Sekonic L-758Cine calibration (with Sekonic Profile Target II)

[Michele Lombardo]

Hi everybody,
it's Michele. I'm an italian cinematographer living in LA. Some days ago I purchased the 758Cine + Target II. I'm having problems during the calibration phase. I explain: I shot with a RED CAMERA MX, and I want to calibrate the meter to match my camera sensibility.
This is what I'm doing:


1. measure the light on all chart surface, to ensure it's flat
2. RED white balance on the 18% grey side
3. set the 758cine in this way: 800ISO and 1/60th
4. my F stop is 2.0 (incident) 2.06 (reflective)
5. shot 3 mini-video: one at 1/60th f2.0; one +3EV at 1/8th (varispeed 8fps) f2.0; one -3EV at 1/500th f2.0
6 export three TIFF from RedCineX without any grading (tried with JPG too....)
7. put them in the Sekonic software for the calibrating


Here are the problems: wheh the app calculates the data, before showing the curve, gives me an alert "... the level doesn't exist in the image.... change level.....". I've tried several times... always the same alert. Click OK, the resulting curve is not a curve!!... but only a strange graph... only a couple of times I had the alert, but then the curve SEEMED to be ok....


IMPORANTE: I tested the 758cine with a Nikon D300 camera, with the same lens (50 f1.2) and setting (800ISO, 1/60th)..... the software worked PERFECTLY!!!!!!


Why? What's wrong with my procedure?




Thank you very much.




Michele

 

[Howard Buksbaum]

I had the same exact problem and I ended up just setting it up manually. Not sure why Sekonic doesnt update their software to accommodate cinema cameras.

 

[Philippe Van Horebeek]

I also did a manual setup for that reason.

 

[Michele Lombardo]

Thank you very much for your replies.
It's very BAD!!!! So the Profile Target is totally USELESS?!?!.....

PLease, could you be so kind to explain me how to manually calibrate?

Thank you very much!

Michele

 

[Howard Buksbaum]

Since the Epic is supposed to be about 13 stops I took my images into RedCine and looked at the level of detail and scopes which I found to be around 12 or so (I was less concerned about setting up the dynamic range than I was about setting the compensation). To set the compensation I just did a bunch of tests changing the comp 1/10 stops until video overlay was green on my grey card and the spot was the same as the lens and the incident reading. So spot off gray matches what the camera recognizes as gray and incident from card is about the same.

Works for me.

 

[Michele Lombardo]

Thx!

Anyway I've written to Sekonic support (Macgroup?...), and I'm waiting for their reply...

 

[Franz Lindinger]

Hi Michele,

I had email contact with Phil Bradon from Sekonic in november 2011 . He wrote:

"After two years of conversations and a trip to Hollywood, I have to report that the Sekonic engineers are expanding the DTS software to include frame-rate and shutter-angle cine functions and opening up the top to allow users to input data obtained by using other than Sekonic targets. The range has also been expanded to +/- 10 stops. I saw an early version of a few screens and some specifications last week. Should be available by the end of the year. It will be on www.sekonic.com when it is."

So let´s wait....

 

[Ryan E. Walters]

I'm not sure if it is entirely a Seckonic issue. I've used the software and profile chart to create profiles for different cameras, some successfully, and others not so much. As it stands right now, I can create profiles for a DSLR no problem. It seems to like that just fine. However, when I process files out of RedCine-X, the software doesn't like those files, so I have to bring them into photoshop to convert them into files that the software does like. (JPG) So my guess is that it is an issue with how RedCine-X exports the files, and how the seckonic software wants to read the files. Additionally, as already noted, the current version of the software is not suited, or designed for our work. It is designed for stills. I've spoken with Sekonic many times over the years and they are well aware of the problem and are working on it ...

For now, your best bet, is to use expose the chart in stop increments (or you could do 2 or 3, as the chart covers +2 to -2) and then use a software waveform to see where it clips and crushes to create your own profile manually. That is what I did, and it has been working for me...

[Reason for Editing: I apologize for having to edit my comment in this thread. I am not currently under NDA with Sekonic, however, I was asked by Sekonic to hold off on talking about things that are under development. So, out of respect for their wishes, I have removed the comments accordingly. As soon as I am permitted to say more specifically, I will. (So I guess that puts me under a non-official NDA about what is coming down the line with Sekonic.).]