I completely agree with its strongsuit being able to dial in the last 10%. the EL Zone system does not defeat the need to meter, but man does it help to not have to meter everything repeatedly when tweaking.
This is great. For years, I’ve built my own false color within the SmallHD OS system, and it’s always been based on stops vs IRE. So happy to see this widely adopted. Thanks for the great content!
The log stops is confusing to me - you would think that it would perform a color space transform to linear and with the middle grey from the log for calculation of stops. So what you are seeing is not really the log stops - the input is just calculated with the correct middle grey values. A real log to test stops would never associate to a light meter. A measurable value I think would need to be linear. When I look at the colors - some of the choices look strange to me - and the ones that are hard for me to get used to are the stops over - I understand the cool colors below middle grey and warm colors over. But if I was designing it the swatch at +1 to me is too close to the 1/2 stop - they blend too easily for my eyes to quickly see. And the similarity of +2 and +4 at a glance are too close as well. But below middle grey - that completely makes sense to me - especially dark green to mid green to a bright green. Feels like they could have use yellow with the same scale above middle grey to step up to the orange swatch. There must be a reason that I don't see I guess.
I use a false color monitor for my photography and research and as useful as I find it it’s not completely accurate with the results I would like. I didn’t even know smallhd had released such an update as of now. Thanks! I hope I can incorporate this flawlessly into my workflow.
Hey Justin, thank you for another extremely useful video. Can you clarify something, you said? At some point around 2:40 you say "Oh, this is a differente how they dialed the colors in the EL Zone, +6 would be pure white". I am confused because if EL Zone is base on stops, then this chart shows a total of 12 stops, right? And then if white is at +6, then not necessarily it is at pure white, but just at 6 stops above wherever 18% middle gray is for the dynamic range of that sensor, correct or am I missing something? In other words: if would be concievable that for a camera with 14+ stops of Dynamic Range you would still have information above that white color in the EL Zone. Right? Or wrong? Thank you! You rock.
Potentially that is correct. However keep in mind most cameras with 12 stops of dynamic range only have about 8 usable stops of working latitude. So bare that in mind. You just have to check your cameras dynamic range chart to know. 🤙🏼
This is sik.. I always thought this is what false color / IRE vals helped with BUT this is ratio based, no faffing around with calcs.. love it.. more insight into setting up a scene.. a Sunday arvo well spent.
Thank you for the informative insight. Dado Valentic’s Look Designer has implemented the EL Lachman Zone System in Davinci Resolve. So, it can be used in post-production too.
If you’re working within the SmallHD OS, you can build custom false color ranges. You’d just expose to middle grey, then align your custom colors to stops up and stops down. It’s pretty cool!
@@dathofilms for sure! I have mine very similar to the EL Zone, with slightly different colors and full stops for anything below middle grey, and 1/2 stop for the first color above middle grey, then every stop after. I originally designed it to allow me to see my contrast ratios when lighting faces in scenes. For example, for more dramatic scene, I like the fall-off on the face to get to about -3 stops at it’s darkest. For the highlights, I usually like +1.5-2 stops. With my color scheme, it’s dark orange at the bottom, and light pink at the top. As long as a face sits in that space, I can move on to other balancing steps.
I've been using False color on my Arri Alexa + 4:3 without a light meter and judging my exposure based off the IRE values it gives me in camera. It was great for what it can do for me, but i'm interested to see this EL software can match my Sekonic light meter readings and give me a precise F stop. I know some DP's like to underexpose their footage by 1/4 stop or half, and then gradually bump it up in Post. Thanks for the intuitive explanation on this subject matter.
El Zone really looks like something wonderful. And I hope to soon have access to this method. In my case, I use the Fuji X-H2S, so I would have to buy the SmallHD monitor to use El Zone. Today, I have the Atomos Ninja V. So for now, I use False Color as a measure to help exposure. It's not always decisive in my work, but it's a good help.
I’ve haven’t used false colours yet, I’ve had access to it, however I am now wanting to use ELZONE and this video has really helped - thank you for this Justin. 😎🎬🎥⛩
@@JustinPhillip Great video! Do you you know how the camera gets the stop value? I'm assuming it just knows the log curve and settings and from there it takes the IRE reading and maps it into stops. Maybe I'm wrong but since camera photosites only measure light voltage from photons I don't see how it would work any other way.
To me, I always use a custom false color to see shadow and highlight clipping for MY camera and log curve. And then using that to basically expose as reasonably over as I can without clipping. The goal for me is to get as much clean data off the sensor as possible, and do actual exposure correction during grading. “Correctly” exposing in-camera can lead to lower usable dynamic range and noise during grading. No need to decide during the shoot whether you want it to be darker or lighter.. that’s not the time/place to be “dialing in” in my opinion.
I wishf I could use EL Zones, looks so promising, but don't own any SmallHD monitors or Flanders production monitors. Great video m8 and thx for great content.
great video! btw, you've been using the camera control with the komodo for a while, right? is the dongle too problematic for rigging? I just hate looking at how long and unflexible the thing is but it would be nice to get some camera control. any opinion would be appreciated. :)
I send slog out of my fx6 but monitor on my small HD with a LUT. Are the stop values indicated representative of the flatter log signal? Not sure if I am phrasing this question clearly enough really.
if you program the correct pipeline into the monitor settings, like i show at the top of the video, then it will read correctly off of the log image and not the Lut
Hi Justin, great tip spot metering via the Log pipeline for SmallHd monitor. Installed it in combination with Sony Fx3 and works smoothless. I’m wondering, what is the easiest way to calibrate the monitor? Or is factory calibration out of the monitor good enough? Cheers Mitchell
I have both False Colour and EL Zones on my monitor. But, now that both are available, would you only use one over the other? Or would you use False Colour for the most part and like you said, only use EL for the fine details*? *If its for the fine details only, it seems as though it would only work for stationary subjects only, not when moving
Recently updated my 702 touch to use EL Zone with BMD Gen 5 Film. My question for you, after setting the proper color pipe. Will I get correct EL readings if i am sending a LUT out of camera to the monitor for reference? Or do I need to expose directly from a LOG image. I’m assuming I can send a LUT out and expose with EL since its more so the color space and curve that is needed.
If the color pipeline is set up correctly, and the proper signal is being sent out via the camera, then EL Zone should not be influenced by the LUT. Best to not send the LUT downstream of the camera body via HDMI or SDI. Then have the LUT on in a seperate page and when you swipe over to the Exposure page, EL Zone will not be influenced by the LUT. However, if you’re sending the LUT to the monitor via the camera, it could negatively affect the EL Zone
@@JustinPhillip thanks so much for the reply. I shoot on Ursa 12k so it’ll be as simple as setting up one of my custom buttons to toggle lut on and off.
@@JustinPhillip Thank you. So if we output Look enabled via SDI, the El zone exposure will be based on the look. There is a conversion setting on Image Pipe line to SDR. Any idea about it ?
There are two outputs settings for the komodo (LOG3G12 and LOG3G10) on the SmallHD monitor. I tested both and the settings leads to different stop values, even if the scene is the same. If you put a lens cap on, you cant reach the black color (-6 stops) with LOG3G12, only with LOG3G10. So I guess LOG3G10 is the way to go for the komodo?
yeah, people been asking about this, technically that is true, the komodo is 3G10. i guess if you need the most maximum dynamic range, i.e. ultra low light or extreme window scene, day exterior, etc 3G10 would be best. For this small demo, it wasn't an issue for me, considering i wasn't needing to maximize dynamic range
@@JustinPhillip Yeah, I foolishly discovered this issue after I purchased a 702 OLED used. I can't believe I'm going to have to revert back to my GH5 to start learning EL Zone.
I have always felt false color was rather useless as a one size fits all system. No two log systems are the same and most false color systems were based on rec709 making them even more useless for log. The only real way to use false was monitors that provided the ability to dial in custom values and colors. Every other system was a crude toy at best. With that said IRE is just a form of measurement and all format stops will have a IRE value. For example Canon C-log3 has a middle gray IRE value of 34 IRE. +1 stop is 43 IRE and so forth. There is nothing wrong with IRE and it’s actually more accurate than stops since stops work in 1/3 increments or in some cases whole stop increments. IRE is a 100 scale so it’s more precise. Don’t rule out IRE just because some hate doing math. It’s not outdated at all. People just got lazy understanding how to use it properly. Stops in 1/3 increments with 12 stops have about 36 increments vs IRE which has 100 increments. IRE is 3x as precise.
the Venice 2 i use gives High Base ISO3200 excels in low-light, High Dynamic Range capture, with an exposure latitude from 6 stops over to 10 stops under 18% Middle Gray, for a total of 16 stops. High Base ISO 2500 offers an exposure latitude from 6 stops over to 9 stops under 18% Middle Gray, for a total of 15+ stops.@@JustinPhillip
The little sigmas also got this feature with the recent firmware update, it's so cool to work with 👌
I completely agree with its strongsuit being able to dial in the last 10%. the EL Zone system does not defeat the need to meter, but man does it help to not have to meter everything repeatedly when tweaking.
This is great. For years, I’ve built my own false color within the SmallHD OS system, and it’s always been based on stops vs IRE.
So happy to see this widely adopted.
Thanks for the great content!
Great to hear!
What a great explenation! Bought the Cine 5 few months ago but still need to look deep in this feature, great and easy explenation!
The log stops is confusing to me - you would think that it would perform a color space transform to linear and with the middle grey from the log for calculation of stops. So what you are seeing is not really the log stops - the input is just calculated with the correct middle grey values. A real log to test stops would never associate to a light meter. A measurable value I think would need to be linear.
When I look at the colors - some of the choices look strange to me - and the ones that are hard for me to get used to are the stops over - I understand the cool colors below middle grey and warm colors over. But if I was designing it the swatch at +1 to me is too close to the 1/2 stop - they blend too easily for my eyes to quickly see. And the similarity of +2 and +4 at a glance are too close as well. But below middle grey - that completely makes sense to me - especially dark green to mid green to a bright green. Feels like they could have use yellow with the same scale above middle grey to step up to the orange swatch.
There must be a reason that I don't see I guess.
👌🏼
The Sigma FP now has el Zone and false color. This seems so much easier to use and understand. :)
This is incredibly helpful. I have been researching picking up the Cine 5 and this feature alone is selling me on it! Thanks for such a great video.
Glad to help! Thanks!
Great explanation of the EL zone usage.
I use a false color monitor for my photography and research and as useful as I find it it’s not completely accurate with the results I would like. I didn’t even know smallhd had released such an update as of now. Thanks! I hope I can incorporate this flawlessly into my workflow.
This was a great walkthrough not just about the feature but how to actually achieve specific looks. Well done!
Thanks! Glad you enjoyed it 🙏🏼
Hey Justin, thank you for another extremely useful video. Can you clarify something, you said? At some point around 2:40 you say "Oh, this is a differente how they dialed the colors in the EL Zone, +6 would be pure white". I am confused because if EL Zone is base on stops, then this chart shows a total of 12 stops, right? And then if white is at +6, then not necessarily it is at pure white, but just at 6 stops above wherever 18% middle gray is for the dynamic range of that sensor, correct or am I missing something? In other words: if would be concievable that for a camera with 14+ stops of Dynamic Range you would still have information above that white color in the EL Zone. Right? Or wrong? Thank you! You rock.
Potentially that is correct. However keep in mind most cameras with 12 stops of dynamic range only have about 8 usable stops of working latitude. So bare that in mind. You just have to check your cameras dynamic range chart to know. 🤙🏼
This is sik.. I always thought this is what false color / IRE vals helped with BUT this is ratio based, no faffing around with calcs.. love it.. more insight into setting up a scene.. a Sunday arvo well spent.
You bet!
Thank you for the informative insight. Dado Valentic’s Look Designer has implemented the EL Lachman Zone System in Davinci Resolve. So, it can be used in post-production too.
Amazing, thanks. After watching a bunch of your videos I'm very much thrilled to learn how they did it i the old times like 60's. Greetz
This is amazing. I was wishing False color had this precision. WOW. cant wait to try it out. Thank you for sharing!
If you’re working within the SmallHD OS, you can build custom false color ranges. You’d just expose to middle grey, then align your custom colors to stops up and stops down.
It’s pretty cool!
@@J_HNP but would it be still so detailed? Like can u assign half stops as well?
@@dathofilms for sure! I have mine very similar to the EL Zone, with slightly different colors and full stops for anything below middle grey, and 1/2 stop for the first color above middle grey, then every stop after.
I originally designed it to allow me to see my contrast ratios when lighting faces in scenes. For example, for more dramatic scene, I like the fall-off on the face to get to about -3 stops at it’s darkest. For the highlights, I usually like +1.5-2 stops. With my color scheme, it’s dark orange at the bottom, and light pink at the top. As long as a face sits in that space, I can move on to other balancing steps.
@@J_HNP so you got like a 5 stop exposure spread across your face if I read that right.. nice!
@@jamieandrei haha, indeed. Very insightful when evaluating your ratios.
I've been using False color on my Arri Alexa + 4:3 without a light meter and judging my exposure based off the IRE values it gives me in camera. It was great for what it can do for me, but i'm interested to see this EL software can match my Sekonic light meter readings and give me a precise F stop.
I know some DP's like to underexpose their footage by 1/4 stop or half, and then gradually bump it up in Post.
Thanks for the intuitive explanation on this subject matter.
So smart !
Thank you very much for such interesting, helpfull and clever approach of light and shadow...
Great job!
🙌🏼
El Zone really looks like something wonderful. And I hope to soon have access to this method. In my case, I use the Fuji X-H2S, so I would have to buy the SmallHD monitor to use El Zone. Today, I have the Atomos Ninja V. So for now, I use False Color as a measure to help exposure. It's not always decisive in my work, but it's a good help.
They just added os 11 to the original ninja v and v+. One of its features is EL Zone. However it is a paid upgrade to use it.
I’ve haven’t used false colours yet, I’ve had access to it, however I am now wanting to use ELZONE and this video has really helped - thank you for this Justin. 😎🎬🎥⛩
Glad it was helpful!
@@JustinPhillip Great video! Do you you know how the camera gets the stop value? I'm assuming it just knows the log curve and settings and from there it takes the IRE reading and maps it into stops. Maybe I'm wrong but since camera photosites only measure light voltage from photons I don't see how it would work any other way.
To me, I always use a custom false color to see shadow and highlight clipping for MY camera and log curve. And then using that to basically expose as reasonably over as I can without clipping. The goal for me is to get as much clean data off the sensor as possible, and do actual exposure correction during grading. “Correctly” exposing in-camera can lead to lower usable dynamic range and noise during grading. No need to decide during the shoot whether you want it to be darker or lighter.. that’s not the time/place to be “dialing in” in my opinion.
🤔
You are probably shooting on sony - right?
@@mabitzz9484No actually.
Man you killed this! Thank you!
🙌🏼
I wishf I could use EL Zones, looks so promising, but don't own any SmallHD monitors or Flanders production monitors. Great video m8 and thx for great content.
Nice. Thx Justin.
This is awesome! Is it gonna be a standard for other platforms as well e.g. bmpcc?
Hopefully one day
Thanks for this video. Just wondering if this is similar to ‘Gio Scope’ on red cameras?
Yes, it is
Love this! Thanks.
I am following your setups . Thanks
Fantástico, extremamente didático, obrigado por compartilhar!
great video! btw, you've been using the camera control with the komodo for a while, right? is the dongle too problematic for rigging? I just hate looking at how long and unflexible the thing is but it would be nice to get some camera control. any opinion would be appreciated. :)
oh yea that thing is super annoying, just use these and attach it directly to your cage the best you can: amzn.to/3LSZYaM
I send slog out of my fx6 but monitor on my small HD with a LUT. Are the stop values indicated representative of the flatter log signal? Not sure if I am phrasing this question clearly enough really.
if you program the correct pipeline into the monitor settings, like i show at the top of the video, then it will read correctly off of the log image and not the Lut
Hi Justin, great tip spot metering via the Log pipeline for SmallHd monitor.
Installed it in combination with Sony Fx3 and works smoothless.
I’m wondering, what is the easiest way to calibrate the monitor?
Or is factory calibration out of the monitor good enough? Cheers Mitchell
if you wanted to do it the right way: guide.smallhd.com/a/1433771-how-to-calibrate-your-monitor-with-free-software-pagesos-4
I have both False Colour and EL Zones on my monitor.
But, now that both are available, would you only use one over the other? Or would you use False Colour for the most part and like you said, only use EL for the fine details*?
*If its for the fine details only, it seems as though it would only work for stationary subjects only, not when moving
I have not used False Color at all since this demo
If you have a Sony Camera and an Ipad you can use El Zone with the Monitor+ App. ;)
Brilliant!
Recently updated my 702 touch to use EL Zone with BMD Gen 5 Film. My question for you, after setting the proper color pipe. Will I get correct EL readings if i am sending a LUT out of camera to the monitor for reference? Or do I need to expose directly from a LOG image. I’m assuming I can send a LUT out and expose with EL since its more so the color space and curve that is needed.
If the color pipeline is set up correctly, and the proper signal is being sent out via the camera, then EL Zone should not be influenced by the LUT. Best to not send the LUT downstream of the camera body via HDMI or SDI. Then have the LUT on in a seperate page and when you swipe over to the Exposure page, EL Zone will not be influenced by the LUT. However, if you’re sending the LUT to the monitor via the camera, it could negatively affect the EL Zone
@@JustinPhillip thanks so much for the reply. I shoot on Ursa 12k so it’ll be as simple as setting up one of my custom buttons to toggle lut on and off.
For EL Zone to work properly, camera monitoring output is set to LOG and a LUT needs to be loaded to monitor to get the look ?
EL zone bypasses the LUT. But camera does need to be exporting the log signal without a lut. In other words, load lut into monitor
@@JustinPhillip Thank you. So if we output Look enabled via SDI, the El zone exposure will be based on the look. There is a conversion setting on Image Pipe line to SDR. Any idea about it ?
Awesome & Thanks :)
Thanks bro
Would you say that the EL Zone does the same thing as the Red Gio Scope in finding the accurate contrast ratio in a scene?
100%
There are two outputs settings for the komodo (LOG3G12 and LOG3G10) on the SmallHD monitor. I tested both and the settings leads to different stop values, even if the scene is the same. If you put a lens cap on, you cant reach the black color (-6 stops) with LOG3G12, only with LOG3G10. So I guess LOG3G10 is the way to go for the komodo?
Curious about this too!
yeah, people been asking about this, technically that is true, the komodo is 3G10. i guess if you need the most maximum dynamic range, i.e. ultra low light or extreme window scene, day exterior, etc 3G10 would be best. For this small demo, it wasn't an issue for me, considering i wasn't needing to maximize dynamic range
@@JustinPhillip Okay I see, that makes senses
Can you give me a link to an el zone plugin or LUT I cant find any online.
Its in smallHDs
@@JustinPhillip I know, It's native to my camera. I just wanted to know if you can overlay it in DaVinci resolve as you edit the image.
Justin......what color pipeline are you using for the KOMODO ? Please help as red isn't in a option in the SmallHd 5 Os upgrade.
yes it is. I show it in the video. ruclips.net/video/XyLUGYXV4o4/видео.html
i show in the video, you can use 3G10 for maximum dynamic range, or as i did in this small setup, 3G12 also works
How different is the EL Zone tool v.s RED's GIOSCOPE? :o (Other than being useable in any camera)
it's essentially the same
It was not invented by Ed, it was invented by Ansel. Ed tailored it to cinematography
😆
What about blackmagic camera's ? Thanks
Not sure if their color profiles are available in the pipeline
@@JustinPhillip Yeah, I foolishly discovered this issue after I purchased a 702 OLED used. I can't believe I'm going to have to revert back to my GH5 to start learning EL Zone.
Is that Komodo OG or X
OG
Is EL Zone only available for SmallHD?
no, it was first implemented in Panasonic Varicam
@@JustinPhillip interesting 🤔 I kind of remember that now when I had my Eva1. How can you use EL Zone on other camera brands?
@@JustinPhillip New Atomos displays have also implemented the EL Lachman Zone System.
I have always felt false color was rather useless as a one size fits all system. No two log systems are the same and most false color systems were based on rec709 making them even more useless for log. The only real way to use false was monitors that provided the ability to dial in custom values and colors. Every other system was a crude toy at best.
With that said IRE is just a form of measurement and all format stops will have a IRE value. For example Canon C-log3 has a middle gray IRE value of 34 IRE. +1 stop is 43 IRE and so forth. There is nothing wrong with IRE and it’s actually more accurate than stops since stops work in 1/3 increments or in some cases whole stop increments. IRE is a 100 scale so it’s more precise. Don’t rule out IRE just because some hate doing math. It’s not outdated at all. People just got lazy understanding how to use it properly. Stops in 1/3 increments with 12 stops have about 36 increments vs IRE which has 100 increments. IRE is 3x as precise.
Fair enough!
ok this is a great system for us old farts who grew up with film, but what if your using a Venice with a greater range than +6 or - 6 stops ?
😳 curious how much of that beyond 7 stops actually holds detail
some claim 16+ @@JustinPhillip
the Venice 2 i use gives High Base ISO3200 excels in low-light, High Dynamic Range capture, with an exposure latitude from 6 stops over to 10 stops under 18% Middle Gray, for a total of 16 stops. High Base ISO 2500 offers an exposure latitude from 6 stops over to 9 stops under 18% Middle Gray, for a total of 15+ stops.@@JustinPhillip
This video could have been 1/3 as long if you just stop repeating that "the colors are different than the scale used in false color."
🤣
SmallHD monitors are expensive, I wish you coins just buy the software.
Its in portkeys monitors nowadays ruclips.net/video/SSW2iVMfQoY/видео.htmlsi=k3X3BxrcS3phonlY
@@JustinPhillip that is fantastic, I wish more would add it, even as a paid update. I have an atomos V, now i need to sell it to get a monitor.