Eddie Nguyen
S-Log3 records a flat, grey-looking image that holds a lot more of the brightest and darkest parts of a scene. You then grade it back to normal contrast in Resolve. The upside is control. The catch is that log punishes lazy exposure: shoot it too dark and the shadows turn to noise the moment you grade.
I don’t shoot everything in log. If it’s a quick job or I won’t have time to grade, I use S-Cinetone and get a finished look straight out of the camera. When the light is hard, with a bright window behind someone or a sunset, log is worth the extra step.
Turn it on
On the A7C II, go to MENU → Shooting → Image Quality/Rec → Log Shooting Setting and set Log Shooting to On (Flexible ISO).
- Colour gamut: S-Gamut3.Cine. It’s a little narrower than S-Gamut3 and easier to bring back to normal colour for YouTube and Instagram.
- Embed LUT File: I leave it off. I grade from the log file and don’t need a LUT baked into the metadata.
On older Sony bodies the same setting lives in Picture Profile. PP8 is S-Log3 with S-Gamut3.Cine.
Record 10-bit
Log needs 10-bit. In 8-bit, the smooth gradients of a wall or a sky fall apart into bands as soon as you add contrast in the grade. Pick a 10-bit 4:2:2 format, like XAVC S-I or XAVC HS 4K at 10-bit, and keep the shutter at 1/50 for 25p.
Expect a higher ISO
In S-Log3 the camera won’t go below ISO 800. That’s fine indoors, but outside in daylight it’s far too much light. You’ll need an ND filter, usually a variable ND, to keep the aperture you want and the 1/50 shutter.
Monitor with a LUT
A log picture on the screen is hard to judge: everything looks grey and you can’t tell what’s in focus or properly lit. Turn on a display LUT so the screen shows normal contrast while the camera still records log. Sony’s s709 is a good default. It only changes what you see, not the file.
Expose brighter than Sony’s numbers
Sony places 18% grey at 41% and 90% white at 61% in S-Log3. Exposed exactly there, footage from these sensors looks noisy in the shadows once graded. So most A7-series shooters, me included, expose brighter and bring it back down in Resolve.
How I do it:
Set a zebra as a clip warning. Zebra Level → Custom, with the lower limit at 94+. If stripes show up on something that matters, like a face or a white shirt, it’s about to clip. Bring the exposure down.
Expose one to two stops over. In practice the exposure meter sits around +1.7 for me. The picture looks washed out on a plain log view, which is why the display LUT matters.
Watch skin first. If the face looks right and nothing important has zebras, the shot is fine.
Check the histogram. It should lean to the right without piling up against the right edge.
Set white balance by hand
Don’t leave white balance on auto in log. It drifts between shots, and every clip needs its own correction later. Set a Kelvin value, 5600K for daylight or whatever matches your key light, and keep it there for the whole scene.
The checklist
Log Shooting On, S-Gamut3.Cine.
10-bit 4:2:2, 25p, 1/50.
ND filter outside, because ISO 800 is the floor.
s709 LUT on the screen.
Zebra at 94+, expose one to two stops over.
White balance in Kelvin.
Then the work moves to Resolve. That part is in grading S-Log3 with a CST sandwich.