screen demonstration I uploaded to my Youtube channel that shows the difference between Ungraded S-Cinetone and Graded S-Cineteone.  I prefer the images on the right.

 

Wow, super interesting. Thank you Doug! I'm going to test shooting S-Cinetone on my FX3 and grading like this, and see if I can get results I like. Yours looks great.

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Often this is a question that is led less by how you shoot and more by how (or who) will be doing the post production.

If you do all your own post production then it really is a matter of personal preference. Do you wish to give yourself the best possible "negative" to work with in post by shooting with S-Log3 or do you want a fast turnaround with minimal extra post production effort, in which case you may chose to shoot with S-Cinetone or a baked in LUT. As not every project you may do will be the same, perhaps sometimes you will shoot S-Log3 and others S-Cinetone. Don't be afraid to switch depending on each projects individual needs.

There is no right or wrong with either.

Where the decision becomes more complex is when you are handing off your footage to someone else to edit/grade. Do they know how to handle S-Log3 correctly or are they going to make a mess of it? For the vast majority of TV news type applications they will want something that can go direct to air with as little work as possible, so they are unlikely to want S-Log3. But for other types of productions the water is much muddier so a conversation needs to be had with whoever will do the post production to make sure that what you are giving them is what they want.

Generally for S-Log3 I will not bake in a LUT in camera. I don't see any reason to bake in a LUT as adding a LUT in post production is such a simple and quick process, depending on the software being used it sometimes happens automatically or a LUT can be applied to an entire timeline or project. If you have been careful with your exposure and have set the white balance correctly then no further grading should be necessary to get to the same look that you had at the time of shooting.  

That's interesting and completely understandable about the TV news world not really needing/wanting S-Log3. Different strokes for different folks (post-production environments). Thank you so much for your input, Alister!

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