So, you’ve shot all your amazing footage with your DSLR camera. Now comes the tricky part: bringing it into Final Cut Pro. If you’re like me, you are having difficulty using Log and Transfer. But, have no fear, there’s a great free software that allows you to easily transcode the DSLR files to files readable by FCP.
Just a note, this video tutorial is an adapted version of my written tutorial I made a while back.
If you still need help after watching that video, don’t hesitate to leave a comment or contact me.
Also, to be notified of new video tutorials, subscribe to the Final Cut Whiz YouTube channel.
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With the 'cine' setting you get a washed out image with the greatest latitude. I really
like to, when possible, shoot in this mode just because it gives me options when it
comes to grading. I can choose to do a contrasty grad like the image on the right
or stay with something like the ungraded image on the left. I also tend to shoot a
little bit warmer than spot on to get warmer faces. By it self the AF101 is very accurate
and in some situations a bit to cold for my liking.
One of the tricks to get the most out of the AF101 is to expose right until it clips
but never (or seldom) overexposure. There's plenty of details in shadows and you can
always choose to blow a highlight in post but it's harder to save something already
clipped. I also find a low chroma setting like -4/5 to get me what I want. The exception
to the never overexpose is when you have out of focus stuff in the frame. The softer
they are the more you can push them above clipping.
When you shoot with these settings in direct sunshine you can push it all the way
up until clipping and skin tones will look great.
The image above is ungraded and straight from the MTS file. Since there's always some
harsh look in direct sunlight the flat look of the 'cine' setting makes it look good
for such hard light. You might think it's shoot with a higher contrast gamma but that
would have looked lesser than the flatter settings. Again the trick is to avoid clipping
and especially at faces. To stay just below 95% gives you a safe exposure. This one
was at 5600K preset and despite chroma being at -5 there's plenty of facial tones.
I had to lit a couple of interviews with my LED600 set and ended up using only one
for this and used a floor standing 3200K balanced bulb based light that already stood
in the corner. Just to give it some 'opposite' side light. I like how portable and
versatile LED lights can be but at the same time I find them to be less than a fluo
like kinos.
As you can see the image on the left (ungraded) has to much chroma and to warm. I
like it to be a little bit warmer than spot on to get facial tones warm and lower
in post but this was just to warm. I had a diffusing filter gel mounted in front of
the LED and doing that makes for a more pleasant lighting. The one on the right is
graded to fit in the mood of the film. Still warm but balanced.
White balance can be tricky when dealing with mixed lights. Often there's little time
to make the right decision, but faces comes first then white and then all the other
colours. When in my 'cine' scene file since the image is so flat looking it can be
hard to judge you have the right facial colour. I found a trick to be useful and that's
to set it up in my 'clean' setting, which gives me something of a WYSIWYG, and then
switch to a flat setting just before you start shooting. It works like using LOG and
a LUT to view how something will look in the end and still capture the widest dynamic
range you can.
This one was shoot using my 'clean' setting. It has alot more contrast in it and I
can do less with it when grading. The upside is I can see how it will look in the
end right on the monitor which with a flat setting can be tricky. I also let the camera
choose white balance and in doing so it ended up this warm. Regardless of which scene
file you use, overexposure is a bad thing with this camera. Stay out of it!
These are my 'cine' and 'clean' settings:
Cine
Detail/V detail: -5
Chroma: -5
Gamma: Cinelike D
Matrix: Norm2
Clean
Detail/V Detail: -4
Chroma: -4
Gamma: Cinelilke V
Matrix: Norm 1
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application, due for release later this year. STORM, a new digital production
workflow tool, was also introduced, with new versions of NUKE, NUKEX and MARI.
