Pulled the triger on the FS7

megabit wrote on 4/3/2016, 1:53 AM

Hi guys,

I described my plans in another thread earlier on, which has been mainly about monitoring options for 10 bit, 422 4K material the FS7 produces (me and John agreed that even though a UHDTV like Samsung "Quantum Dot" doesn't necessarily render Vegas output faithfully, it certainly does it beautifully - and in my particular situation, this is what suits my needs just fine).

Back to me new camera (I'm still waiting for it actually): are there any LUT packages specifically for it to be downloaded somewhere for use with Catalyst, Vegas Pro and Resolve - or do I need to rely on general Sony Slog ones? In Vegas, there are 3D Luts defined for F5/F55, but not for FS7. In Resolve, it's just the "Sony" category. Do I really need something Sony FS7-specific for best results?

Piotr

Comments

Wolfgang S. wrote on 4/3/2016, 6:13 AM

For the FS7 you will find s-log 3 LUTs for example - from some sources and some of them free of charge. Some of the tools will be able to interpretate s-log 3 footage from the FS7 without an issue - I expect that from the Catalyst family for example. So for Catalyst LUTs are maybe not the big issue.

For Vegas for example you will find LUT-support in different plugins - there is a free LUT plugin from Vision Color, but also plugins from Looks3 (what I use), but also from Hitfilm or filmconvert. Especially for XAVC UHD 50p footage from the FS7 you will see that you will need a really high-end PC for this footage - playback performance will be limited even on an 8core machine as I see it here Sorry to say so.

Resolve - no experience with that. Maybe you can all your needs satisfy with the Catalyst?

megabit wrote on 4/3/2016, 9:07 AM

Hi Wolfgang,

Yes, Catalyst does transforms from S-Log 2 and 3 to Rec.709 easily and nicely. Also In Vegas, when I pick full range 32-bit processing and say ACES RRT (sRGB) transform, and then in the media properties select Log color space, I'm getting equally pleasing results.

But the "free" plugin you recommended from Vision Color wants me to select my own file; how do I create one? Or are free LUT files available specifically for the FS7?

Piotr

Wolfgang S. wrote on 4/3/2016, 10:55 AM

The plugin developed by Vision Colors Need some LUTs that you have to load, right. Some free sources for suitable LUTs are (you will Need slog3 for the FS7 if you shoot in slog3:

https://community.sony.com/t5/F5-F55/Release-version-3DLUT-s-for-S-Gamut3-Cine-S-Log3/m-p/287847

Another source can be the LUTs offered by Convergent Design:
https://convergent-design.com/download-luts.html

This is for the case that you wish to use a LUT plugin (either Vision Color or Looks3) with in Vegas. Please be Aware that the playback performancy by Looks3 in Vegas is significant better, compared to the Vision Color plugin.

One Advantage that These plugins offer are that they can be used during editing in the 8bit mode in Vegas too. That makes editing easier. I like ACES too, but one drawback is that you have to use the 32bit Floating Point mode for ACES - and here the Vegas playback for editing is not so great, even with as stong machine.

But I agree with you: for an FS7 owner the Catalyst Suite makes a lot of sense, since both Catalyst Prepare but also Catalyst Edit recognice the FS7 metadata and apply the correct LUT. The Performance of Edit tends to become much better then with Vegas, what becomes outdated more and more - unfortunately.

megabit wrote on 4/4/2016, 12:21 AM

Hi Wolfgang,

I followed your links, and downloaded the F55 3D LUT files; strangely enough - when used with the Vision Color plugin - they are not as great as using Catalyst or ACES/log combination in 32-bit floating point Vegas project. But then, I only downloaded 4 files; must spend some more time at the https://community.sony.com/t5/F5-F55/ website...

But I am very satisfied with Convergent Design LUT files; some of them - still using Vision Color plugin for Vegas - produce astonishing results; the colors are vivid and even more popping than Catalyst dedicated FS7 LUT files!

You say the other Vegas plugin - the Looks3.1 - gives better performance than Vision Color; I only had time to take a brief look at RedGiant Magic Bulet Looks 3D page, but what I noticed is they say their free plugin is watermarked; am I looking at the right thing? Could you please give me the full link to the Looks3 plugin you're using?

Finally, I found a tool for creating my own LUT files:
https://cameramanben.github.io/LUTCalc/ - it's available either as an on-line tool, or a Chrome plug-in (for Windows). Have you ever tried using it?

Cheers

Piotr