😍 Color grade SLOG3 and S-Cinetone FAST with my presets: whoismatt.com/luts

Matt, You make everything so easy with the way you explain it

There's another reason it may be better not to shoot in S-Log 3 (Alistair Chapman discussed this in a video about the FS5 a number of years ago): If you're shooting something that doesn't have high contrast (and thus not making use of the sensor's full dynamic range), and/or you're shooting something in which you want the maximum information about the colour variation in the mid exposure range (i.e. studio green screen), S-Cinetone should produce a better picture quality. To explain: First, contrary to the way Matt describes it in this video, S-Cinetone doesn't "bake" the colour into your footage any more than S-Log does; they're both equally colour-gradable just in different ranges. The different profile settings distribute the colour information of your shot differently, but you still only have a fixed number of bits of possible colour values recorded. Shooting in S-Log distributes your bits of colour-depth (possible recorded colour values) more equally between the very bright, mid, and very dark ranges; that's why you're able to nicely recover highlights and shadows when grading without introducing banding and noise in those ranges. But, *putting more colour information into the highlights and shadows requires taking it away from the mids.* In high-contrast situations, that's a good trade off: When shooting 10-bit you have some levels of colour variation to spare, so putting them into highlights and shadows where you want to hold on to detail makes sense. But, when you don't have any extreme highlights and shadows (i.e. controlled even lighting), and it's important to be able to distinguish between subtle mid-range colour variations (i.e. green screen), then keeping as much colour information in the mids is critical. When you grade footage, you introduce noise in the range that you're expanding. If, in post, you brighten S-Cinetone in order to recover detail in shadows, you're taking the small number of colour values which are recorded in the shadows and expanding them across a wider range of the available colour values. At the same time, you're squeezing a large number of colour values recorded in the mids and highlights into a narrower range of the available colours. That's why, when you do this, you'll get some noise/banding in the shadows but the mids and highlights will still look great. Similarly, when you grade S-Log footage in order to give the footage proper contrast, you take the number of recorded colour values in the mids and expand them to a wider range of the available colours (making the brighter mids even brighter, and the darker mids even darker). This means you'll get some noise/banding in the mids, but the highlights and shadows will be fine. When editing green screen footage, any noise in the mid-range colour information reduces the quality of the key. Even if you're happy to grade log footage, when shooting any scene in which you won't end up needing the extra highlights/shadows information (such as in diffuse, evenly lit, indoor scenes, or when the final grading will be even higher contrast than what you would get S-Cinetone straight out of the camera), and especially when shooting studio green screen, *you'll achieve the best picture quality by avoiding log* and sticking with a standard profile like S-Cinetone.

You do a fantastic job with your videos explaining everything clearly and concisely. Your touch of humor is also refreshing and funny without being a drag. Really good of you to share 😊

Matt not only the way you share your knowledge is priceless and by far one of the most well explained on KZfaq in my opinion but your LUTs look amazing and I'll definitely consider purchasing them. A huge thanks from one of your loyal fans

Funny how this came out just as I was tinkering with these two profiles. Settled on s-Cinetone for the majority of work for two reasons: quicker turnaround for projects and a feeling that, because I spent $3500 on a camera, that camera should do most of the work. 😂 by the way, I find that if I protect the highlights when shooting and lift the shadows a little in post, they are plenty clean enough to get decent dynamic range.

Just wanted to jump in and say thanks for putting out such excellent and informative content all these years. It's good to have a few reliable resources in this world of mostly nonsense. Keep up the good work Matt!!

I prefer S-Cinetone for any lowlight situation. I find that Slog3 introduces way too much noise in the final image. I think S- cinetone is better for this because you don’t have to expose 1.7-2 stops above like Slog3 which means higher ISO.

As a photographer of 23 years(Canon for 18 years) and a hybrid shooter for the last 7; I’ve recently switch to FX6 and 2x A7IV. S-log3 and Sony’s new color science looks really good. I can no longer complain about Sony colors. I think S-cinetone is fine but it just reminds me of jpeg shooters of 2005. Why shoot jpeg when you have so much control over log. If time is an issue(and not money)get a MacBook M1 Max. 😎

Who else is here, watched the entire vid yet don’t own a camera that can shoot s-cinetone? 🤣

Super helpful. So many people cannot explain the difference at this level for the life of them. Thanks!

Grading Log doesn't have to be a pain. If you use color space transform in Davinci Resolve you get a perfect conversion every time, without using a LUT. Sometimes LUTS can make your footage look strange; however, Color space transform uses mathematical data for your camera color and gamma to match whatever color space and gamma you want to convert it to. Non-destructively.

Color grading on your content is smooth af to say the least

Thanks for all these infos. Actually since I found Sony option of "Gamma monitoring assist" where I can put a Rec709 on the Slog3 I only shout in SLGOG3 + histogram (iso 800-6400) now without any trouble and I record A LOT of very low light clips (firecamp at night etc...) thanks for all these very great infos.

I gotta be honest, I really love the skin tones from s-cinetone. I Haven't been able to match them using s-log 3

I always love your tuts, so simple and to the point…REQUEST, could you make a video on how to open 4K 10-BIT video on Mac (Thumbnails and Video) Thanks.

Thank you for keeping basic

Really appreciate your work. Thank you for your videos. They are making the world of difference for me.

I really love S-Log 3! Glad that we have 10bit now to make it much easier to use!!

I have to admit log footage looks better, but the amount of work it takes to get it right is annoying and clients don't care. It's the difference between a very good image and an excellent one. Most videographers can spot that difference but most clients can't. For that reason I use S-Cinetone or another custom modified PP and save myself a whole lot of time and headache

Very good point about ISO for SLOG3!

great video matt! I think one thing to add is s-cinetone may be a great option for those that are color blind. Color grading is near impossible for me so im always looking for a camera that can give me a great look straight out of the camera. I would happily lose dynamic range over my color grading worries.

Just here to say that after testing several PPs with my A7SIII I can say that cine 4 + ITU709 matrix is by far the best at least for me. Try it out and maybe you’ll like it too

My favourite Picture profile is "off" :D I prefer to spend my life taking videos rather than stuck in a darkened room colour grading. It makes me laugh as to how much time you guys waste on this, when no one will really notice (you are not filming the latest James Bond movie), so just please stop this madness - instead go out and spend your time taking and making interesting content. Your viewers won't even care if your footage is slightly over or under exposed, or you have less dynamic range, if you have something interesting to show. This is compensating for the fact peoples content is boring!!

Really enjoyed this boss. Gonna snag those LUTS for Cinetone for sure.

Hi, with DaVinci Color management and DaVinci Wide Gamut set in your project, perfect color grading of s-log3 takes only 2 clicks

I have an a7s3 and my main complaint about slog3 is how impractical the iso range is. If I want anything above 640, I need to jump to 12800, which causes a significant colour shift and makes skin tones look unnatural. It’s fine for event shooting, but not for commercial work. I’m curious if cinetone is better for those situations where you need iso 2000-6400? If not, canon cameras seem to be more practical for most shooting situations. No one seems to be talking about this.

Wow i got new knowledge about minimum ISO when shot S-LOG 3,very interesting tutorial ,thanks for this sharing

I love you Matt. Thanks for your videos.

Matt, thanks for the video. I've been away from Sony for about four years, and have just purchased the A74, and I'm very impressed with the improvements in color and AF that Sony has achieved. The A74 is quite a camera. I'm looking forward to going through your most recent tutorials for these cameras. I recall I hated S-LOg and could never make it look right. I'm hoping S-Log 3 won't present those problems, at least to the degree I experienced years ago. That notwithstanding I really love the skin tones and look of S-Cinetone. I'm glad they included it in the A74. I think it looks better than the Fujifilm film simulations---with much better 'everything else." I hope I can get confident with S-log 3 and get some of your presets for the log File. From one fellow Texan to another, thanks so much for taking the time to share your knowledge and expertise.

Great video. I'm curious on how do you shoot with ISO 25600 and have almost no grain on the footage

I will be filming business owner interviews in my studio with controlled lighting mainly for placement on their website. Obviously I will test SLOG3 against S-Cinetone but I’m sensing there may be a law of diminishing returns using log given the workload in post particularly if I apply your standard LUT to S-Cinetone footage. What do you think?

Love you bro Your video helps alot Learning a lot from you and enjoy watching your videos 📹

Hopefully you will get this message! What about doing a YT showing how to work with SLog3 and S-Cinetone in the same TL in DaVinci Resolve? Seems to me that both formats would be advantageous to use in certain scenarios. Color matching, at least close would be the tricky part.

Note for everyone watching, iso 640 in slog3 is exactly as bright as iso 100 in s-cinetone or any other base iso in any other PP ...

11:43 you said"Shooting in S-log keeping 160 ISO is no recommended " Whereas later on your footage you clearly mentiond that SLOG footage is recorded on 160 ISO From 4:23 Onwards Though the shot is good :)

Great video. I use my main A7iv for weddings and 2 x A7iii's. I'd love to match the S-Cinetone on my A7iii's or at least get close.

Can you do one on slog3 at super low light I’m having a hard time exposing foe super low light situation like towards the end of a wedding

Amazing video and explanation ! Thank you so much !

Great. Thanks for this. It’s good to have both options and it’s starting to make sense for me at last what are the advantages of each.

happy that i subscribed you! u helping me a lot to learn better my sony zv-e10

Why is everyone so afraid of slog3? With the a7s3 just take the free lut that sony offers on his homepage and you got the colors back and then you can grade. In Basiclut put the slog3 lot of Sony. In Creative put in ur custom lut or just do your grade✌🤜🤛

Thank you very much! I might also say that for such a "head talk" shot would be good to have manual focus. I'm not a video nerd in any means but the hunting focus behind you distracted me very often.

Hi Matt, awesome video as i am looking for "How to Video's using SONY A7R4" Hope this video helps me to understand few things.

Hey I’m still struggling with my video in post being clear

my question iswhat profile to use with the a74 using green screen

You are so full of knowledge. Thanks for sharing it with us. Subscribed.

Awesome stuff

Such an awesome video. Thanks for sharing.

Absolutely love your videos!

What software do you use to grade your footage?

I shot 100 or so daily vlogs on SLOG. Same day turn on corporate event videos on SLog. IMO it comes down to the machine you have to edit on and your GRIT to get it done. Sounds like CineTone would not have worked in my case for indoor events :)

Matt, I know this sounds silly, but could you walk us through how you setup the s-cinetone picture profile? Is there any adjustments that you make in PP11 or do you just switch it to that and leave it standard? Also, I'm a little bit puzzled about this here. I purchased an FX6 several months ago, and I love it. They give you an option to shoot high or low ISO base using s-cinetone, and that has worked out great. On the a7siii, it seems to be a lot more complicated. Lastly, if you would be kind enough to run through the menu of the FX6, I'd be so very grateful!!!

clear and comprehensive. Thanks a lot !

This video helped a lot. I was just recently planning on filming some short documentaries/films with a collegue of mine and we weren't sure what profile to use, for the future I'll know what to use in any situation. Thanks a lot, Matt.

impressive video dude ! Matt is my Man ! Hails from İstanbul/TURKEY

Cinetone for least amount of work, but still gives you some control Slog for when you have time HLG when you dont have an 10-bit system But which profile if I really dont want to/can do any editing? Which is best for that direct out of camera footage? The movie equivalent to JPEGs out of camera?

Thank you for the video Matt. My S-Cinetone footage looks very dark. It seems like I always have to bring up the exposure to 1.0 on Premiere and bring down the contrast all the way to like -75 or -100. This can't be right. What am I doing wrong, or are my settings somehow off on the Sony FX3. Please help. Thank you.

8:36 You need to mention this at the beginning of every video for the noobs. People looking up your video are also shooting in 8bit. In this case, HLG3, according to the consensus, the better choice over Slog3, unless for the reasons you mention to use log3. If you do and you're recording 8bit, use a plugin that can get rid of banding and noise.

Thank you for this info! Subscribed.

what about a7iii and its 8bit colours? Is it still a good idea to film in sLog?

Matt - I've been loving your videos! Learning so much, and I have one random question - what are you filming your audio on? sometimes I'll listen audio only and I really appreciate how good they sound!

Matt, you saving our life bro 🤗, what pp you suggest for stills in a7siii with wdr ?

Probably a very silly question but which Picture Profile is S-Cinetone in the Sony A7s3 and/or how would you suggest setting it for this? Thanks!!

Is their a picture profile or lut that will give me a beard like yours ?

2:30 just when I thought it couldn't get worse it did.

Das Model hatte richtig Bock :D

Hey Matt, could you fix the link for the "Color Grading SLOG3 with LUTs Tutorial"? It actually points to the video "SLOG3 Color Grading Tutorial"( You can also see that the same link is pasted twice from one line to another in the description). I also wanted to mentioned how great your tutorials are. I love them! Not only are you a wonderful videographer but you are a phenomenal teacher! I am a big fan of the pace at which you talk and the clarity of your explanations. Keep up the great job!

Hi Matt, thanks for your great explanations. My question: What would be the workflow if I want to mix S-Cinetone and S-Log 3 footage in one film? What LUTs would help?

Hi! 2 questions: flexible ISO is Not available while using PP11? Why Not ? And 2) what Are your Settings in PP11? To use it without - or minimal colorgrading? Thanks soo much

Would be nice if the Atomos Ninja V allowed for 4k60 passthrough to be able to apply a LUT record already color corrected footage to avoid doing anything in post. 😃

Great video. In Davinci, what should I configure when applying CST (or color management) for s-cinetone?

Matt, who are you? This was a video I wished I saw when I got my A7S3. Beautifully lit and exposed set too. Now I'm trying to work through your customisable button menu video so I can switch between S-Cinetone and SLog3 while all other video settings stay the same. Can the Sony buttons toggle between modes, or does there need to be a button for each setting? Edit: Oh yes, liked, subscribed and belled (if that is a word lol)

What are you thoughts on cine 4. Pro compared to scinetone

I believe the biggest question is do you shoot with a 8bit camera or with a 10bit, slog3 with 8bit is not ideal 🎥

Hey Matt! Thanks for the informative video. I'm still learning here, but when you say S-Cinetone are you referring to the Gamma or Color Mode? I show that option on both. I'm using an a6700 shooting in 8bit.

hey man, im looking at getting into vlogging mainly fishing, travel and adventure so mainly outside daytime stuff would you recon slog 3 would be best for that or s-cinetone also i do intend to watch your videos on colour grading.

FX6 will handle slog3 much better. Love this camera.

Exactly what I was looking for :-)

Perfect explanation THNX!

Matt, is there a S-Cinetone mode with HDR? Would love something better than the HLG footage straight out of an iPhone 14 Pro. Thanks.

Just when you thought your videos couldn’t get any more pro.. boom.. you surprise us again..

Hey Matt. For stuff like filming rivers and kayaking would the new Sony a7r5 compete with the Sony as73 since it doesn't have 120fps?

Hey Matt... I just start using my Sony A7siii... Should I start with their newest software update or the original that comes with the camera is fine? Checking out your settings videos now

If you were making footage to go on a 30 foot movie theater screen , or bigger would you choose s log or pro res? ?

Thank you so much for this video. One question: which settings do you use for cinetone?

How do you get rid of the terrible noise SLOG 3 creates in low lighting environments especially at night?

I also heard that using s cinetone is better in an environment where there is only very bright artificial light. And slog is better used with natural light. Is that true?

Why would you not shoot log if delivery is to another editor? Most editors know basic color correction and it is nice to be able to fix the shooters mistakes.

Very informative. Where does HLG stand when compared to s-log 3? My workflow is rec2020 HDR.

So I just started shooting in SLOG 3 on the a7siii -- I also use your LUTS. It would be so helpful if you made a video about how to know WHEN to stray from the native and dual native ISO's...I'm so fearful of noise in post, and we just filmed wedding that had HORRENDOUS lighting during the ceremony. Both really yellow ceiling lighting and huge windows behind the bride/groom. For example - you show the clip above at ISO 40,000 f4... I would think this would be SO noisy?? and what about when the bars show above/below ISO's too high? Ok, I'm done rambling. :) Your content is fantastic !

Where is the S Cinetone for a7r4? There is no firmware update for a7r4 after 2020.

I saw another video where someone used PP8 with SLOG3 but changed the color gamut to s-cinetone. Have you experimented with that at all?

I will be shooting 40min videos. It will done indoors. The lighting is overhead incandescent florescent white bulbs with no covers. The bulbs are exposed with shields on top to direct the light downwards. How should things be set up on a Sony a7c for video? How long does it take to edit videos using slog?

great vid and great info, thanks

hey mate nice vid as always one question for buddy what profile would you use for KZfaq vdoes on a A7S3

Hey matt great video but question…I have to shoot a DJ in a Club tonight would you recommend S Cinetone for that? I’m worried the base iso will be lower so I’m not sure

Thanks

Perfect Thanks 😊

super tuto. Clear now !