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Manipulating color in the Cinealta 900


Chris IMPOSTOR

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I will be shooting a short scene this weekend in a decrepit old alley with Sony's Cinealta 900. We will not have the good fortune of a generator, so we will be unable to light the subjects (two actors), and achieving the look we want is going to be quite a task. We will be in Atlanta, but the director wants the look to be more Northeast industrial, a kind of steely gray (think Fincher's 7), but the weather report calls for clear skies and blazing sun. We will have a giant silk, reflectors, etc. but I am wondering if I can adjust the camera setttings in the matrix to help achieve the mood we want. I know that we will do some manipulating in post, but I want to make sure I do everything I can to get the original image is as close to the mood and look the director wants. Can anybody impart some knowledge or advice? Thanks!

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The F900/3 version has a Saturation menu item that allows you to desaturate the image overall. Just beware that it also desaturates your color bars, so you may want to first record normal color bars and then lower the saturation.

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The F900/3 version has a Saturation menu item that allows you to desaturate the image overall. Just beware that it also desaturates your color bars, so you may want to first record normal color bars and then lower the saturation.

 

Thanks, David. I will run some test shots tomorrow.

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  • 4 weeks later...

Just wanted to say thanks again, David. I desaturated slightly then shot at 1/1000 shutter speed, balanced for indoor tungsten to give it a cold, blue feel, and ended up achieving exactly the look the director wanted. The blood and sweat and action (with the fast shutter speed it really kicks) all look fantastic. In fact, without the blazing sun, I don't think we would have achieved as good a look (unless we flooded the whole alley with HMIs, but we didn't have those kind of resources). Go figure. Anyway, thanks again, David.

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Dave, you mentioned recording color bars without desaturation before recording. Is this to calibrate the system in post? I understand the need for color bars in an analog based system like beta SP etc, but in a digital format, are color bars nesisary? Or is that advice more to avoid confusion during editting?

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Dave, you mentioned recording color bars without desaturation before recording. Is this to calibrate the system in post? I understand the need for color bars in an analog based system like beta SP etc, but in a digital format, are color bars nesisary? Or is that advice more to avoid confusion during editting?

 

Well, anyone (like the producer) who gets downconverted dailies on DVD or whatever may set-up their TV set to the desaturated color bars by accident.

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I have had quite good look going with a preset white balance and using a slightly lower color temp. I think the 900 has filters for 6200, 5600, 4700, 3200 (I guessing) so to make it blue I might use 4700.

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