Hello all

I've begun my transition to Sony with the A7SIII, and I'm curious as to what people using this camera or other Sony cameras ended up using when it comes to video shooting profiles.

I've been digging into the archives, and there was a lot of excitement back in the day about S-Log3, but I shoot mostly macro and blackwater-type video, so it's either artificial-light dominant or fully artificial light (BW). I'm not convinced shooting in log will add much other than the hassle of handling ETTR exposure.

I plan on keeping S-Log for ambient light or mixed lighting (ie wider shots), which will come one day when I'll have a wide lens, a boat trip planned etc. Not for now anyway.

I finally got the A7SIII in the water yesterday for two test dives and shot in HLG3. Hybrid log seemed like a good compromise for grading: excllent dynamic range, but without LOG's exposure/ ISO issues.

However, I'm not impressed by how it behaves in post. I'm on FCPX (no, I can't run DaVinci due to a big fat hardware issue - I need a computer update and don't have the cash for one at the moment), and the HDR-to-SDR 709 conversion is underwhelming.

Dynamic range is certainly there (wow), but other than that, there is still quite a lot of work needed after the conversion. The image is still pretty much flat (not much changes), which could be due to Final Cut, but who knows. Other than trying to recover clipped highlights, I might not need as much DR. I don't really lift blacks and it's heresy for BW. Colours need a lot of saturation lifting, which is great for precision, but then again I could start with something of a less flat-base to grade with.

Long story short, I can make HLG3 work, sure, but the question is: should I?

This first test has made me wonder if I should shoot in standard picture profiles instead.
I've read recommendations for Cine2 and Cine4, asked AI to search for published material, but it ended up hallucinating verbose pseudo-technical garbage that went nowhere, as usual with LLMs...

I'm really curious as to what actual humans out there are actually using in this situation. Actual hands-on experience. I understand artificial light / macro / BW video is not the most common shooting scenario, but I'm really happy to hear what people have used, are using, or would use in such a situation.

On my previous camera, the Lumix LX10, I was shooting in Cine-D with flatter settings, which worked fine (of course there were no log options, which narrowed it down quite a bit ˆˆ)

Thanks!

Edited 18 hours ago18 hr by bghazzal

Honestly, my biggest piece of advice for underwater video: DON'T SHOOT LOG. Film in the standard picture profile. I see a lot of people using Log just because they watched a YouTube video recommending it, but Log is really designed for shooters on land.

Here's the issue: with Log, you're forced into a higher base ISO. Underwater, we are already in a dark environment, so boosting our ISO even higher means most Log footage just looks really noisy. Plus, you basically need a pro colorist to correct it. The A7SIII already has great dynamic range and brilliant white balance at depth, so shooting in standard gives you a significantly cleaner image with great color right out of the camera.

Give me underwater footage shot in Log and fully graded, and put it next to correctly exposed, white-balanced footage shot in the standard picture profile. Trust me, you won't see any difference. If anything, it's most likely that the standard picture profile image looks cleaner.

These are my go-to baseline settings for great looking footage straight out of camera:

• Standard Picture Profile.

• Aperture: f/8

• Shutter: 1/125 (because I am shooting 60fps)

• ISO: Auto ISO

• Exposure Comp: -0.7 (this helps protect the highlights of the surface)

To be fair, those specific exposure settings are mainly what I use for wide angle, but the core philosophy is basically the same for macro and blackwater.

Since you are shooting macro and blackwater with artificial light, here is the real trick: make sure you custom white balance to your video lights. If you do this in standard profile, it gives you incredible color accuracy right out of the camera so you don't have to fiddle with it in post at all.

I have been shooting the A7SIII since it came out and it is still my absolute go-to workhorse for work. If you want to see the results, check out any video on Backscatter and you will see most of the underwater footage was shot with this camera and these settings.

Hope this helps you avoid those editing headaches!