Doug Jensen's Sony PXW-FS7 Master Class

[James R. Wilson Sr.]

Thanks Doug. I'm going to play a little with my Canon glass on the FS7 and see how it goes. My philosophy has always been not to scrimp (not that my L lenses are scrimping), just bite the bullet and buy the best gear and accessories you can find. That way one doesn't find on'e self wondering where in the production chain a lack of quality is coming from.

Honestly, I'm not terribly excited about dropping 40K on my next lens, but 4-6 would be an acceptable range. I need some more experience so I don't venture out and buy something that doesn't fit my subject matter.

[Doug Jensen]

Jim, I agree with everything you've said.

I would start by deciding what focal lengths I needed and at what ranges where I want the focal lengths to overlap. That's very important in order to avoid constantly having to change lenses. Then I would eliminate everything that didn't have a constant maximum aperture of at least f/2.8 or maybe f/4 for longer lenses. And then I would decide what mount I wanted. And finally I would choose the best lenses I could afford that fit all the other criteria.

I can live with the following four lenses as my workhorses for 90% of everything I shoot:

11-16
15-45
50-150
300

[Bruce S. Yarock]

Doug
I copied your third scene file from the field guide (Universal-1) and installed and saved it. I've been shooting a sports project for the last week, and like the scene file. Yesterday I tried to use an mlut, but when I go to the Video menu and choose "monitor Lut" it doesn't let me in. The area is greyed out and the following message pos up "can not proceed".
I didn't download the scene file from your site, but did copy it as written in your field guide. Also couldn't find answer on tutorial.
What am I not doing correctly?
Thanks
Bruce Yarock
P.S I'm getting a lot of good info both from the tutorial and field guide

[Bruce S. Yarock]

I called Sony Pro services and they told me you can only use an mlut in cine I mode? Is that correct?
Bruce Yarock

[Doug Jensen]

Originally Posted by Bruce S. Yarock

Doug
I copied your third scene file from the field guide (Universal-1) and installed and saved it. I've been shooting a sports project for the last week, and like the scene file. Yesterday I tried to use an mlut, but when I go to the Video menu and choose "monitor Lut" it doesn't let me in. The area is greyed out and the following message pos up "can not proceed".
I didn't download the scene file from your site, but did copy it as written in your field guide. Also couldn't find answer on tutorial.
What am I not doing correctly?
Thanks
Bruce Yarock
P.S I'm getting a lot of good info both from the tutorial and field guide

Hi Bruce,

You can't use an MLUT at the same time you are using a Scene File, nor would you want to. It would be counter productive to do so. You can only use an MLUT if you're using the camera's Cine EI shooting mode. This point is made a few times in the training video and in my book, but I know it is a lot of information to absorb all at once so things can get a little confusing when you first start out with the camera. It might be helpful to go back and watch chapters 2 and 14-17 again. I'll bet they make more sense now that you have more experience with the camera.

BTW, don't forget that the Universal-1 scene file is going to require some grading in post, so if you're not prepared to that, you might be better off starting off with one of the other two scene files I provide because they are designed to be WYSIWYG. Good luck.

[Bruce S. Yarock]

Thanks,Doug.
That's what I did...went back to those chapters and watched again. And I found the section where you specifically mention that mlut can only be used in cine I.
I had been using a rec 709 setting similar to your first scene file, but wanted to try something with slog and more latitude . Although I don't edit, my partner and also one of the guys who I hire occasionally, both edit and do grading. After some post work, we were real happy with the results, using your third scene file. I'll load the other two and try them.
Bruce Yarock

[Doug Jensen]

I also like Universal-1 the best. I use it almost exclusively on the FS7 and rarely ever shoot with the Cine EI mode. There are some many limitations on gotchas with the Cine EI mode that it just isn't worth the extra effort, and I'm not even sure the final results are actually better anyway even if you do jump correctly through all the hoops in post. With Universal-1 you get the benefits of S-LOG's dynamic range and highlight handling, but the grade is a lot closer to finished right out of the camera.

For times when you already know what your final look will be, I think it is better to come as close as you can to that goal right in the camera, before any compression or image degradation, and then push it over the top in post. That's my philosophy anyway and it works great with the 10-bit XAVC codecs.

[Bruce S. Yarock]

Doug,
What's the 300 mil lens you mentioned?
Bruce Yarock

[Doug Jensen]

It's a hard to find RED 300mm f/2.9 prime with a PL mount like this one:
RED Pro 300mm Lens | Rent Red Cameras | Cine Camera

I probably shoot more with that lens on my camera than all my other lenses combined. Beautiful images and a pleasure to work with, it is unlike any 300mm SLR lens. However, as much as I love it, I'm moving to a longer lens very soon, so if you are interested, it might be going up for sale. I'll be asking $3100 when the time comes to let her go.

[Bruce S. Yarock]

What kind of adapter do you need to use that lens on fs7?
Bruce Yarock

[Doug Jensen]

I had an old PL to e-mount adapter made my Hot Rod Cameras that had been been sitting in a box since I sold my FS100 a couple of years ago. It suddenly found new life with the FS7.

[Bruce S. Yarock]

Doug
Have you ever used any of the Alpha lenses with adapters? Any experience with the sal70-400g? It looks like it might be for good for some of the stuff I do, but I heard that there were problems with the FS7.
Plus it's not par focal, right?
Bruce Yarock

[Doug Jensen]

Bruce, no I don't have any experience with Alpha lenses to share. I'm sure some are good and some are bad . . . but I personally won't be investing in any Alpha or e-mount lenses because they aren't going to be mainstream enough when it comes time to move to a new camera or sell the lenses. Plus that particular 70-400 doesn't have a constant maximum aperture so that makes it dead in the water as far as I'm concerned no matter what kind of mount it has. Now that there are dozens of affordable cameras that are capable of making nice images, investing in the right lenses is more important than ever. My 2 cents.

[Bruce S. Yarock]

Doug,
So for the situations where I need to be able zoom and re frame, plus need more than the 200 mm on my sony kit lenses,
I guess I'd have to do the following-
Get the 1.4 or 2x extender and use my canon 70-200 f2.8. Short of spending a huge amount of money on a cine zoom, it looks like that's my only solution. But with the Canon , you lose af. I could get an extender for my 18-200's, but at full zoom, it would be super slow...f6.3 plus one or two stops for the extenders.
Any other ideas?
Bruce Yarock

[Doug Jensen]

An extender on the 70-200 sounds like a good alternative if you have enough light for it. That's nice lens and you don't need the AF anyway because you will be better off in the long run weaning yourself off of AF.

Also, the FS7 may be the wrong camera for the job. You might get better results with an EX1R, PMW-160, or another camera with a smaller sensor and longer zoom range built-in. The days of one camera being good for everything are long over.