0:01 If you shoot on Sony and you want to get
0:03 the best image quality out of your
0:05 camera, your choice is SLOG 3. But as
0:07 usual guys, there is a ton of nuances.
0:09 So today, I'mma break it down for you.
0:11 So this is the ultimate SLOG 3 guide.
0:14 Let's go.
0:16 Log format was invented to basically
0:18 squeeze a pretty big dynamic range of
0:20 your camera into a pretty small dynamic
0:22 range of the container that we can
0:24 record our videos in. And that is why
0:26 the log video is not contrasty and
0:27 saturated, but later on you can
0:29 definitely bring it back and make it
0:31 look as good as possible. I've already
0:34 made a pretty popular SLO 3 workflow
0:36 tutorial about 5 years ago, but nowadays
0:38 we have new functions and features of
0:40 your Sony cameras and this video will be
0:42 much more in-depth. Why would you use
0:44 SLOG 3 with your Sony camera? Because
0:48 only in Slo 3. Cinei, you get the most
0:50 dynamic range if you use the native ISO
0:52 in Slo 3 of your camera. For example,
0:55 here we have 800 on the FX30 and the
0:58 Sony ZV1 which is filming me right now.
1:01 It has 640 as the native ISO in SLOG 3.
1:03 It means that if you use any other
1:05 picture profile, your dynamic range will
1:07 be shrinkedked and you won't get the
1:09 best performance of your camera in the
1:11 dynamic range department. And one more
1:13 important note is that the raw video
1:15 does not extend the dynamic range. It'll
1:18 be exactly the same in the SLOG 3S Gamma
1:21 3 Cine and in RAW video. What RAW does
1:22 is it allows you to change the white
1:24 balance after the fact. But if you set
1:25 your white balance correctly while
1:28 shooting in SLOG 3 and not in RAW,
1:29 you'll have pretty nice results and you
1:31 can even tweak the white balance a lot
1:34 in post. But also RAW disables the in
1:36 camera noise reduction which can be
1:37 pretty aggressive and you can reduce
1:39 this noise with neat video for example
1:42 in post and get slightly better results.
1:43 One of my favorite YouTubers, Gerald
1:46 Undone, also did multiple tests on the
1:48 color reproduction in each and every
1:50 picture profile. And he found out that
1:52 the SLO 3 is the most color accurate
1:54 picture profile. It has the most
1:56 accurate colors overall. And here is my
1:59 own comparison of the HLG with SLOG 3
2:01 and the PPF. And you can tell the
2:03 difference in the color reproduction and
2:05 especially skin tone. So I would say
2:07 that yes, SLOG 3 is definitely the best
2:09 in terms of the color from your Sony
2:11 cameras. Also, at higher ISO values,
2:15 SLOG 3 is cleaner than HLG or PP off,
2:17 especially if you use the correct
2:19 exposure. And it is crucial to expose to
2:21 the right with SLOG 3. We'll talk about
2:22 it in a second, but right now, you can
2:24 see the difference in different ISO
2:27 values of the SLOG 3 compared to picture
2:29 profile off and HLG. And to my eye, the
2:31 results are very obvious. The next
2:33 advantage of SLOG 3 is of course the
2:35 flexibility in post. So you have
2:37 captured the best dynamic range, the
2:39 biggest dynamic range of your camera and
2:40 then in post you can decide do you want
2:42 to keep the highlights or the shadows or
2:44 both. But for example, if you were to
2:46 shoot in PP off, you would have to
2:48 decide beforehand should you protect the
2:51 highlights or the shadows. In SLO 3, you
2:53 can decide it in post and keep both
2:54 highlights and shadows in the shot
2:56 exposed correctly. And you can also
2:58 manipulate the color a lot, especially
3:01 if you have the 10- bit codec. I do not
3:03 suggest using SLO 3 with 8-bit cameras
3:05 only. And for 8-bit cameras, I would
3:07 suggest using ASL 2. And I have a huge
3:10 tutorial about the 8-bit cameras and ASL
3:12 2 workflow. So you can check this video
3:13 in the description below. And one more
3:16 important thing guys, bit depth, 8 bit
3:17 and 10 bit as well as the color
3:21 subsampling like 444, 4:22, 4 to 0, they
3:24 do not have any impact on the dynamic
3:26 range of your camera. It doesn't matter
3:28 in which format you shoot. Dynamic range
3:30 does not depend on those numbers. In
3:32 modern Sony cinema cameras like the Sony
3:35 FX30, we have three ways of engaging the
3:37 log shooting mode. First of all, we have
3:38 the lock shooting mode itself. We can
3:42 enable flexible ISO or CI mode. And we
3:43 also have the traditional picture
3:45 profile mode. So you pick the picture
3:47 profile from 1 to 10. For example, it's
3:50 just the container and then you pick SLO
3:52 3 as gamma 3 CI inside of the container.
3:54 And that's basically it. And here's the
3:57 comparison of the flexible ISO, Cinei,
3:59 and PP10, which could be actually any
4:02 picture profile just set to SLO 3S gamma
4:03 3 Cinei. And as you can tell, guys, we
4:06 have exactly the same exposure, dynamic
4:08 range, everything is exactly the same.
4:10 And the only difference is in the
4:12 details because in the picture profile,
4:14 I didn't set the details to minus 7. It
4:16 was set to zero. And that is why we have
4:18 a bit more sharpening from the camera
4:20 itself. But if I were to set it to minus
4:22 7 in the detail department in the
4:24 picture profile, it would look exactly
4:26 the same. And also, if you use picture
4:27 profiles, you can set different settings
4:30 and make the image look a bit different
4:32 for your likings. And here is another
4:35 comparison. My Sony ZV1 in flexible ISO
4:38 mode versus the PP10. And the same story
4:40 here. We have only the difference in the
4:42 sharpening department, in the detail
4:44 department. And basically those two
4:46 images are exactly the same. Even if you
4:48 see like super slight deviations in the
4:49 lightness of the image or the
4:51 saturation, those are negligible. So
4:55 basically, Cinei, flexible ISO and PP,
4:58 if you set the SLA 3S 3C are exactly the
5:01 same. So Cinei is not some magic mode.
5:03 It's like exactly the same as the
5:05 flexible ISO. And I would prefer using
5:08 the flexible ISO for very particular
5:09 reasons which I'll be sharing right now.
5:12 So in Cinei, you are stuck to 800 and
5:15 2500 ISO if you use Sony FX30 for the
5:17 native ISOs and you cannot use any other
5:20 ISO values. It's pretty cool, but it's
5:22 not really worth it because ASL 3 needs
5:25 to be exposed correctly or overexposed
5:27 slightly quote unquote. Not really
5:29 overexposing, but exposing to the right
5:31 as high as possible. So the image should
5:34 be pretty bright and later on in post
5:36 you have to lower the exposure and
5:38 suppress the noise. That's the key point
5:40 of shooting pretty clean and nicer
5:43 looking log footage on any camera, not
5:45 only in SLOG 3. And yes, guys, log
5:47 footage does have some noise, especially
5:50 ungraded log footage. And even graded
5:52 log footage can have some noise in it
5:53 because if you have a pretty poorly lit
5:55 environment and you didn't have enough
5:58 lights and your ISO value was already
6:00 pretty high and you didn't have any
6:01 faster lens, for example, and you didn't
6:03 expose log footage correctly, you will
6:06 have some noise in the image. It's fine.
6:08 It's okay. Any footage can be noisy if
6:10 you have pretty badly lit environment.
6:12 Just keep that in mind, guys. But also,
6:14 you can use some post-processing and
6:16 noise reduction like neat video or in
6:18 the Vinci Resolve or even some AI tools
6:20 to reduce the noise if you cannot live
6:22 with the noise in your image. But guys,
6:24 just keep in mind that any image should
6:26 have certain amount of noise and that it
6:29 is normal to have noise. In films, you
6:30 have a lot of noise because they are
6:32 shot on film and in film you have a ton
6:34 of grain and noise. Just don't
6:36 overestimate the importance of the
6:38 noise-free image guys. And here is the
6:41 example of underexposed log footage. So
6:42 this is how you shouldn't do it because
6:44 we have a lot of information in the
6:46 lower part of the waveform closer to
6:48 zero and you will have to raise this
6:51 exposure in post and get more noise. But
6:53 if you expose correctly, your shadows
6:56 should be above 25 ideally and then
6:58 you'll lower the exposure in post and
7:01 get super clean shadows. And because of
7:03 this, exposed to the right rule, I do
7:05 prefer the flexible ISO because when you
7:08 use Cine EI, you are stuck to 800 and
7:12 2500 on the FX30 and 640 and 12,800 on
7:15 the ZV1 and you cannot go past those
7:17 numbers. But if you need to expose
7:19 higher, if your aperture is already
7:21 open, if you cannot move the shutter
7:23 speed, if you don't have extra lights in
7:25 in the scene, anyways, you need to
7:27 expose higher, you need to expose more
7:29 to the right. And that is why you can
7:32 raise the ISO inflexible ISO and get
7:34 cleaner images. For example, right here
7:36 you can see how I exposed at 12,800 with
7:39 the FX30. And this camera has the base
7:42 ISO of 2500 as the second native ISO,
7:44 but still I was getting better results
7:46 than in the Cine EI mode because I was
7:48 exposing higher or more to the right.
7:50 The only thing you need to remember when
7:53 using flexible ISO is your native ISOs.
7:54 And don't use the numbers that are close
7:56 to native ISOs. for example, I don't
8:00 have to use 10,000 ISO on the ZV1 when I
8:03 can go to 12,800. And I would go to 3200
8:06 ISO, for example, on the ZV1. And then I
8:07 would switch to the second native ISO
8:10 manually. And this makes a lot of sense.
8:11 But then if I need to go higher than
8:15 12,800, I would go to up to 100,000 ISO
8:17 if I need to to expose correctly and to
8:19 get better results. Here is one more
8:21 example of underexposed luck and
8:23 properly exposed luck. Even though we
8:25 were having huge ISO numbers like
8:28 200,000 ISO, but still we get better
8:30 results. It happens because your camera
8:32 sees very low exposure and it tries to
8:34 apply a lot of noise reduction. But when
8:36 you raise the ISO, you raise the
8:38 exposure. Camera understands that it
8:40 doesn't have to correct it with noise
8:42 reduction a lot and you get much cleaner
8:44 results. The easiest way to expose
8:46 correctly or to the right with SLO 3 is
8:49 to use a lot for minus 2 EV. So the lot
8:51 will be kind of tricking your eyes and
8:54 you'll be exposing higher by two stops
8:56 and your eyes will see a normally
8:57 exposed image. And for the last five
8:59 years I've been using the lot by
9:01 Alistair Chapman. It is free and I have
9:03 a link down below. Huge shout out to
9:05 Alistister. He's a great guy. And
9:07 basically this lot resolves the problem
9:09 of exposing correctly just by eye. But
9:11 we have several different tools which
9:13 I'll explain in a second. And also guys
9:15 don't forget that with the lot applied
9:16 it is much easier to set your white
9:18 balance correctly as well. And I also
9:20 use this lot for post-processing, but
9:22 you don't have to. This lot is just
9:24 great for exposing correctly in camera.
9:26 Most modern Sony cameras these days have
9:29 an ability to import the lot into
9:30 camera, and I highly recommend you do
9:32 so. But if your camera doesn't support
9:34 this feature, just purchase an on camera
9:35 monitor, and I've been using, for
9:38 example, my Sony A7S3 with a monitor all
9:40 times with this Alistister Chapman LUS
9:42 and had pretty nice results. There is
9:44 one more function in Sony cameras, and
9:46 it's so misleading. It is called gamma
9:48 display assist. When you enable this
9:50 function, the image becomes contrasty
9:52 and saturated. But in this mode, you
9:55 underexpose like crazy because on the
9:56 display you can see that your highlights
9:59 are blown out, super overexposed when in
10:01 the reality you have a lot of headroom.
10:04 And that is why you get pretty uh low
10:05 exposure in your shots and a lot of
10:07 noise in the shadows as well. That is
10:09 why guys never use the gamma display
10:12 assist and always use the lot for minus2
10:14 EV or minus two stops by Alistister
10:16 Chapman for your exposure. If your
10:18 camera doesn't support lots, once again,
10:20 just use the on camera monitor and
10:22 import the lot to the monitor itself.
10:24 There is also a function embed lot to
10:26 clip. Basically, it bakes in the look of
10:29 the lot to the video file itself. But in
10:30 my experience, it's not the best way of
10:32 using the SLO 3 workflow. And I would
10:35 much rather have the clean SLO 3 footage
10:38 and then apply the lot in post. And one
10:39 of the biggest misleading pieces of
10:41 advice that I hear all the time about
10:43 the SLOG 3 is that your exposure meter
10:46 should always show like plus 1.7 or plus
10:49 two stops. No guys, the thing is that
10:51 the exposure meter, it measures the
10:53 whole entire frame if you pick the
10:55 exposure metering like wide and this is
10:57 a relative number because all the time
10:59 you'll be having different scenes,
11:01 different lighting, different amount of
11:03 white in the scene, etc. Just imagine
11:05 you're shooting in a theater and on the
11:06 stage you have one person, you have a
11:09 pretty white shot and this person is lit
11:11 with a spotlight, pretty bright one and
11:13 the background is complete darkness.
11:15 What would you see on the Xanometer?
11:18 Yes, guys, minus two. And if you try to
11:20 put it to plus 2e, you'll have
11:22 completely blown out skin tones. That is
11:24 why guys don't even look at it. It's a
11:27 reference number and it will mislead you
11:29 in some situations. And I would much
11:31 rather prefer using zebras. Zebra is
11:33 your best friend when you shoot in SLOG
11:35 because it is precise and you can really
11:38 trust it. I keep the zebras on all the
11:41 time and mainly I use two zebra values
11:43 95 when I expose for the sky. So I need
11:45 to retain the clouds for example when
11:47 they are lit by the sun. I'll expose as
11:50 bright as possible until I see the zebra
11:52 and then I'll lower the exposure just a
11:54 little bit so the zebra is not appearing
11:56 anymore. And the second value I use is
11:58 75 for the skin tone. I'll expose my
12:00 brightest part of the face in the way
12:02 that it is bright, but then I can see
12:05 the zebra at 75 and I lower it down just
12:07 a little bit. So my skin tone is around
12:10 70 to 75, at least for the white skin
12:12 like I have right here. And if you use
12:14 an on camera monitor, you can also use
12:16 the false color tool which will show you
12:18 the visual representation of your
12:20 exposure or you can also use the
12:22 waveform tool, but it's not as precise.
12:24 There is one more pretty interesting
12:26 factor when you use zebras. For example,
12:28 when you use non-native ISOs, especially
12:31 the lower numbers, when you go lower
12:33 than the native ISO in SLO 3, you'll see
12:36 the lines above and below the ISO value.
12:38 It means that the dynamic range has been
12:40 shrunk and then you have your clipping
12:43 point at a lower IRV value. And that is
12:44 why you won't see zebras if you use
12:47 lower ISO values until, for example, you
12:49 go lower in the zebra value to about 7075.
12:51 7075.
12:52 So this means that your clipping point
12:54 has now shifted. And all in all, when
12:57 you use non-native ISOs, you kind of
12:59 shift the dynamic range a little bit.
13:01 For example, if you have lower ISO
13:03 values, you'll have more dynamic range
13:05 in the shadows. And when you have higher
13:07 ISO values, you'll have slightly more
13:10 dynamic range in the highlights, but
13:12 lower in the shadows. It doesn't really
13:14 make sense. It's counterintuitive a
13:16 little bit, but just guys, keep it in
13:18 mind. If you use the native ISO and the
13:20 ND filter, like this one, for example,
13:22 you'll be just fine. Just try not to use
13:25 the lower values of the ISOs with the
13:27 bars on top and bottom. And if you use
13:29 the higher ISO values, you can
13:31 definitely use those to expose
13:32 correctly. As I've been explaining
13:35 before, correct exposure, ETR, is much
13:37 more important than using the native
13:39 ISO. There is one more built-in tool
13:41 which is called histogram, but it's
13:43 super small in Sony cameras and it's not
13:45 very responsive, let me say. So, you
13:47 don't understand a lot of things when
13:48 you look at the histogram. The only
13:50 thing that you can definitely tell when
13:52 you look at it is when you overexpose
13:54 and the right part of the histogram hits
13:56 the ceiling, let me say, of the
13:58 histogram itself. I don't use it. I
13:59 don't really trust it. I trust the
14:03 zebra, my eyes, and my minus 2 EV lot.
14:04 But what about the low light? You cannot
14:07 use SLO 3 for low light. And I've been
14:08 hearing those thoughts from different
14:10 people for more than 5 years, guys. And
14:13 I've been doing and filming in SLOG 3 in
14:16 low light at night with Slo 3 at all
14:18 times and had pretty brilliant results.
14:20 Once again, here's the comparison. PP
14:24 off HLG and SLOG 3 all exposed
14:26 correctly. And as you can tell, guys,
14:28 SLOG 3 looks much more clean when you
14:30 expose correctly, as I've been
14:32 explaining throughout this video. So,
14:34 when you have your exposure set
14:36 correctly, when you expose as bright as
14:39 possible, even if you use like 100,000
14:42 ISO on your Sony FX3, for example, you
14:44 still have cleaner image than if you
14:46 were using the PP off, for example, like
14:50 at 10,000 ISO compared to 100,000 ISO on
14:52 the FX3. It's just the way the log
14:54 works. The higher the exposure, the
14:56 cleaner the shadows. And then you can
14:59 see the comparison and tell that the SLO
15:01 3 is actually looking cleaner than the
15:03 PPF because it's using a lot of noise
15:05 reduction. Once again guys, like a
15:07 mantra, if you are in a low light
15:08 situation, don't stick to the second
15:11 native ISO. Don't be afraid to raise up
15:13 the ISO value. You'll have better
15:15 results. And one more thing guys, after
15:17 watching this video, you might be really
15:18 inspired to go and shoot your client
15:21 shoot in SLOG 3, but please don't do
15:23 this. First do some tests indoors,
15:26 outdoors, in your backyard and just
15:28 compare the footage yourself. Expose it
15:30 correctly, underexpose it as well.
15:32 Understand how to work with zebra, how
15:34 to expose the skin, how to expose the
15:37 sky, etc. First, you do the test, then
15:39 you go for a client shoot. You have to
15:40 double check everything yourself and
15:42 understand that it's easier than it
15:44 seems to be. And finally, guys, you need
15:46 to understand how to color grade SLOG 3.
15:49 And here I have a full in-depth tutorial
15:51 on color grading as lock 3 step by step.
15:53 So you can check this video next and
15:55 understand each and every nuance of it
15:57 because this video has been pretty long.
15:58 And if you did enjoy it, smash the like
16:00 and subscribe buttons and hit the
16:02 notifications bell. See you right here,
