Flanders scientific Slog monitoring at DVinfo.net

Leonard Levy · August 15th, 2012, 11:03 AM

Flanders scientific just announced an Slog & Clog monitoring firmware update for all their monitors. Now that's what i call customer service. haven't tried it yet though. I hope its better than the Sony LUTs .

New C-Log and S-Log Monitoring Modes for FSI Monitors

Leonard Levy · September 5th, 2012, 10:07 PM

Well I'm sad to say that I have now tried out the Flanders version of LUTs for SLog and C-Log and I found them less than useable. I've had much better luck just turning up the contrast and saturation and adjusting the brightness to taste. The C-Log LUT was extremely contrasty and there were 2 S-Log LUT's one just wasn't enough and the other was very dark. I don't quite understand what they were goiing for and will contact Flanders about it.

Bruce Schultz · September 7th, 2012, 05:21 PM

Lenny, if it makes you feel any better, I haven't found any LUT monitoring or camera outputs that I've been even a little enthusiastic about. So after bitching about it on a long thread a while back I decided to figure out what could be done to improve S-Log and C-Log monitoring. What appears to be the best solution is to try and roll-yer-own. For Sony that can mean digging into the super-arcane meth lab of CVP File Editor which does allow you to configure Looks that are compatible with F3 camera and can be downloaded to the Camera Data folder. Andy Shipsides has an adequate tutorial on this on the Abel Cine website as well as a link to the Mac version of the program. It would take some time, however, if one can master this program it would be possible to build up to 5 custom LUT's to replace the standard REC709 ones installed in the F3. RED Camera Look files are made through their RedCine-X software, and ARRI has a Look Generator for making Looks in the Alexa.

An easier (but more expensive) way is to use the Pomfort LiveGrade / BlackMagic HDLink combo to make your own LUT's directly from your F3 S-Log output and display on any connected REC709 monitor. Pomfort has an adequate screencast on their website showing this configuration and the ability to do this with a live output. I'm trying to figure out if and how any of these LUT's can be transferred as Looks into the F3 Camera Data folder, but so far it appears that only the CVP File Editor can do this.

It's a shame that this isn't something that can be easily adjusted in-camera using existing LUT's as a starting point, but perhaps that's coming in a future firmware upgrade since there is so much dissatisfaction with the poor representation of LUT's directly out of any camera.

Leonard Levy · September 8th, 2012, 01:09 AM

Thanks Bruce,
Yeah i haven't seen anything either that's of much value yet. I actually have found it quite useful to just crank up saturation and contrast on the monitor and adjust brightness to taste. It allows me and the client to get a pretty good idea of what the basic shot can look like (especially if you color balance through the PP version of Slog.) Highlights blow out like crazy but you can tell what's really there by looking at the waveform, zebras or just going back to defaults in the monitor. The poor man's solution but pretty workable,

August 15th, 2012, 11:03 AM	#1
Leonard Levy Trustee Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: USA Posts: 1,684	Flanders scientific Slog monitoring Flanders scientific just announced an Slog & Clog monitoring firmware update for all their monitors. Now that's what i call customer service. haven't tried it yet though. I hope its better than the Sony LUTs . New C-Log and S-Log Monitoring Modes for FSI Monitors

September 5th, 2012, 10:07 PM	#2
Leonard Levy Trustee Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: USA Posts: 1,684	Re: Flanders scientific Slog monitoring Well I'm sad to say that I have now tried out the Flanders version of LUTs for SLog and C-Log and I found them less than useable. I've had much better luck just turning up the contrast and saturation and adjusting the brightness to taste. The C-Log LUT was extremely contrasty and there were 2 S-Log LUT's one just wasn't enough and the other was very dark. I don't quite understand what they were goiing for and will contact Flanders about it.

September 7th, 2012, 05:21 PM	#3
Bruce Schultz Major Player Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Malibu, CA Posts: 480	Re: Flanders scientific Slog monitoring Lenny, if it makes you feel any better, I haven't found any LUT monitoring or camera outputs that I've been even a little enthusiastic about. So after bitching about it on a long thread a while back I decided to figure out what could be done to improve S-Log and C-Log monitoring. What appears to be the best solution is to try and roll-yer-own. For Sony that can mean digging into the super-arcane meth lab of CVP File Editor which does allow you to configure Looks that are compatible with F3 camera and can be downloaded to the Camera Data folder. Andy Shipsides has an adequate tutorial on this on the Abel Cine website as well as a link to the Mac version of the program. It would take some time, however, if one can master this program it would be possible to build up to 5 custom LUT's to replace the standard REC709 ones installed in the F3. RED Camera Look files are made through their RedCine-X software, and ARRI has a Look Generator for making Looks in the Alexa. An easier (but more expensive) way is to use the Pomfort LiveGrade / BlackMagic HDLink combo to make your own LUT's directly from your F3 S-Log output and display on any connected REC709 monitor. Pomfort has an adequate screencast on their website showing this configuration and the ability to do this with a live output. I'm trying to figure out if and how any of these LUT's can be transferred as Looks into the F3 Camera Data folder, but so far it appears that only the CVP File Editor can do this. It's a shame that this isn't something that can be easily adjusted in-camera using existing LUT's as a starting point, but perhaps that's coming in a future firmware upgrade since there is so much dissatisfaction with the poor representation of LUT's directly out of any camera.

September 8th, 2012, 01:09 AM	#4
Leonard Levy Trustee Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: USA Posts: 1,684	Re: Flanders scientific Slog monitoring Thanks Bruce, Yeah i haven't seen anything either that's of much value yet. I actually have found it quite useful to just crank up saturation and contrast on the monitor and adjust brightness to taste. It allows me and the client to get a pretty good idea of what the basic shot can look like (especially if you color balance through the PP version of Slog.) Highlights blow out like crazy but you can tell what's really there by looking at the waveform, zebras or just going back to defaults in the monitor. The poor man's solution but pretty workable,