So, funny story... due to switching modes and settings so much for these tests, I accidentally shot the talking head of this video in ProRes! Bahaha. Oh, the irony! But luckily, I shot at ISO 800, so it didn't have those lowered clipping points and produced a good image. I can say, however, that it was also much choppier to edit than Blackmagic RAW. 🤦♂️🤣🤓
Why is ProRes choppier to edit? It's intraframe after all. Yes, it's heavier, but so much so that it noticeably slows down the NLE? Is there another reason?
I was working on a video you were asking for but instead decided to melt your brain and demonstrate it by recording my video with sadistic settings on medium and recoverable. Enjoy! 🤣 I totally want to play with this camera for a while. Everyone seems to have a love hate relationship with it. Thanks Gerald. Looking forward to the LUTs video.
ProRes *_choppier_* than BRAW?? Can I guess then: you're on *_a PC_* ? 😏 Becasue nowhere else will you see that. Certainly not on a Mac, unless you#re doing something *_very_* wrong. And worst of all (by far) if you're *_on Premiere_* , the slowest NLE kludge ever… after Avid.
Hi, a few things to add clarity: • the dynamic range chart you showed is the old incorrect chart - we updated/corrected this in the latest manuals so please refer to that. • The exposure tools in our cameras scale relative to the ISO, so middle grey will always show as green in false colour etc, yellow = 80% zebras, red = 95% zebras - for any ISO. You don't have to consider where middle grey is or the clipping points for example when using false colour as the camera takes care of it. • Highlight recovery is rebuilding clipped channel information from the channels not clipped. It would be more accurate to name it “Highlight Rebuild” but that ship has long sailed. When you WB a camera you clip all channels to keep highlights neutral/white for your CCT, with ProRes this happens in camera so the channels that may not have clipped get clipped off before encoding as ProRes (otherwise you have coloured highlights). In RAW codecs, the channels are clipped during decode so the non clipped channels are used to rebuild the clipped ones with highlight recovery but the clipping still happens at the same luminance. This is why for the higher ISOs the rebuilt highlights exist past the normal video level clipping point and you have to reduce the exposure to see it. So it’s not really that with ProRes you lose this dynamic range, its that with RAW you can actually GENERATE some more in some situations. But it’s situational as the colour temperature of your light source and the WB set on camera/RAW will determine what channels clip when, and therefore how much you may be able to rebuild (if any). Also worth noting that “recovered” (rebuilt) highlights will always be neutral/colourless as once a channel is clipped we don’t know what colour it should have been so you keep it neutral for the set WB. This can sometimes cause oddness in an image if a strong coloured highlight suddenly clips and you use highlight recovery and it has to transition quickly to “neutral” - in those occasions it may be more desirable to not use highlight recovery. • FYI in Resolve the RAW decode output is NOT clipped, so you can actually use curves or the gain wheel etc to lower highlights and see the information from highlight recovery return the same as using the RAW exposure slider. Not sure if this is the case in Premiere but just people know who may use Resolve. • The banding you see when you turn on highlight recovery at the higher ISO looks odd, can you reproduce this issue in Resolve? Can you send me the clip to investigate? Thanks!
Hey hey! - Thanks for the heads up on the updated chart. Just downloaded the updated manual now. Looks good! - I have noticed that the false colour seems to be immune to shifts as well, which is a viable tool for people. They can't quite count on the external monitors though or if you bake in LUTs with ProRes, but that's to be expected. Again, raw is best for exposing on this camera. - I appreciate the tip about the rapid shift to neutral on highlight recovery. Most of the situations that I've used it have been transitioning to white anyway, so it hasn't been a problem, but I'll keep an eye out for that when shooting something vibrant and quick-transitioning. - I'm not sure I follow the point about raw decode not being clipped. Which part of the video are you referring to? Pretty much everything I did in Premiere I reproduced the same way in Resolve. Except for... - I wasn't able to reproduce that banding in Resolve when I just tried it. I feel like it might be an issue with the actual scopes in Premiere. I definitely prefer the scopes in Resolve. Although, now as I look closer, it does seem like there is a slight darkening of the shadows when enabling highlight recovery on that particular shot in Premiere that doesn't happen in Resolve. It's subtle and probably unimportant, but it is there. I'll report it to the makers of the plugin and perhaps they can address it. Apologies for my ignorance, but what is your capacity with this camera or Blackmagic? You say "we", but you didn't clarify your involvement. I'd be happy to discuss further about the nitty-gritties on social if you'd like? Cheers, Gerald
@@geraldundone No problem, the comment about Resolve RAW decode output was not in reference to anything from the video, just a general "tip" that most don't seem to be aware of. I was wondering if it was just the scopes in Premiere, thanks for confirmation. I work with the camera team at Blackmagic and am involved in various projects including Blackmagic RAW.
Guys could you Please clarify If changing WB and ISO after is really lossless? That would be great because i cant find anything really. I mean ITS compressed raw so changing WB and ISO should degrade the quality right?
Captain Hook thank you for clarifying, I think going forward it would be best to consult with Captain Hook or BMD. This video was fantastic, people really need videos this quality to help with their shooting. Just be sure to speak with BMD or I guess any company first, I think it would help the video retain its integrity. Maybe make a new video taking the information you now know? Thanks again for the video!
I don't have a BMPCC4K...probably never will. However I literally watch every single one of your videos because I always learn something useful whether it's a compositional idea, editing approach, b-roll integration, or lighting. I'm thankful for your content. Cheers sir.
This is why I love the pocket4k. With the GH5, I (and many others) would get random magenta drift and noise when exposing to 50% gray. Sometimes the image would be great, sometimes not, but either way, there was no way to easily fix or recover the image in post. Pocket4k is the best camera I've owned.
What did I just watch!! What a gift Professor Gee. This has to be the best info yet on the Bmpcc 4k. Black magic owes you some money. Much thanks truly unbelievable gem.
Just bought the black magic 4k. I greatly appreciate your technical analysis regarding this camera. Keep up the good work man. It doesn't go unnoticed!
Another great job. I am running out words, but all I can say is that you are the best presenter I watch. You explanations are clear and examples spot on to the subject matter. Always look froward to the next video. As a side note, as soon as I saw the ColorChecker Video card at the beginning, I went over to B&H to order one for myself. Don't know why I did not get it earlier, but is something I feel will help. Thanks again.
Good insights. However I still think shooting prores is a great option. I shoot 99% of my content with the BMPCC4K in Prores and never had any issues. Used it in a lot of situations and whilst Raw is certainly very powerful and useful, Prores, on mac especially, is so easy to edit with and doesn't need transcoding and use less processing power. A lot of people using this camera aren't full time pros and Prores is better than most codecs out there. Thanks for the video :). Cheers
Wow, this was valuable info. I just ordered the Pocket 4K and will make a note of these "best" ISO's to use. Some of my shooting involves extraordinarily difficult, high dynamic range material (and in low light). Even good DSLR's had issues. I realized I really needed to jump to a proper "pro" solution, but could only afford so much. When I discovered the Pocket 4K and the ability to shoot in RAW, I knew that was my best bet. But getting the initial exposure correct is all-important. Since I really need all the dynamic range I can get, this info is really valuable.
Hey Gerald. Thanks for doing some videos on the pocket cam. I'm a DP and use the pocket for most jobs and am working on a passion project RUclips channel (non film related). I tend to shoot a bunch for clients where I turn in footage over to them so ProRes is definitely the codec of choice for workflow and ease of editing. That said I have my f3 button on the cam set to false color and I constantly toggle that on and off as I adjust isos throughout the shooting day based on lighting and frame rate and exposure needs. I think mentioning false color as a simple way to ensure exposure regardless of iso settings is a good way to help new pocket shooters utilize that feature to ensure they are exposing properly on the fly. It's become my favorite exposure tool on the camera and has ensured I have happy clients over and again. Love the channel and all you do. Thanks again!
I was watching the reveal of the BMPCC6K Pro and thinking it was interesting but not a meaningful leap. After watching this video, it makes much more sense why those built in ND filters would be so important. It's more than just a clever little accessory. If the goal is to keep those ISOs at 400 and 4000, the ND filters truly are a pro tool for users who know their camera well. Thanks for posting this breakdown!
Listening to you voice with my headset on. It is like you are right here. Right right here. Your level of detail is insane and sets a new bar for the style of video.
Great video, Gerald. I personally agree to shoot in BRAW with this camera (as opposed to ProRes) and I also try to use ETTR as I learn more about this camera. I started with the Pocket "Classic" and always used ETTR with that camera (that sensor was starving for light). While I still agree that Blackmagic sensors need as much light as you can provide (without overexposing), the dual native ISO of the Pocket 4K camera is very interesting and gives us the ability to allocate more of the available dynamic range to the shadow detail - or more of the available dynamic range to the highlight detail. If you look at the Dynamic Range chart in the manual, there are 13.1 stops of dynamic range for every ISO in the lower ISO circuit (100 to 1000). I used to think that I could just shoot in Raw at ISO 400 and make subtle exposure changes in post (thinking that ISO was just metadata in Raw) but now I know this is not completely accurate for this camera. Each ISO in the lower ISO circuit has the exact same amount of dynamic range (13.1 stops) but the important thing to gain from this is that each ISO allocates this information differently. If shooting in the lower ISO circuit and shadow detail is the most important goal for the shot, then you would choose ISO 100 (allocating 9.6 stops UNDER middle grey thus providing a LOT of shadow detail). If protecting your highlights is crucial in this lower ISO circuit, you would choose ISO 1000 (the absolute most stops OVER middle grey - 6.8 stops). There are gives and takes with ISO and dynamic range with this camera. All of the ISOs in the lower circuit offer the same amount of dynamic range (13.1 stops) but it's a sliding scale for protecting the part of the image that is most important to your shot. If you choose 100, you will preserve the most shadow detail information (in the lower ISO circuit) but you don't have much information left for highlights and can easily clip. If you choose ISO 1000, you will be able to protect your highlights better than any other ISO in the camera (either circuit) but you may pay for it with some grain in your shadows. The upper ISO circuit (1250 - 6400) offers a little less total dynamic range (12.3 stops) but also offer a sliding scale to protect either shadows or highlights. 1250 will provide the cleanest shadow detail of this upper circuit (allocating 8.5 stops UNDER middle grey). Then the "extended range" ISOs between 8000 and 25,600 operate slightly differently. I definitely recommend Tony Dae's two-part video on this topic if you haven't seen it (even though he is using the older dynamic range charts). Also, Justin Phillip just released a great video on this topic. I certainly don't profess to know everything about the Pocket 4K or dual native ISOs but I wanted to let you know about these two other videos because they were eye openers to me! Thanks again for the excellent content! I will keep learning and I'm thankful there are guys like you who really dig in to the details to help us all.
Hey, Chris! That's absolutely correct and it applies to more cameras than just this one. Often it's better to achieve your exposure with ISO if highlight recovery is important, and better to achieve your exposure with aperture if shadow recovery is important. You also leverage lower noise this way in the shots where shadows are key. I practice this all the time with even the Sony a7 III, which has a degree of ISO invariance. But yes, good strategy and thanks for sharing.
Awesome stuff! I'm going to share this in my LUT group as it's spot on for everything 👍 I'm going to adjust my BMPCC4K guide to recommend ISO 400 and 4000 instead of 400 and 3200 to squeeze that last 2% of DR out of the high ISO range. Cheers!
Yes, but at ISO 4000 you lose dynamic range in the shadows. Always try to overexpose a little in low light. So maximum dynamic range in highlight situations: ISO 1000, maximum dynamic range in low light: ISO 1250. Remember all ISO is metadata except the native ISO. Analog gain is only above ISO 6400.
sometimes ill pop on some Gerald undone to just absorb a little knowledge despite how relevant it is to my video work. always informative and enjoyable
Can't remember if I've commented before but just wanted to again. Thank you. About to go into a shoot that needs a fast turn around and need to shoot Pro Res as my computers on the older side- so again and again thank you!
@9:38 Gerald expresses skepticism about exposing middle gray at 38% rather than using ETTR with the BMPCC4K, citing the variation in middle gray intensity with different ISO settings. This is by design, as the only factor that varies when you change the ISO (within each ISO range) is how much analog gain is applied to the sensor data. The purpose of the middle gray approach is to establish an ISO-independent reference point (i.e. at middle gray = 38%) in order to make it easy to intercut between footage shot in varying lighting conditions. If you instead shoot each clip using ETTR, you will maximize DR for each clip, but will end up with widely varying middle gray levels. While this is often no problem for vlogging purposes, with cinema shoots it is much more important to insure consistent middle gray exposure among clips.
Just as a note- exposing to the right sounds like a good idea in practice in terms of information recovery, especially for photography- but if you're shooting something like narrative or doc in video and going to color, the huge variety of specular highlights per shot or scenes will lead you to be spending a lot of time matching exposure. I think it can also give someone the wrong idea that they should be exposing to the right to the extent that they might be changing aperture and shutter angle to compensate for it within the same scene, which isn't really an appropriate way of shooting film/video, as those settings do a lot more to affect the image than just exposure. From a colorist's perspective, consistency in exposure and certain settings is sometimes a lot more important than making sure you have the "maximum" information. This is definitely an amazing video, and breaks down the technical aspects of highlight clipping at low ISOs in the BMPCC amazingly (something I had no idea about), but I think I'd consider it as more of a tool in the toolbox, than a methodology of consistently overexposing to the top of the histogram. If you're shooting at the correct settings (film with a LUT overtop), you should just about never be even close to either the low end or high end of the histogram anyways (in the actual encoded footage. the LUT will probably be expanded in a way that it's touching those limits sometimes). Professionally shot footage usually comes in the near center range of the histogram, with an absolute ton of room to expand it upwards and downwards. The exception is when you're intentionally underexposing or overexposing footage, or when you're really pushing the camera in a night scene.
There's definitely a lot of misinformation here. The clipping point and noise level doesn't change for ISO 100-1000. It DOES change at ISO 1250 but doesn't change again until ISO 8000 at which point everything above that clips more and more and you get different levels of noise. Even the chart you showed says as much. ISOs 100-1000 and 1250-6400 are actually just two ISOs with the changes in-camera just being grades effectively. 8000 and up are all analog gain. Expose to the right of your sensor, and you're golden. If you're exposing to the right at ISO 100 and then changing the exposure to ETTR again after switching to ISO 1000, then you're doing it wrong. All this is true in ProRes as well, it's just that ProRes bakes-in the in-camera ISO grade. There's no different clipping points for BRAW or ProRes. You may have made this video a little prematurely and I worry that people will watching this and then not scroll down to the comments for the corrections.
Amazing how, on a philosophical basis, this reminds me so much about Ansel Adams and his 'Zone System.' He applied his system to large format B&W film photography -- but he faced the same problem... recording information in a way where he could fully express his artistic vision during post.
Thank you Gerald for this info. Every time I shoot with my pocket I try to make sure I’m learning how this camera operates and treats exposures and images in general. It’s stressful but I would rather know step up and learn than just mess up my images and then scratching my head in post wondering why my exposures don’t help achieve the look I want. Thank you for the great info on this camera.
Video Summary with updates: -If shooting ProRes only shoot at 400 and 3200 ISO (expose for 38% middle grey OR use false color to expose for green on subject) -If Shooting Raw Don't use highlight recovery over 400 iso or over 4000 iso as it'll cause banding HOWEVER i believe this was just a bug that's since been fixed. -When shooting raw expose to the Right by setting zebras to 95% and exposing just under the 95% mark. **Please correct me if I'm wrong**
So to summarize if I can, to better understand: - Shoot 400 ISO for the most dynamic range. Don’t use highlight recovery because it creates artifacts. - If you shoot at 100 ISO and overexpose to 90% you CAN use highlight recovery to unlock that limitation and see the brights.
This is brilliant - explains why my highlights have looked too white even though I've exposed "correctly" in Pro Res - what you see isn't what you get - If the Zebra's clipping point is based on ISO 400, even if you're on ISO's of 1250 and above - thanks for making this video!
I wonder something everyone will legitly find ridiculous: where could we find the native ISOs of smartphones? So that we get the best clipping point % & least noise eventually, even though most of the time it seems just better to get it at the lowest value (ISO 50 most of the time)... [Galaxy S10e (me)] & [LG V40 or G8 or V50 (I could switch for bc of manual video mode Samsung removed, & better audio] Very informative as always, you provide the "above" quality we hardly find out there, & the confidence we can have in your work is priceless :)
Thank you for posting.. I found the same thing a year ago. To be honest most of the cameras in log I find usually like ISO 800. And so I find just having all cameras at ISO 800 with mixed brands to be a happy spot.. Though it seems BMPCC4K likes 400 with a little less noise. But yes my other cameras have built in ND filters so it’s easy to add 2/4/6 stops of ND. The BMPCC4K needs thread on ND filters OR some of these new MFT to Canon/Nikon adapters with built in throttling ND filters.. that I don’t trust.... But yes.. absolutely QT. Shoot ISO 400 or 800 and have a good ND filter pack to thread on to your lens to keep your aperture in the happy T4 or 5.6 :)
Hi Gerald! great video! one simple question: does this mean that in order to get the max dynamic range of the bmpcc, I should ettr like you said at ISO100, and then use highlight recovery, instead of shooting and exposing for ISO 400? thanks
Great question, Marco! It's actually pretty surreal that you ask that because I cut a section out of the video where I address that question and use pretty much the exact same wording. But I figured it would over complicated things. The short answer is, yes, on paper, but your mids look terrible. They're too dark because of the lower ISO. Then when you raise them up, if you plan to keep a natural curve, you end up with a similar highlights to if you would have just shot ISO 400 to begin with. Great thought though, it was the first thing I tried to see if I could "magic" some extra dynamic range out of the camera, but unfortunately when you add in one place, you lose it somewhere else.
I just use waveform monitor on my Shinobi and for skin, goes at about 896 or equivalent on 10 bit scopes (87.5%) pale caucasian skin works for me and that'd be the red channel since skin tends to be more red out of all the channels
I might be wrong but I don't approach it this way been working with the camera for 6 months, I only use BRAW. Like you said the camera has two ISOs which are analogue, the rest is just digital metadata. I know if I protect my highlights at f8 for example in first ISO band it doesn't matter which ISO I choose in that band, my highlights will never clip unless I change my aperture or move into the next ISO band. I'm not very good at explaining myself but when I light a scene with this camera i choose which ISO band I need to be in depending on what aperture I want for the scene, and always try to use ISO 100 as that's where you get the best color rendition. I basically protect my highlights or let clip what I don't mind clipping and then select an ISO which I want to expose to, for me the ISO is a preview. Depending on the scene I expose to middle grey or 1 to 2 stops under. The ISO within a band doesn't effect clipping it just moves the curve and where middle grey is. I can't explain this exactly how I want but how I do it works for me. But I know what you are saying is also right because to have the same exposure at 100 ISO as to that of 1000 ISO you would need to change the aperture (unless you can adjust lighting) which would clip the highlights but that's because you opened up the aperture. Lol hope you understand what I'm trying to say?
Yeah, I think I understand what you're saying. And I agree with you about treating the camera as if it only really had two settings and do the rest with aperture. I think that's a good system. The highlight clipping thing is more of an issue with ProRes.
I have a question about your statement that zebras are "immune" to the artificial clipping points of the camera. Can I assume that this would only apply to the zebras on the camera's display? If I used the zebras on my monitor's display, then they would not be immune, correct? Because they would be reading exposure from the HDMI feed. The only option then is to pass on the camera's OSD zebras to the monitor.
Love all of your output. A proper education. One question - the BMPCC4K dynamic range chart you reference appeared to be the older one. Before they corrected the in accuracies. Does this make any difference?
Yeah, you're right, it was the older one. It doesn't make a difference in terms of the approach, it's just the positioning of the stops has changed. More stops above and less below than before. Good eye!
When shooting on the pocket 4K, can you shoot with a flat profile; with the image all grayed out? My Panny HVX200 has settings where I can gray out the image, so in post I can add more contrast. This helps with noise and allows the dark areas to be made darker for night shooting.
You say middle gray but I also see the false colors looking stuff on the screen. Is it different? if so, why not use false colors? Seen a few videos now talking about it being great for exposing and stuff along the way. I came from Sony using ettr with leeming but now I'm shooting this I'm trying to find the best way. Any updates or thoughts a year later since this video?
I don't have a BMPCC4k, but am curious if the same strategy for determining proper exposure should be applied to other cameras? For instance, I have a GH5s and didn't consider that my dynamic range could change so drastically across ISO. To your knowledge, has someone presented similar data for the GH5s?
Another phenomenon MOST Don't realize happens is, When you go frome ISO 100 to 400, Your Color Temp Noticeably changes. if you set your Color temp to your perfect liking @ ISO 1250, When you go down to ISO 100, Then jump up to 400, you will notice the overall colortemp change to a more Yellow/ Warmer temperature.
That is exactly the reason you should be careful exposing to the right. Shooting a feature film we stick to a certain ISO during a scene. Otherwise the colors and luminance curve would shift all over the place shot to shot. So even if there is room to overexpose a shot (lower ISO) we don't. In still photography this is much less of an issue because there images are rarely part of a contiguous sequence. It is not the color temp that is the problem but the RGB curves. Also the two native ISOs for this camera might have a little difference in tint.
Welp, now I know what tests to do with my Canon M with Magic Lantern... Which brings up another question of mine... When converting my RAW footage into CinDNG, my program (MLV Producer) allows for different camera profiles; what is the difference between Cineon, ClogC, AlexaLog, BMClog, etc... So far, I've been doing Black Magic's camera profile because of Resolve.
It's likely just an emulation of black level, white level, saturation, highlight and shadow rolloff, etc. to produce a curve and look similar to development on those cameras.
BRAW 12:1 looks pretty much the same than the Q0, and it takes up less space than any flavour of ProRes except proxy. Why would anyone ever use ProRes?
Thanks, Tyler. At 1:25 I give you the broad definition: adjusting the exposure as high as possible at base ISO without unwanted clipping. And then at 7:52 I give a demonstration of how to do it. Hope that helps.
I need 3rd camera (pulling Sony A73 from the rig due to issues in 4k recording ). I am leaning towards getting another GH5 as it's almost as good as BMPC, plus one package for everything - no need to get extra monitor that you must, no need to get a cage, that you must, no need to get expensive cards, which you must and at least 10 batteries for 10 day shoot, something which could be painful if you record over 10 interviews a day. I think BMPK is overhyped.
Hey Gerald, so if a grey card and exposing for middle grey is not the best way to work with the Pocket 4K, I’m guessing a 90% white card, zebras and ETTR is the best method? I’m always shooting RAW FYI. Thanks for making such helpful videos mate 👍🏼
Would be great if you could show how you would exposure with the BMPCC4K in real life with your camera and the back of the cameras screen. I am getting my Camera tomorrow and wondering how to see the exposure. Is there a histogram to judge? I am coming from Sony and always used +2.0 on the blinking number on my monitor for slog. When it stop blinking at 2.0 I know I was pretty good. Can some list how much to over exposure each codec with the BMPCC4K?
@@geraldundone Thank you, just got my BMPCC4K today!! Woohooo Do you know if they make a screen protector like for iPhones? Or is it not really necessary? Thank you!
Thank you Gerald. I have access to this camera and I have used it for some hours now. I recently started looking into the ISO chart and twisting my brain from shoot as low as possible to this where you account for stops with the ISO is new. When it comes to this chart and the stops, I noticed that SO 800 has a more even stops bar considering you get almost as many stops below as above. How does this matter/not matter? Should you stay at 400 at all times if you can or should you consider a higher ISO to get it more even in certain conditions? Thanks for explaining the highlight recovery so brilliantly!
Great video! I thought that the highlight recovery is just bringing back channels that are not clipped. I think that is doing that for sure in cinema DNG files since you can find that in the instruction manual. are you sure that it's connected to the iso setting maybe it's just a consequence not a reason? Did you conclude that or did you ask black magic or find it in some documentation?
So if you shoot raw and use highlight recovery when needed it's like having a maximum highlight range of 100% on all iso levels? Also, if you shoot in one native ISO are you able to access all iso in post or just that one? like if I shoot at 400ISO can I bump it up to say 3200 in post?
You said to basically only use ISO's 400 and 4000 if shooting ProRes - but shouldn't ISO's 500-1000 be safe to use as well (and above 4000, though there are other issues there), since they don't clip below 100 IRE?
The more videos I see from you on this damn camera the more I want it. I've been perfectly happy with my GH4 for years but now the magical allure of RAW is tempting me to spend money the wife wouldn't be happy about. So thanks for messing up my marriage, Gerald.
So, funny story... due to switching modes and settings so much for these tests, I accidentally shot the talking head of this video in ProRes! Bahaha. Oh, the irony! But luckily, I shot at ISO 800, so it didn't have those lowered clipping points and produced a good image. I can say, however, that it was also much choppier to edit than Blackmagic RAW. 🤦♂️🤣🤓
Prores is still great if you need to go straight into editing and don't want to or can't deal with BM raw... 😌
Why is ProRes choppier to edit? It's intraframe after all. Yes, it's heavier, but so much so that it noticeably slows down the NLE? Is there another reason?
I was working on a video you were asking for but instead decided to melt your brain and demonstrate it by recording my video with sadistic settings on medium and recoverable. Enjoy! 🤣 I totally want to play with this camera for a while. Everyone seems to have a love hate relationship with it.
Thanks Gerald. Looking forward to the LUTs video.
Uwirlbaretrsidma. I agree with this. That's one of the main reasons for using prores in the first place.
ProRes *_choppier_* than BRAW?? Can I guess then: you're on *_a PC_* ? 😏 Becasue nowhere else will you see that. Certainly not on a Mac, unless you#re doing something *_very_* wrong. And worst of all (by far) if you're *_on Premiere_* , the slowest NLE kludge ever… after Avid.
Hi, a few things to add clarity:
• the dynamic range chart you showed is the old incorrect chart - we updated/corrected this in the latest manuals so please refer to that.
• The exposure tools in our cameras scale relative to the ISO, so middle grey will always show as green in false colour etc, yellow = 80% zebras, red = 95% zebras - for any ISO. You don't have to consider where middle grey is or the clipping points for example when using false colour as the camera takes care of it.
• Highlight recovery is rebuilding clipped channel information from the channels not clipped. It would be more accurate to name it “Highlight Rebuild” but that ship has long sailed. When you WB a camera you clip all channels to keep highlights neutral/white for your CCT, with ProRes this happens in camera so the channels that may not have clipped get clipped off before encoding as ProRes (otherwise you have coloured highlights). In RAW codecs, the channels are clipped during decode so the non clipped channels are used to rebuild the clipped ones with highlight recovery but the clipping still happens at the same luminance. This is why for the higher ISOs the rebuilt highlights exist past the normal video level clipping point and you have to reduce the exposure to see it. So it’s not really that with ProRes you lose this dynamic range, its that with RAW you can actually GENERATE some more in some situations. But it’s situational as the colour temperature of your light source and the WB set on camera/RAW will determine what channels clip when, and therefore how much you may be able to rebuild (if any). Also worth noting that “recovered” (rebuilt) highlights will always be neutral/colourless as once a channel is clipped we don’t know what colour it should have been so you keep it neutral for the set WB. This can sometimes cause oddness in an image if a strong coloured highlight suddenly clips and you use highlight recovery and it has to transition quickly to “neutral” - in those occasions it may be more desirable to not use highlight recovery.
• FYI in Resolve the RAW decode output is NOT clipped, so you can actually use curves or the gain wheel etc to lower highlights and see the information from highlight recovery return the same as using the RAW exposure slider. Not sure if this is the case in Premiere but just people know who may use Resolve.
• The banding you see when you turn on highlight recovery at the higher ISO looks odd, can you reproduce this issue in Resolve? Can you send me the clip to investigate?
Thanks!
Hey hey!
- Thanks for the heads up on the updated chart. Just downloaded the updated manual now. Looks good!
- I have noticed that the false colour seems to be immune to shifts as well, which is a viable tool for people. They can't quite count on the external monitors though or if you bake in LUTs with ProRes, but that's to be expected. Again, raw is best for exposing on this camera.
- I appreciate the tip about the rapid shift to neutral on highlight recovery. Most of the situations that I've used it have been transitioning to white anyway, so it hasn't been a problem, but I'll keep an eye out for that when shooting something vibrant and quick-transitioning.
- I'm not sure I follow the point about raw decode not being clipped. Which part of the video are you referring to? Pretty much everything I did in Premiere I reproduced the same way in Resolve. Except for...
- I wasn't able to reproduce that banding in Resolve when I just tried it. I feel like it might be an issue with the actual scopes in Premiere. I definitely prefer the scopes in Resolve. Although, now as I look closer, it does seem like there is a slight darkening of the shadows when enabling highlight recovery on that particular shot in Premiere that doesn't happen in Resolve. It's subtle and probably unimportant, but it is there. I'll report it to the makers of the plugin and perhaps they can address it.
Apologies for my ignorance, but what is your capacity with this camera or Blackmagic? You say "we", but you didn't clarify your involvement. I'd be happy to discuss further about the nitty-gritties on social if you'd like?
Cheers,
Gerald
@@geraldundone No problem, the comment about Resolve RAW decode output was not in reference to anything from the video, just a general "tip" that most don't seem to be aware of.
I was wondering if it was just the scopes in Premiere, thanks for confirmation.
I work with the camera team at Blackmagic and am involved in various projects including Blackmagic RAW.
Hi @@geraldundone ! Captain Hook posts often about the BM cameras on the forums at www.eoshd.com. He is a source of great insights and wisdom :)
Guys could you Please clarify If changing WB and ISO after is really lossless? That would be great because i cant find anything really. I mean ITS compressed raw so changing WB and ISO should degrade the quality right?
Captain Hook thank you for clarifying, I think going forward it would be best to consult with Captain Hook or BMD. This video was fantastic, people really need videos this quality to help with their shooting. Just be sure to speak with BMD or I guess any company first, I think it would help the video retain its integrity. Maybe make a new video taking the information you now know? Thanks again for the video!
I'm so glad you have a Pocket 4K. This is the kind of information that I want to know!
Cheers, Christian!
@@geraldundone ahah true, but you have gh5 as well, perfect exposure on gh5/gh5s would be highly appreciated :)
You're like a level 3 deep dream of content here on RUclips. Amazing work Gerald!!!
Thank you very much! That's a fun compliment. Never heard it before. 😃🙏
Tá cheio das amizades, heim?! hahaha
Hands down the best RUclips channel in its domain...
I don't have a BMPCC4K...probably never will. However I literally watch every single one of your videos because I always learn something useful whether it's a compositional idea, editing approach, b-roll integration, or lighting. I'm thankful for your content. Cheers sir.
Thank you very much, Mario! That's really encouraging to hear. Really appreciate it. 😃🙏💜
Yaas I've been asking for this kind of video since buying my Ursa. SO glad you got the Pocket.
I got you, boo.😃👊
This is why I love the pocket4k. With the GH5, I (and many others) would get random magenta drift and noise when exposing to 50% gray. Sometimes the image would be great, sometimes not, but either way, there was no way to easily fix or recover the image in post. Pocket4k is the best camera I've owned.
What did I just watch!! What a gift Professor Gee. This has to be the best info yet on the Bmpcc 4k. Black magic owes you some money. Much thanks truly unbelievable gem.
Bah! You're too kind. Thank you very much!
Just bought the black magic 4k. I greatly appreciate your technical analysis regarding this camera. Keep up the good work man. It doesn't go unnoticed!
Another great job. I am running out words, but all I can say is that you are the best presenter I watch. You explanations are clear and examples spot on to the subject matter. Always look froward to the next video. As a side note, as soon as I saw the ColorChecker Video card at the beginning, I went over to B&H to order one for myself. Don't know why I did not get it earlier, but is something I feel will help. Thanks again.
SME subject matter expert.
Cheers, Phil. Always appreciate these comments. I think that is a smart order and will pay off. Cheers!
Good insights. However I still think shooting prores is a great option. I shoot 99% of my content with the BMPCC4K in Prores and never had any issues. Used it in a lot of situations and whilst Raw is certainly very powerful and useful, Prores, on mac especially, is so easy to edit with and doesn't need transcoding and use less processing power. A lot of people using this camera aren't full time pros and Prores is better than most codecs out there. Thanks for the video :). Cheers
I totally agree, I shoot prores for almost all my commercial shoots and I have never had an issue.
Wow, this was valuable info. I just ordered the Pocket 4K and will make a note of these "best" ISO's to use. Some of my shooting involves extraordinarily difficult, high dynamic range material (and in low light). Even good DSLR's had issues. I realized I really needed to jump to a proper "pro" solution, but could only afford so much. When I discovered the Pocket 4K and the ability to shoot in RAW, I knew that was my best bet. But getting the initial exposure correct is all-important. Since I really need all the dynamic range I can get, this info is really valuable.
Yourself and Tony Dae are unraveling so much good information for pocket 4k users. Absolute legends!
Hey Gerald. Thanks for doing some videos on the pocket cam. I'm a DP and use the pocket for most jobs and am working on a passion project RUclips channel (non film related). I tend to shoot a bunch for clients where I turn in footage over to them so ProRes is definitely the codec of choice for workflow and ease of editing. That said I have my f3 button on the cam set to false color and I constantly toggle that on and off as I adjust isos throughout the shooting day based on lighting and frame rate and exposure needs. I think mentioning false color as a simple way to ensure exposure regardless of iso settings is a good way to help new pocket shooters utilize that feature to ensure they are exposing properly on the fly. It's become my favorite exposure tool on the camera and has ensured I have happy clients over and again.
Love the channel and all you do. Thanks again!
Thanks for sharing your thoughts, Raymond! The False Color is implemented very well on the Pocket 4K. I agree that it's a terrific tool. Cheers!
I was watching the reveal of the BMPCC6K Pro and thinking it was interesting but not a meaningful leap. After watching this video, it makes much more sense why those built in ND filters would be so important. It's more than just a clever little accessory. If the goal is to keep those ISOs at 400 and 4000, the ND filters truly are a pro tool for users who know their camera well. Thanks for posting this breakdown!
Listening to you voice with my headset on. It is like you are right here. Right right here. Your level of detail is insane and sets a new bar for the style of video.
Thanks, Wayne! I should probably get my butt downtown soon though so I can actually be right, right there. :)
Gerald you are my homie! Always making content that is super useful! Thanks bro.
Cheers! Thanks! Appreciate you.
super helpful video!! one of the youtubers out here that actually knows what you are talking about
Great video, Gerald. I personally agree to shoot in BRAW with this camera (as opposed to ProRes) and I also try to use ETTR as I learn more about this camera. I started with the Pocket "Classic" and always used ETTR with that camera (that sensor was starving for light). While I still agree that Blackmagic sensors need as much light as you can provide (without overexposing), the dual native ISO of the Pocket 4K camera is very interesting and gives us the ability to allocate more of the available dynamic range to the shadow detail - or more of the available dynamic range to the highlight detail. If you look at the Dynamic Range chart in the manual, there are 13.1 stops of dynamic range for every ISO in the lower ISO circuit (100 to 1000). I used to think that I could just shoot in Raw at ISO 400 and make subtle exposure changes in post (thinking that ISO was just metadata in Raw) but now I know this is not completely accurate for this camera. Each ISO in the lower ISO circuit has the exact same amount of dynamic range (13.1 stops) but the important thing to gain from this is that each ISO allocates this information differently. If shooting in the lower ISO circuit and shadow detail is the most important goal for the shot, then you would choose ISO 100 (allocating 9.6 stops UNDER middle grey thus providing a LOT of shadow detail). If protecting your highlights is crucial in this lower ISO circuit, you would choose ISO 1000 (the absolute most stops OVER middle grey - 6.8 stops). There are gives and takes with ISO and dynamic range with this camera. All of the ISOs in the lower circuit offer the same amount of dynamic range (13.1 stops) but it's a sliding scale for protecting the part of the image that is most important to your shot. If you choose 100, you will preserve the most shadow detail information (in the lower ISO circuit) but you don't have much information left for highlights and can easily clip. If you choose ISO 1000, you will be able to protect your highlights better than any other ISO in the camera (either circuit) but you may pay for it with some grain in your shadows. The upper ISO circuit (1250 - 6400) offers a little less total dynamic range (12.3 stops) but also offer a sliding scale to protect either shadows or highlights. 1250 will provide the cleanest shadow detail of this upper circuit (allocating 8.5 stops UNDER middle grey). Then the "extended range" ISOs between 8000 and 25,600 operate slightly differently. I definitely recommend Tony Dae's two-part video on this topic if you haven't seen it (even though he is using the older dynamic range charts). Also, Justin Phillip just released a great video on this topic. I certainly don't profess to know everything about the Pocket 4K or dual native ISOs but I wanted to let you know about these two other videos because they were eye openers to me! Thanks again for the excellent content! I will keep learning and I'm thankful there are guys like you who really dig in to the details to help us all.
Hey, Chris! That's absolutely correct and it applies to more cameras than just this one. Often it's better to achieve your exposure with ISO if highlight recovery is important, and better to achieve your exposure with aperture if shadow recovery is important. You also leverage lower noise this way in the shots where shadows are key. I practice this all the time with even the Sony a7 III, which has a degree of ISO invariance. But yes, good strategy and thanks for sharing.
Fascinating topic for sure. Thanks for helping me put together some of the pieces of the puzzle!
Awesome stuff! I'm going to share this in my LUT group as it's spot on for everything 👍 I'm going to adjust my BMPCC4K guide to recommend ISO 400 and 4000 instead of 400 and 3200 to squeeze that last 2% of DR out of the high ISO range. Cheers!
Thanks, Paul! That's high praise. Really appreciate it. 😃🙏
Yes, but at ISO 4000 you lose dynamic range in the shadows. Always try to overexpose a little in low light. So maximum dynamic range in highlight situations: ISO 1000, maximum dynamic range in low light: ISO 1250. Remember all ISO is metadata except the native ISO. Analog gain is only above ISO 6400.
again you prove yourself to be one of the most informative youtubers in improving your shooting skills!
Thanks a bunch! Means a lot. 😃🙏
sometimes ill pop on some Gerald undone to just absorb a little knowledge despite how relevant it is to my video work. always informative and enjoyable
And I'm very appreciative of that. Thank you!
Can't remember if I've commented before but just wanted to again. Thank you. About to go into a shoot that needs a fast turn around and need to shoot Pro Res as my computers on the older side- so again and again thank you!
Great video. All good points. If you use false color, and get exposure correct in the first place, then prores is all you need.
@9:38 Gerald expresses skepticism about exposing middle gray at 38% rather than using ETTR with the BMPCC4K, citing the variation in middle gray intensity with different ISO settings. This is by design, as the only factor that varies when you change the ISO (within each ISO range) is how much analog gain is applied to the sensor data. The purpose of the middle gray approach is to establish an ISO-independent reference point (i.e. at middle gray = 38%) in order to make it easy to intercut between footage shot in varying lighting conditions. If you instead shoot each clip using ETTR, you will maximize DR for each clip, but will end up with widely varying middle gray levels. While this is often no problem for vlogging purposes, with cinema shoots it is much more important to insure consistent middle gray exposure among clips.
Just as a note- exposing to the right sounds like a good idea in practice in terms of information recovery, especially for photography- but if you're shooting something like narrative or doc in video and going to color, the huge variety of specular highlights per shot or scenes will lead you to be spending a lot of time matching exposure. I think it can also give someone the wrong idea that they should be exposing to the right to the extent that they might be changing aperture and shutter angle to compensate for it within the same scene, which isn't really an appropriate way of shooting film/video, as those settings do a lot more to affect the image than just exposure. From a colorist's perspective, consistency in exposure and certain settings is sometimes a lot more important than making sure you have the "maximum" information.
This is definitely an amazing video, and breaks down the technical aspects of highlight clipping at low ISOs in the BMPCC amazingly (something I had no idea about), but I think I'd consider it as more of a tool in the toolbox, than a methodology of consistently overexposing to the top of the histogram. If you're shooting at the correct settings (film with a LUT overtop), you should just about never be even close to either the low end or high end of the histogram anyways (in the actual encoded footage. the LUT will probably be expanded in a way that it's touching those limits sometimes). Professionally shot footage usually comes in the near center range of the histogram, with an absolute ton of room to expand it upwards and downwards. The exception is when you're intentionally underexposing or overexposing footage, or when you're really pushing the camera in a night scene.
There's definitely a lot of misinformation here. The clipping point and noise level doesn't change for ISO 100-1000. It DOES change at ISO 1250 but doesn't change again until ISO 8000 at which point everything above that clips more and more and you get different levels of noise. Even the chart you showed says as much.
ISOs 100-1000 and 1250-6400 are actually just two ISOs with the changes in-camera just being grades effectively. 8000 and up are all analog gain. Expose to the right of your sensor, and you're golden. If you're exposing to the right at ISO 100 and then changing the exposure to ETTR again after switching to ISO 1000, then you're doing it wrong.
All this is true in ProRes as well, it's just that ProRes bakes-in the in-camera ISO grade. There's no different clipping points for BRAW or ProRes.
You may have made this video a little prematurely and I worry that people will watching this and then not scroll down to the comments for the corrections.
Amazing how, on a philosophical basis, this reminds me so much about Ansel Adams and his 'Zone System.' He applied his system to large format B&W film photography -- but he faced the same problem... recording information in a way where he could fully express his artistic vision during post.
To say that this was helpful would be an understatement. Great job breaking down complex concepts into an easily digestible tutorial 👍🏼
Thank you Gerald for this info. Every time I shoot with my pocket I try to make sure I’m learning how this camera operates and treats exposures and images in general. It’s stressful but I would rather know step up and learn than just mess up my images and then scratching my head in post wondering why my exposures don’t help achieve the look I want. Thank you for the great info on this camera.
Glad it was helpful. Thanks for the kind words! 😃🙏
OMG, it’s vids like this where your value shines. What a 🦄 !
Haha. Thanks, Aaron!
Was just talking to a friend about how much we like your vids the other day
I'm honoured! Thank you very much.
@@geraldundone sure thing - keep it up :)
Check exposure with base ISOs and then use exposure indexing if need.
Opening for your next video: "What's happening everybody? I'm Gerald Undone, and we're taking the hobbits to Isengard."
Love it!
@@geraldundone This. 🤘
After all these new cameras in 2020, I keep coming back to the BMPCC4K
Long time subscriber, first time commenter. I looovvee your channel Gerald! Thanks for sharing your wealth of information with us!
Thank you very much! It's my pleasure. Appreciate the comment. 😃🙏
Video Summary with updates:
-If shooting ProRes only shoot at 400 and 3200 ISO (expose for 38% middle grey OR use false color to expose for green on subject)
-If Shooting Raw Don't use highlight recovery over 400 iso or over 4000 iso as it'll cause banding HOWEVER i believe this was just a bug that's since been fixed.
-When shooting raw expose to the Right by setting zebras to 95% and exposing just under the 95% mark.
**Please correct me if I'm wrong**
So to summarize if I can, to better understand:
- Shoot 400 ISO for the most dynamic range. Don’t use highlight recovery because it creates artifacts.
- If you shoot at 100 ISO and overexpose to 90% you CAN use highlight recovery to unlock that limitation and see the brights.
Great info. Just got my Pocket 4K yesterday. A lot to learn with a cinema cam vs the old Mirrorless and camcorders
amazingly useful video as always, Gerald. Keep up the good work mate!
This is brilliant - explains why my highlights have looked too white even though I've exposed "correctly" in Pro Res - what you see isn't what you get - If the Zebra's clipping point is based on ISO 400, even if you're on ISO's of 1250 and above - thanks for making this video!
Wow. I never knew what highlight recovery did and I always wantered when to use them and when to leave them off. Thanks for sharing.
Glad the video was helpful! Cheers.
I wonder something everyone will legitly find ridiculous: where could we find the native ISOs of smartphones? So that we get the best clipping point % & least noise eventually, even though most of the time it seems just better to get it at the lowest value (ISO 50 most of the time)...
[Galaxy S10e (me)] & [LG V40 or G8 or V50 (I could switch for bc of manual video mode Samsung removed, & better audio]
Very informative as always, you provide the "above" quality we hardly find out there, & the confidence we can have in your work is priceless :)
Watching this in 360 as god intended.
😜👌💪
Thank you for posting.. I found the same thing a year ago. To be honest most of the cameras in log I find usually like ISO 800. And so I find just having all cameras at ISO 800 with mixed brands to be a happy spot.. Though it seems BMPCC4K likes 400 with a little less noise. But yes my other cameras have built in ND filters so it’s easy to add 2/4/6 stops of ND. The BMPCC4K needs thread on ND filters OR some of these new MFT to Canon/Nikon adapters with built in throttling ND filters.. that I don’t trust.... But yes.. absolutely QT. Shoot ISO 400 or 800 and have a good ND filter pack to thread on to your lens to keep your aperture in the happy T4 or 5.6 :)
Hi Gerald! great video! one simple question: does this mean that in order to get the max dynamic range of the bmpcc, I should ettr like you said at ISO100, and then use highlight recovery, instead of shooting and exposing for ISO 400? thanks
Great question, Marco! It's actually pretty surreal that you ask that because I cut a section out of the video where I address that question and use pretty much the exact same wording. But I figured it would over complicated things. The short answer is, yes, on paper, but your mids look terrible. They're too dark because of the lower ISO. Then when you raise them up, if you plan to keep a natural curve, you end up with a similar highlights to if you would have just shot ISO 400 to begin with. Great thought though, it was the first thing I tried to see if I could "magic" some extra dynamic range out of the camera, but unfortunately when you add in one place, you lose it somewhere else.
@@geraldundone very nice, much approve, love my bmpcc4k and will keep watching your content!
GU - I think you need to do a MasterClass on the BMPCC4K How to properly select ISO in RAW.
So helpful! Couldn’t understand why my image looked overexposed on the screen but zebras weren’t kicking in. I kept lowering my zebra percentage.
loved this video! These tips are gonna be so useful!! Thanks bro!
Incredibly great explanation of information. Some stuff I was aware some stuff was new to me. Thanks for sharing with the community.
Let’s get undone! Well explained info. Looking forward to the next one 🤓
Thanks, Brother. Looks good. Just got a 6k Pro and am working to learn the ins and outs vs Sony Cams.
I just use waveform monitor on my Shinobi
and for skin, goes at about 896 or equivalent on 10 bit scopes (87.5%) pale caucasian skin
works for me and that'd be the red channel since skin tends to be more red out of all the channels
70k subs already.... Not surprised, your content and information is Awesome... Congrats..!
Thank you very much! 😃🙏
Subscribed. This was interesting. Thanks for this info.
I freaking love you Gerald, thank you
A legend as always, truly brilliant stuff.
I might be wrong but I don't approach it this way been working with the camera for 6 months, I only use BRAW. Like you said the camera has two ISOs which are analogue, the rest is just digital metadata. I know if I protect my highlights at f8 for example in first ISO band it doesn't matter which ISO I choose in that band, my highlights will never clip unless I change my aperture or move into the next ISO band. I'm not very good at explaining myself but when I light a scene with this camera i choose which ISO band I need to be in depending on what aperture I want for the scene, and always try to use ISO 100 as that's where you get the best color rendition. I basically protect my highlights or let clip what I don't mind clipping and then select an ISO which I want to expose to, for me the ISO is a preview. Depending on the scene I expose to middle grey or 1 to 2 stops under. The ISO within a band doesn't effect clipping it just moves the curve and where middle grey is. I can't explain this exactly how I want but how I do it works for me. But I know what you are saying is also right because to have the same exposure at 100 ISO as to that of 1000 ISO you would need to change the aperture (unless you can adjust lighting) which would clip the highlights but that's because you opened up the aperture. Lol hope you understand what I'm trying to say?
Yeah, I think I understand what you're saying. And I agree with you about treating the camera as if it only really had two settings and do the rest with aperture. I think that's a good system. The highlight clipping thing is more of an issue with ProRes.
Thanks man your videos are so valuable
I have a question about your statement that zebras are "immune" to the artificial clipping points of the camera. Can I assume that this would only apply to the zebras on the camera's display? If I used the zebras on my monitor's display, then they would not be immune, correct? Because they would be reading exposure from the HDMI feed. The only option then is to pass on the camera's OSD zebras to the monitor.
Love all of your output. A proper education. One question - the BMPCC4K dynamic range chart you reference appeared to be the older one. Before they corrected the in accuracies. Does this make any difference?
Yeah, you're right, it was the older one. It doesn't make a difference in terms of the approach, it's just the positioning of the stops has changed. More stops above and less below than before. Good eye!
my BMPCC4K bricked after 7.9 update. any suggestions?
When shooting on the pocket 4K, can you shoot with a flat profile; with the image all grayed out? My Panny HVX200 has settings where I can gray out the image, so in post I can add more contrast. This helps with noise and allows the dark areas to be made darker for night shooting.
Great video! working on something with a little overlap but could be a nice addendum
Thanks, Peter! Hook me up with a link when you're finished. I'd love to see it.
Hello! Very helpful videos! Thanks! Do you think this camera is reliable enough to shoot full length movie for theaters?
You say middle gray but I also see the false colors looking stuff on the screen. Is it different? if so, why not use false colors? Seen a few videos now talking about it being great for exposing and stuff along the way. I came from Sony using ettr with leeming but now I'm shooting this I'm trying to find the best way. Any updates or thoughts a year later since this video?
How did you get your premiere Pro to be Braw setting like that?
Helpful information. Thanks ❤️
That's great tips. Usually I just keep the histogram in the middle and that works pretty good, also FALSE COLOR. Yes please!
Hello! Is there a way to tell exactly what the values are in the BMPCC4K's false color? I'm currently exposing skin tones between green and pink.
Great video. Thank you so much for taking the time!
I don't have a BMPCC4k, but am curious if the same strategy for determining proper exposure should be applied to other cameras? For instance, I have a GH5s and didn't consider that my dynamic range could change so drastically across ISO. To your knowledge, has someone presented similar data for the GH5s?
Another phenomenon MOST Don't realize happens is, When you go frome ISO 100 to 400, Your Color Temp Noticeably changes. if you set your Color temp to your perfect liking @ ISO 1250, When you go down to ISO 100, Then jump up to 400, you will notice the overall colortemp change to a more Yellow/ Warmer temperature.
That is exactly the reason you should be careful exposing to the right. Shooting a feature film we stick to a certain ISO during a scene. Otherwise the colors and luminance curve would shift all over the place shot to shot. So even if there is room to overexpose a shot (lower ISO) we don't. In still photography this is much less of an issue because there images are rarely part of a contiguous sequence. It is not the color temp that is the problem but the RGB curves. Also the two native ISOs for this camera might have a little difference in tint.
Congrats for 69k subs Tech Jesus.
Haha. Thanks a lot!
Welp, now I know what tests to do with my Canon M with Magic Lantern...
Which brings up another question of mine... When converting my RAW footage into CinDNG, my program (MLV Producer) allows for different camera profiles; what is the difference between Cineon, ClogC, AlexaLog, BMClog, etc...
So far, I've been doing Black Magic's camera profile because of Resolve.
It's likely just an emulation of black level, white level, saturation, highlight and shadow rolloff, etc. to produce a curve and look similar to development on those cameras.
Great info! Thanks so much!!!
BRAW 12:1 looks pretty much the same than the Q0, and it takes up less space than any flavour of ProRes except proxy. Why would anyone ever use ProRes?
nah not true lol
LOVE the Video! Is this ProRes problem the same on the A73?
The A7III does not shoot Prores.
@@ekphotography Well, I guess that settles that problem : -)
Thanks, Casey! And no, it's specific to the ISO settings of the Blackmagic. No worries on the Sony.
Great video! In depth and straight to the point, learned a lot by watching this.
thank you so much for the rundown!
it would be great to see those tests on site, while recording images like landscapes.
Great video! One question though, you mentioned "exposing to the right" a lot. What do you mean by that?
Thanks, Tyler. At 1:25 I give you the broad definition: adjusting the exposure as high as possible at base ISO without unwanted clipping.
And then at 7:52 I give a demonstration of how to do it.
Hope that helps.
Excellent video Gerald!
What are your thoughts on using false colour for exposing?
Thanks! I like false colour. I think it's viable as long as the particular iteration is accurate. It's quite good on the Blackmagic.
I need 3rd camera (pulling Sony A73 from the rig due to issues in 4k recording ). I am leaning towards getting another GH5 as it's almost as good as BMPC, plus one package for everything - no need to get extra monitor that you must, no need to get a cage, that you must, no need to get expensive cards, which you must and at least 10 batteries for 10 day shoot, something which could be painful if you record over 10 interviews a day. I think BMPK is overhyped.
Hey Gerald, so if a grey card and exposing for middle grey is not the best way to work with the Pocket 4K, I’m guessing a 90% white card, zebras and ETTR is the best method? I’m always shooting RAW FYI. Thanks for making such helpful videos mate 👍🏼
Would be great if you could show how you would exposure with the BMPCC4K in real life with your camera and the back of the cameras screen. I am getting my Camera tomorrow and wondering how to see the exposure. Is there a histogram to judge? I am coming from Sony and always used +2.0 on the blinking number on my monitor for slog. When it stop blinking at 2.0 I know I was pretty good. Can some list how much to over exposure each codec with the BMPCC4K?
Thanks for the suggestion. I'll consider that for a future video. Cheers!
@@geraldundone Thank you, just got my BMPCC4K today!! Woohooo Do you know if they make a screen protector like for iPhones? Or is it not really necessary? Thank you!
Super super helpful. I literally only just found out this was a thing. I always thought "clipping" just meant overexposed :)
Stupid question -- so for ordinary studio work, just shoot at 400? So used to staying down at 200 on the Canon it feels weird. (wrong)
Yeah, shoot ISO 400 and stop down with aperture or ND if needed.
@@geraldundone Thank you!
Awesome info! Thanks!
Doesn’t false color help with exposure, and when you select prores lt to 422 false color adapts the output range of the final codec?
yes
I wonder if the false color middle gray matches the middle gray for each ISO. That would make sense.
Thanks for the zebra tip.
Thanks for this video!
It was my understanding that ISO 1250 looked the cleanest, as far as noise; has that been the case in your tests?
I think so, yeah. Definitely less noisy than ISO 1000. 😃
Thanks for the super helpful video!
Thank you Gerald. I have access to this camera and I have used it for some hours now. I recently started looking into the ISO chart and twisting my brain from shoot as low as possible to this where you account for stops with the ISO is new. When it comes to this chart and the stops, I noticed that SO 800 has a more even stops bar considering you get almost as many stops below as above. How does this matter/not matter? Should you stay at 400 at all times if you can or should you consider a higher ISO to get it more even in certain conditions? Thanks for explaining the highlight recovery so brilliantly!
Great video! I thought that the highlight recovery is just bringing back channels that are not clipped. I think that is doing that for sure in cinema DNG files since you can find that in the instruction manual. are you sure that it's connected to the iso setting maybe it's just a consequence not a reason? Did you conclude that or did you ask black magic or find it in some documentation?
So if you shoot raw and use highlight recovery when needed it's like having a maximum highlight range of 100% on all iso levels?
Also, if you shoot in one native ISO are you able to access all iso in post or just that one? like if I shoot at 400ISO can I bump it up to say 3200 in post?
Man you explain this so well I get it now. Thanks man makes so much sense now..... kool
Thanks so much! Really happy to hear that.
You said to basically only use ISO's 400 and 4000 if shooting ProRes - but shouldn't ISO's 500-1000 be safe to use as well (and above 4000, though there are other issues there), since they don't clip below 100 IRE?
Correct. But you will get more noise. But yeah, I could have said "pretend this camera's ISOs START at 400 and 4000."
1:13 nice touch 😙🎶
Thanks! 😃👊
The more videos I see from you on this damn camera the more I want it. I've been perfectly happy with my GH4 for years but now the magical allure of RAW is tempting me to spend money the wife wouldn't be happy about. So thanks for messing up my marriage, Gerald.
Haha. My bad! Tell your wife I'm sorry. 😜🙏
Sell the gh4 and buy 4K used! Tell your wife you got a great deal! Problem solved!
Bout to splurge myself and get whipped with a wet noodle by the wife