FS700 S-Log 2. Pushing the 8-bit AVC codec
 

A quiet time here so thought I would grab a few outdoor shots and have a play around just to see how the AVC HD onboard 8-bit 24-mbit codec on the FS700 with v3.01 firmware could handle S-Log 2 with a bit of basic grading. Only used curves and saturation adjustments. Not saying it's a good grade but the object of the exercise for me was to see just what dynamic range could be maintained in conditions where you have absolutely no control whatsoever on the lighting

Chose a really hot overcast sky day as usually these are the days where sky detail is easily lost. Used the standard PP7 preset with S-Log 2 selected and was surprised that this 8-bit codec with its limited shades per stop could actually handle and deliver pretty good tonal range across the range. Was able to maintain the very subtle shades in the cloud cover yet still retain reasonable detail in the darker shadow areas. The MP4 can be downloaded.

It's best to view this in a player with selectable output. Media Player Classic Home Cinema can be set for 0~255 or 16~235. These clips were graded for 16-235 levels to keep levels close to the 1v PP TV video levels.


Chris Young
CYV Productions
Sydney

Re: FS700 S-Log 2. Pushing the 8-bit AVC codec
 

Surprisingly not bad at all and the blacks didn't need to be compressed that much (at last on my Apple T bolt monitor)

Re: FS700 S-Log 2. Pushing the 8-bit AVC codec
 

Still quiet here so had another play around but this time getting amongst the individual color vectors and adjusting saturation, luminance and hue etc. Again not anyone’s chosen grade but was surprised to see how much you can push and pull these individual parameters without the image falling apart. Basically for my web based clients I really don't see much reason to go much past the AVCHD codec for acquisition.

For post on shorter projects I batch convert the AVCHD files to uncompressed as it is easy to work with, almost like DV. For long form I batch convert to Cineform or Matrox MPEG2 I frame HD at 50-mbit for smaller file sizes if storage is an issue. Tried grading both of those codecs from the Sony S Log 2 AVCHD conversions and the results were more than satisfactory.


Chris Young
CYV Productions
Sydney