P4P, can we squeeze 14 stops of dynamic range from a raw file?

[Tomas Wangen]

Thanks for updating this, Tomas. I figured the mpeg might be retaining slightly less dynamic range then the jpeg, and I guess it is, though the difference is small enough to be largely inconsequential. 12 stops of dynamic range is definitely nothing to complain about, and would be hard to better -- the m4/3 sensors on the inspire x5 line probably only get you about 1 stop more if shooting in raw/prores.

It's nice to see dlog is now a useful tool again, even if it has downsides (like color compression and subsequent banding when grading) that might advocate against it's use in every circumstance.

I would say that for low-contrast scenes (say less that 6-7 stops) none ettr will probably better use the compact tonal range at the top of the spectrum. For anything else I do think dlog now is a safer bet.

 

[Andrei V]

I think the other potential issue with dlog is low light scenes -- I've posted about it in another thread, but even at ISO 100, dlog footage has quite noticable shadow in low light (probably because the shadows are being boosted a fair bit).

 

[Tomas Wangen]

I think the other potential issue with dlog is low light scenes -- I've posted about it in another thread, but even at ISO 100, dlog footage has quite noticable shadow in low light (probably because the shadows are being boosted a fair bit).

It would be interesting to compare a lowlight scene shot at ISO 100 dlog and ISO 400 none (same shutterspeed) and see how the noise compares after aligning the tonality in post.

 

[Andrei V]

Yes, I'll try to film some tests along those lines next time I'm out. I suspect dlog may turn out a bit cleaner simply because of the way the DJI's video encoding seems to lead to extreme macro blocking in the shadows below 10 IRE.