My video act is coming together.
This comes on the heels of a horror week, something that forced me to look hard at options.
My profile of choice is Flat, with idynamic on Standard. Flat gives me Cine-D/V-Log lite-ish contrast and range, with iD to hold shadow detail. I can expose well into highlight territory, just within the wave form/histogram maximums, with tons of shadow detail.
S5II, 35mm Lumix-S (APS-C crop), f4 1080p 10bit/422 Flat profile, idynamic standard, exposure pushed to the right.
A very mild grade……..basically reduced Lift slider to add some contrast and depth. That is all. I usually work right to left with this system. Push gain for desired brilliance, then Gamma for shadow detail, finally Lift is usually backed off to add depth and contrast.
Crisp (without an optional 1/8 mist), warm, smooth and brilliant.
I have felt often that my grading was a matter of salvaging files, only hitting on a satisfying look with a reasonably fragile Standard profile on the G9 Mk1. I found Natural to be too muddy and white balance twitchy, so in desperation one day I tried Standard, untouched and hit gold.
With the G9II and both S5’s, adopting V-Log was assumed I guess, because it was one of the upgrades I gained with these cams, but I just did not need the processing headaches. Just shoot, process to a decent, reliable and tolerant “normal” and move on.
My processing is now exciting, easy and forgiving.
But there is more.
A little teal/amber semi polaroid easily enough done.
… and some cool-smooth.
Flat seems neutral, with a little Magenta kick, but responds well to most recoveries, be they colour balance, or exposure.
My aperture of choice for full frame is f4 which gives me a safe amount of depth, some context and a very well behaved lens. This correlates to f2.8, the Super-35 standard or f2 for M43.
Video is humming at the moment.
Not wanting to jinx it, but it seems like I have found a workable “enough”.