This is just a little post on a quick observation. It's certainly not a thorough guide on how to key Sony Fs7 footage!
I recently got my new Fs7 and one of the first things I'm shooting with it is going to be on green screen. I've done quite a bit of studio green screen work in the past, but I was still nervous about using a new camera. I went on some forums and groups, but couldn't find a definitive answer about how best to use this camera for green screen. Particularly what picture profile.
In the past I've been a little wary about using flat log profiles for keying. I know this is how the big boys do it, but often the productions I'm working on lack the back end workflow to get the most out of LOGs, so I had pretty much resolved not to use Slog3.
The brief from the client on this one though, is that they want to grade it to emulate the film 300. So I don't really want to use a very burned in Rec 709 type profile as it leaves very little room for any grading.
So Hyper Gammas seem like the perfect middle ground. But I was STILL worried that with their lowest ISO of 1600, that they might not key perfectly.
So I bought one of those big pop up green screens and went out into my garden.
First I tested HG8, or to be more precise - Doug Jensen's HG8 (BROLL) profile. My first impressions of this profile are that it provides a lovely natural look in camera that can be used as it comes out or graded up just a little. The standard HG8 profile (or any the default profiles) just don't do it for me.
So this is the DJ HG8 profile with a 1 click key in Premiere Ultra Key - aggressive (I'd normally key in AE Keylight for a more finessed key. This is just a test).
It keyed!!! Not just keyed, but very well indeed. But could I grade it to look a bit 300. Bear in mind I did this grade in about 30 seconds - literally!
So, happy days! But while I was out there I thought I may as well try Cine EI mode. I exposed by eye with 800 EI (it was about to rain!)
It keyed just as well! No bother! This was a big surprise to me. I thought I'd have to go through a workflow 'process' to key this. Not sure if this is Premiere 2015 being very clever or not.
Here's a similar crap 300 grade:
So there we have it! Fs7 keys like a dream! I reckon I'll still go with DJ HG8 as it won't be a heavy grade to get it looking all 300 ish. Very very nice to know that I can shoot in Slog with no worries in future though!
I'm sure there are better ways to key with the Fs7, but for the moment - that'll do pig!