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whats best camera setting for flat cinematography?

A

ali farahani

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I want to shoot some shots. whats best camera setting for flat recording?
 
But when i watch orginal raw footages without color grading from red cameras i see some difference things in shots. some shots is very high contrast and some shots is flat. I think its depends on camera settings.
 
Hey Ali,

Welcome to the forum. I take it you have never used a RED camera before. The metadata paradigm is quite different than using other traditional cameras and monitoring exposure can take some practise. It's best to read up a little on the learning section of the RED website. Since you are capturing RAW, everything including color science can be changed after the fact.

http://www.red.com/learn



ali farahani said:
How can i do this?
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Bob Gundu said:
Hey Ali,

Welcome to the forum. I take it you have never used a RED camera before. The metadata paradigm is quite different than using other traditional cameras and monitoring exposure can take some practise. It's best to read up a little on the learning section of the RED website. Since you are capturing RAW, everything including color science can be changed after the fact.

http://www.red.com/learn
Click to expand...

Yes exactly. I usualy used dslr cameras in my projects. but in new music video i want to use a red epic camera. i was watched red site guides but i coudnt find any tutorial about flat recording. in dslr cameras flat picture styles gives best results in filmlook color grading. but i don't know in the red cameras it how to work for best film look result.
 
ali farahani said:
Yes exactly. I usualy used dslr cameras in my projects. but in new music video i want to use a red epic camera. i was watched red site guides but i coudnt find any tutorial about flat recording. in dslr cameras flat picture styles gives best results in filmlook color grading. but i don't know in the red cameras it how to work for best film look result.
Click to expand...

set your exposure to the right of histogram without clipping - check focus - hit record - it's all metadata and can be changed in post
 
In DSLR video production you need to shoot flat because it saves a lot of the information so you have better results after you have graded it later. On RED though since its raw, you can shoot it how you want it to look on screen as a WYSIWYG and have a general idea of the look you're going for, then later you can make it flat by setting your footage to RED LOG Film in RCX Pro which is a free application you can get from red.com to work with red footage, make transcodes, and do some basic color work. You can also do a minor grade right there in RCX and never need to worry about making it flat if you do not plan on doing some serious grading of your footage.
 
Josh Beadle said:
set your exposure to the right of histogram without clipping - check focus - hit record - it's all metadata and can be changed in post
Click to expand...

Exactly. As long as your shutter speed, aperture, and focus are exactly where you want it everything else can be changed (ISO, white balance, color science, etc).
 
Ali, I recommend you download an R3D file and play with it in REDCINE-X. DSLR shooters us a flat picture style to give them them more options in grading since the colors are baked in, meaning you can't adjust the colors too much after shooting. This makes it a good starting point, but not neccisarily the best. Since RED records a RAW format it contains a lot of color information, and that leaves you with a lot more room to stretch and bend the colors. Since RAW is not baked in, you don't have to worry about using a flat picture style, you can change settings and start out with something flat after you have already shot your footage. It also allows you to change your white balance in post, which you can't do with a DSLR.

You should do some research on what RAW is and play with those files. Most DSLR's can take RAW pictures but not video. Try playing with a RAW picture vs a JPEG and see what the difference is when you try to shift the colors around in photoshop.
 
Thanks alot. so is this best for me? set camera to 5k . and set to 24fps. and finlay select a gama??? are there any suggestions for best camera setting in film look ? A cinematographer said me that out door shootings in high key locations set iso to 160 and in low key locations or in studio lighting set iso to 800. is this true for this camera??
 
Noel R. said:
Ali, I recommend you download an R3D file and play with it in REDCINE-X. DSLR shooters us a flat picture style to give them them more options in grading since the colors are baked in, meaning you can't adjust the colors too much after shooting. This makes it a good starting point, but not neccisarily the best. Since RED records a RAW format it contains a lot of color information, and that leaves you with a lot more room to stretch and bend the colors. Since RAW is not baked in, you don't have to worry about using a flat picture style, you can change settings and start out with something flat after you have already shot your footage. It also allows you to change your white balance in post, which you can't do with a DSLR.

You should do some research on what RAW is and play with those files. Most DSLR's can take RAW pictures but not video. Try playing with a RAW picture vs a JPEG and see what the difference is when you try to shift the colors around in photoshop.
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yes yes yes. i tested one still frame from my canon 5d mark ll. RAW Format in camera raw plugin allowed me i can play with shadows & highlights as well as. But I'm still scared. its first shooting with this camera for me. and its a important projects I'm afraid I can not do well with it. I don't have any chance for test this camera before main music video recording day.
 
ali farahani said:
Thanks alot. so is this best for me? set camera to 5k . and set to 24fps. and finlay select a gama??? are there any suggestions for best camera setting in film look ? A cinematographer said me that out door shootings in high key locations set iso to 160 and in low key locations or in studio lighting set iso to 800. is this true for this camera??
Click to expand...


No that's not true for this camera, use 800 for outdoors, this will give you more dynamic range, use 320 indoors, or if you have low light, and these are suggestions, there is really no wrong or right way, the only thing that matters is if it looks good to you, and your clients. The film look comes from everything, the location, the sound, the audio, the camera movements, the lighting, your composition, the story, the editing, the music. People who tell you how to get the film look might have some good advice, but it's really just marketing to get you to buy their books. The film look can be anything, and it comes from years of experience, and collaboration with other people who also have a lot of experience. The camera is just a tool, if you can't make it look good on a DSLR, a RED Epic is not going to help you.
 
Noel R. said:
No that's not true for this camera, use 800 for outdoors, this will give you more dynamic range, use 320 indoors, or if you have low light, and these are suggestions, there is really no wrong or right way, the only thing that matters is if it looks good to you, and your clients. The film look comes from everything, the location, the sound, the audio, the camera movements, the lighting, your composition, the story, the editing, the music. People who tell you how to get the film look might have some good advice, but it's really just marketing to get you to buy their books. The film look can be anything, and it comes from years of experience, and collaboration with other people who also have a lot of experience. The camera is just a tool, if you can't make it look good on a DSLR, a RED Epic is not going to help you.
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that is obvious in lighting , act , decoration or any ways to gives best results. But we assume every things are ok and nice. If every things be true(lighting,act, camera movement ,...) I only afraid a wrong camera setting perhaps destroying all of them.
 
You really need some prep time with the Epic - or an experienced DIT might be helpful (or Red experience crew).

Other than that, it might be wise to take your DSLR as a back-up camera.

You really should get an R3D file and play around in RCX, this will help you see how the Red Raw workflow can help you. Expose correctly and you then have a lot of freedom.
 
ali farahani said:
that is obvious in lighting , act , decoration or any ways to gives best results. But we assume every things are ok and nice. If every things be true(lighting,act, camera movement ,...) I only afraid a wrong camera setting perhaps destroying all of them.
Click to expand...


It's easier to destroy everything in a DSLR. In the US we use 23.976 frame rates, and I believe the UK or PAL uses 24.97. Set your shutter speed to 1/48th, and look at your histogram to make sure you are not clipping anything. It's pretty much like using a DSLR, except you are recording RAW which is not as easy to mess up.
 
Noel R. said:
It's easier to destroy everything in a DSLR. In the US we use 23.976 frame rates, and I believe the UK or PAL uses 24.97. Set your shutter speed to 1/48th, and look at your histogram to make sure you are not clipping anything. It's pretty much like using a DSLR, except you are recording RAW which is not as easy to mess up.
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Pal is 25p and no decimals.

Ali these are the things you need to get right on the shoot, the rest you can care about in post.

1. framerate
2. shutter speed
3. frame size (5k,4k etc) my suggestion is the bigger the better.
4. compression. If you shoot regular deasent exposed shots I would say 1:5 is more than enough. If you shoot greenscreen go 1:3 (highest nitrate)


5. Then there is exposure. Whats is important are the "goalposts" on each side of your histogram those shows over and under exposure. Also the rgb dots just right of the histogram shows which color channel is overexposed. The histogram it self is kind of not important, it shows the histogram at a given iso. Keep ISO at 800 while shooting, it can be changed later in post, but sticking it to 800 in camera makes the histogram less confusing as it is then quite correct to what is actually exposed.

So kelvin, iso picture contrast etc you can change and alter in post. Just as on a raw still frame from your DSL.

Ask if you can get the chance to play with the camera prior to the shoot, It does not take long to get the needed isnturcitons. Far easer to learn than shooting DSL'r as RAW allows you to move all your color settings into post.
 
ok. thanks for guides. very usefull. may be introduce me a website with free r3d footages for download?
 
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