After further trying, to milk out the last bit of the FS100 sensor, I think I finally came up with the “magic formula”.
It holds and rolls highlights better than any of my other profiles, gives more DR than ever and also is the closest you can get to S-Log in a FS100.
If you ever looked as a S-Log or Arri Log waveform or RGB parade you can see that most of the data lives between 20 and 80 IRE.
This is what you get with this PP.
I gave it a test ride today, when I shot a commercial and I can’t hardly belief this came out of my FS100.
Here is some comparisons of what you can expect´ (before and after grading)
Whereby “grading” actually was just lowering the complete luma, till it just touches zero IRE.
So it’s 100% non destructive (unless you don’t stretch the levels) and doesn’t introduce banding and other ugly artifacts.
This was shot on SD card in the FS100 with AVCHD – if you record external, there is even more room to play with.
So here are the G-LOG Ultimate settings:
ZEBRA: set your zebras to 100 and make sure they never show up (unless in lights, chrome or other super bright and shiny things)
BLACK LEVEL: variable – as in G-Log, set your black levels a hair above zero IRE (or until the histogram touches the left side)
DON’T GET CONFUSED WHAT YOU SEE ON THE CAMERA SCREEN, HAVE FAITH, EVERYTHING WILL FALL IN PLACE.
GAMMA: Cinematone2
BLACK GAMMA: High/+7
KNEE: Manual/80%/+1
COLORMODE: Cinematone2/+8
COLOR LEVEL -2
COLOR PHASE -7
COLOR DEPTH: R -3/G +2/B +5/C 0/M 0/Y 0
WB SHIFT: all zero
DETAIL: Level -3/BW Balance Type3/Limit7 everything elese at zero
Here is an indoor example at 2000 ISO – as you can see, the G-Log ultimate also keeps the noise as low as possible.
If you are in Premiere, the “Luma Corrector” gives you the best, non destructive performance.
Just grab the Pedestal slider and lower all the levels till they touch the zero IRE line. Done.
Make sure you dial in the color temperature (WB) manually with the little wheel, don`t do auto or push button (greycard) balance,
since that will screw up your color on the magenta/cyan axis.
Every color cast you might get, by doing this, is easily fixed in post.
I hope you guys have fun with the new PP.
As always, this is work in progress, so check back from time to time, if there is a newer version.
The pictures you see here don’t really reflect the actual quality you can get out of this.
They look much better on a calibrated production monitor. After having them exported, JEPGed and uploaded here
gamma, saturation and contrast changed a bit, so take them with a grain of salt and try the PP yourself, to see what you can actually get.
Frank
Nasri Lian (@point8cam)
August 17, 2012
This already looks good ungraded of those who prefer not to bring the blacks too close to 0. I’m psyched to try this one out! Appreciate all the research you’ve been up till now Frank!
Michael Stewart
August 17, 2012
Hi Frank, good for FS700 also?
Mike
Wissam
August 30, 2012
I was about to ask the same thing Michael.. I can’t find anything on best PP settings for the 700… If you have any good links, I’d appreciate it if you shared them with me.
msalton@gmail.com
September 10, 2012
Yes, am also looking for good settings for the 700. Hard to find right now.
Frank
August 17, 2012
I don’t have a 700 here so I can’t try, but I don’t think so, cause the 700 reacts totaly different within the Hypergammas.
Greg Nuspel
August 18, 2012
I guess what I need next is to learn how to properly dial in my white balance. I’ve always used a greycard. It would be a nice posting showing how you do this if you have the time. Thanks for all your work on this.
Frank
August 18, 2012
You can roughly estimate the color temperature (daylight, tungsten) and dial that in.
Than you tweak it, till you like what you see. Everything else is an easy fix in post, since you have to go there anyway, to “develop” the G-Log Ultimate.
Kaziba
August 19, 2012
You rock man !!!!! Cheers !!!!!!!!!!!
Pablo
September 1, 2012
Hi Frank I’m new to the fs100 and came across your PP’s, so far I dig Glog A.. What firmware is the ultimate for? 1 or 2?
Cheers
Frank
September 1, 2012
2
Rolando
September 6, 2012
I didn’t quite understand about the “Black Level – Variable” How is this set? And the white balance, if not using a white/grey card, how do you know what number to dial in? Do we just choose 3200 or 5600 and use the wheel to plus or minus the final look of the white balance?
Tom
September 7, 2012
Very helpful. Thanks!
james
September 9, 2012
This is an amazing profile, thanks Frank, my new number 1 profile. Shooing this in Prores HQ put through Davinci Resolve 9 it looks mind-blowing.
Michael G. Barrett
September 13, 2012
Frank,
I really like this profile. Really leaves nice room to correct and grade in post. Quick question, I’m moving from the 5D II to the FS100 but the color is totally different in the FS100 to the negative. I think the main reason is it’s a weird white balance. I have the warm card set and I’ve tried to balance to warm 1, grey and white. Then if you manually dial it in to the exact temp you just balanced to and switch between the two, there’s a noticeable difference when you would think it would be the same. On the 5D II, I used the preset balance settings which usually were great. I did manually dial it in on occasion but the FS100 is strange. I think I would love it if I could get the balance right. Any help is certainly appreciated.
Thanks again for all you do to help us with this camera!
Frank Glencairn
September 13, 2012
Don’t do balance with a card. It works with a 3D balance (green/magenta/blue/red)not just color temperature Set you color temperature by hand and eye, do the rest in post, my PPs are mostly made to be finished in post anyway.
Piotr Wozniacki
September 13, 2012
Hi Frank,
As you know I find this profile of yours excellent – however, there is one thing I’d like to ask your assistance with. Could you please comment here:
http://www.dvinfo.net/forum/sony-nxcam-nex-fs100/510065-new-g-log-ultimate-picture-profile.html#post1752978, or here:
http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/showthread.php?289967-Made-a-new-killer-FS100-Picture-Profile&p=1986204094&viewfull=1#post1986204094 ?
Thanks, Best Regards
Piotr
Frank Glencairn
September 13, 2012
Done (on DVX)
Erik V
October 11, 2012
This looks amazing! Please make one for the FS700.
sander
October 30, 2012
I just shot a commercial with this setting… looked great!
recorded on the ki-pro in pro-res and was able to do grading in davinci myself so i could make sure i brought back the full range 10 bit image (0-1023) to broadcast levels (64-940) and this looked stunning!!
.
However some clients don’t sent out the native file to grading and this wil result in clipped highlights and chrushed blacks before the colorist goes to work wich is not good.
A collegue of mine told me the FS700 has a gamma curve that limits itself to broadcast safe values.
does one of the gamma curves in the fs100 do the same??
Bob
October 31, 2012
I really appreciated your tests, all of them, and this looks to be the best one! But i just have a questions, about the black levels, is good to use set in -5?? Because the histogram only really touches the left side set in -5.
Frank
November 1, 2012
That’s absolute fine, set the black levels as low (or high) what ever it takes, to touch the line.
Neil
November 3, 2012
Hi Frank
I have to thank you as well for your tests and your publishing of the results. I have been shooting with your preset for over a month now. I am so happy with the image coming out of the fs100 and my clients love it as well.
At a time when we all tend to keep looking over the fence at the next great cam, collaborating and concentrating on getting the best image out of the equipment you already own is what really makes this whole industry exciting and so rewarding.
Erik
November 22, 2012
Like Bob I’m also not sure what you mean with the black levels ‘a hair above zero IRE’. From what I see on the ungraded sample still the lowest blacks are just touching +10 IRE. I’ve been filming a concert with this profile and the black level is where it went wrong I think. The histogram on the monitor is tiny and I had it just touching the outer left. But the image looks crushed and ugly. Can you please illustrate a exactly how it should be done? You’re example looks so good, I really want to give it another try.
Bruce Yarock
November 23, 2012
Thanks for the preset, Frank. It looks great, though I’ve ony shot for a couple of other people with it, and we haven’t had the chance yet to do any color grading.
I too am confused about the black level. Could you explain this for those of us who are confused? Where do you find the ire level, and excly which “line” in the histogram are you referring to? Is it the zebra on line. What do you mean by “touches the left side”?
“set your black levels a hair above zero IRE (or until the histogram touches the left side)
Thanks for your work and patience.
Bruce Yarock
Frank
November 25, 2012
If you use the histogram in the camera, set your exposure first, than go to the PP menu and set you black level, so that it almost touches the left bracket or post on your histogramm. If you use a monitor with proper waveform, set it so, that it almost (a hair above) touches the zero IRE line at the bottom.
Joe Friedman
November 24, 2012
Hello Frank:
I saw you mention your 35mm lens adapter in another article you wrote about some East German Zeiss lenses. I shot something 18 months ago with my EX-3 and a lens adapter and I was absolutely knocked out by the look. My FS-100 doesn’t quite have that look. Do you still shoot with your lens adapter?
Frank
November 25, 2012
No, the 35mm sensor size of the FS100 makes an 35mm adapter obsolete. But never the less I use my vintage Zeiss glass on the FS100 religiously.
Michel Gallone Sowattmusic Video Production
December 18, 2012
Interesting… But are you sure this profile gets you more lowlight details than your previous G Log… because I compared to the latest version of G Log 1 and this profile is way more contrasty…. It is true it protects highlight, but i absolutely do ot get a flat image like another LOG image (F3 s Log for example)
I guess i will have to try and understand what you wanted to achieve withe this Ultimate Profile… Thanks a lot anyway…
nick
January 4, 2013
Thanks so much for all your valuable work on this topic and others. Your profile is great. For those who don’t choose to grade, it provides an excellent look directly from the camera.
I was wondering how you feel about the CPF LOG/LUT approach – i.e. Having one profile to ‘set up’ with and another to record. Any thoughts of experimenting in this way yourself?
Frank Glencairn
January 5, 2013
I tried the CPF LOG/LUT PP – quite a great idea to have that sort of “preview”
http://tinyurl.com/shobwest17296
January 24, 2013
Where exactly did u acquire the techniques to publish ““G-Log Ultimate 1.
0 Picture Profile for the Sony FS100 Frank Glencairn”?
Thanks for your effort -Amee
Frank Glencairn
January 24, 2013
Don’t know if I understand your question, can you elaborate?
Emanuele Giannini
February 14, 2013
Hi Frank and thank you so much for your work. Your profiles are the best, I have to try this.
I had, however, always a difficulty on your site. Intuitively, I was never able to figure out which were the last of profiles made from the first. In the future, you may use different names or list the items in chronological order, so you can immediately understand what are the previous and what happens next?
This profile as I found by chance on google
Sorry for my english, google translate help me
Have a good day
Emanuele
derrickthreatt
April 2, 2013
WOW!!! I used this profile and its like getting a new camera https://vimeo.com/61614677
Bart Termorshuizen
April 9, 2013
Hi Frank,
I’m a bit puzzling with this:
this PP is quite low in contrast (not as flat as some others, but still), so if you fix this in post, you stretch it in order to get contrast back and – depending on saturation – you pump up the saturation.
On a histogram, you see te gaps coming and on a vectorscope, you see that it all gets a bit ‘dotted’.
You have been thinking about this (a lot) longer than I have – but doesnt it make sense to have the histogram in camera cover the entire 0-109 ire and have the colors more saturated? As long as you dont blow out a channel, you should be fine. That way you use all available ‘resolution’ to record more nuances in contrast and color. For example, the moment you need to desaturate it – because your specific look requires it – there’s no risk of banding.
Appreciate your light on this subject!
Drag
April 11, 2013
Hi Frank,
When i convert the mts to prores in 5dtorgb, what decoding matrix is correct 601 or 709?
Thanks,
Drag
Frank Glencairn
April 11, 2013
709
reddrebelinc
April 17, 2013
Reblogged this on reddrebelinc's Blog and commented:
Check out Frank Glencairn’s amazing picture profile for the Sony FS100
Aaron
May 1, 2013
Hi frank, saw all the great stuff on this pp over at dvxuser forum. What Setting do u recommend for the fs700 that can closely match your profile?
Frank
May 1, 2013
Sorry, but Sony didn’t lend me the 700 long enough to figure a PP out or looking deeper into the specific settings.
Aaron
May 2, 2013
SONY!!!! Can you hurry up and send Frank a fs700!
Frank, thanks for all the informative posts here. Learned a lot from them.