Do you have a Sony camera and have wondered
what the Sony Picture Profile stands for and
which settings you can change in it, or what
terms like Gamma, Knee or Color Depth stand
for.
If so, then take a few minutes to watch this
video.
I'll try to explain to you in a simple way
how you can use and customize the Picture
Profile.
Everything I say today applies equally to
the APS-C models like the A6400 or A6600,
as well as to the full frame cameras like
the A7III.
If you are new here, my name is Werner, I
live in the Italian Alps and this channel
is about filmmaking tutorials and reviews
of consumer cameras.
Consider subscribing if you are interested
in these topics and have fun with this video.
Before I begin, I would just like to clarify
a few things.
I am not a professional colorist and in this
video I will explain many things in a simplified
way so that everyone can understand.
If you want to correct or add something, you
are welcome to do so in the comments.
You can find the Picture Profile settings
in the Camera Settings.
When you open the Picture Profile menu, you
will find 9 to 10 presets.
They are named PP1 to PP10.
As already mentioned, these are presets.
If you intend to change the settings to suit
your needs, it doesn't really matter whether
you use PP1 or PP5 for this.
The result will be the same.
when you have decided which preset to use
you can open the corresponding settings menu.
You can change the following settings here:
Black Level, Gamma, Black Gamma, Knee, Color
Mode, Saturation, Color Phase, Color Depth
and Detail.
I would like to begin with the most important
setting, the Gamma.
So what does gamma or the so-called gamma
curve stand for?
The gamma curve shows the relationship between
the input signal level and the output signal
level.
This means that the camera converts the subject's
brightness signal into an electrical signal.
This is then sent back to the monitor, which
converts it back into a brightness signal
and displays it as an image.
Let's show the whole thing as a curve.
Let's assume that a part of your image is
rather dark, so the input signal is rather
on the left side of our x-axis.
The input signal is then converted to an output
signal, which is then displayed as a dark
spot in the image.
It is located in our coordinate system, let's
say about here.
If an area of your image is much brighter,
then the input signal is converted into an
output signal which is then displayed brighter
in the image.
We could then display this approximately here.
So far everything seems clear and simple.
In order for the image to be displayed properly,
the ratio between the level of the input signal
and the level of the output signal should
be more or less proportional, in other words,
it should represent a line like this.
Unfortunately, CRT monitors do not have such
a linear ratio when displaying the image.
Rather, these monitors produce such a curve.
LCD monitors and OLED monitors have been adapted
to the curve of CRT monitors.
To counteract this, the camera generates an
opposite curve when recording.
A video gamma curve therefore looks something
like this.
The result on the monitor is then again more
or less linear.
If we now look at the possible settings under
Gamma, the gamma curves Movie, Still and ITU709
correspond most closely to such a standard
gamma curve.
Movie corresponds to the standard settings
for video recording, Still creates the high-contrast
look of a photo, and ITU709 corresponds to
the standard for HD televisions.
The problem with these standard gamma curves
is that the image has a very limited dynamic
range.
This means that if there are very dark and
very bright areas in the same frame, details
get lost.
If you set your exposure for the dark areas,
the bright areas will burn out and no details
will be captured.
Anything above 100 or 109 on our curve won't
have any details, but will be completely burnt
out; actually, modern sensors like the one
in your Sony camera can capture a much wider
dynamic range.
To capture more details in the bright areas
of the image and thus increase the dynamic
range, you can use a different gamma curve.
And that brings us to SLog.
Slog is a gamma curve optimized for the dynamic
range of the sensor.
It can capture much more details in the very
bright parts of the image.
The gamma curve looks something like this.
You can see that for the brighter area, an
input signal on the X-axis is now converted
to an output signal that is now displayed
darker than in our previous curve.
This allows you to capture details in much
brighter areas of the image.
Because the gamma curve is now much flatter,
this results in an image with much less contrast.
The result will look strange and flat.
That's why you have to correct it considerably
in post.
There is also another problem.
You squeeze much more dynamic range into the
same container.
In fact, your SLog recording does not result
in much larger files.
Slog also uses a higher minimum ISO sensitivity.
For these reasons, there are significantly
more artifacts and noise, especially in the
dark areas of the image.
Also, the heavy grading required by the flat
look can lead to banding, especially since
these cameras only have 8-bit color depth.
Sony distinguishes between SLOG2 and Slog3,
where Slog3 stands for an even flatter gamma
curve.
For the mentioned reasons, Slog3 is not really
recommended for cameras like the A6400 or
the Sony A7iii. if by the way, you are interested
in the cameras and lenses I would currently
recommend for video, take a look at the links
in the video description.
as far as slog is concerned, you should keep
the following in mind: SLOG requires a heavy
grading in post, artifacts and image noise
are more likely to occur.
In return, you get much more dynamic range.
For best results you should not expose your
image the same way as in Standard Movie Mode.
Instead, you should overexpose your image.
This way you will get better control of the
noise.
Slog is not an optimal tool for every situation,
but mainly useful for shots that require a
high dynamic range, that is, shots with very
bright and very dark areas in the same image.
For example, when shooting in low light, so
when all areas of your scene are rather dark,
you don't need a high dynamic range and the
disadvantages of SLOG clearly exceed the advantages.
Since slog has the mentioned disadvantages,
there is also a kind of intermediate solution
between the standard gamma curve and slog,
the cine gamma curves.
Sony cameras have a total of 4 of these: Cine1,
Cine2, Cine3 and Cine4.
These curves also have a flatter gradient
and therefore lead to more dynamic range.
However, they are relatively close to the
standard curve.
Therefore, the resulting image is also richer
in contrast, easier to grade, and there is
no heavy image noise as with SLOG.
HLG gamma curves are also available on the
current Sony cameras.
With HLG curves it is possible to record and
play back with high dynamic range without
having to grade.
But your monitor and your editing software
must support HDR.
Even if this should not be the case, you can
of course use these gamma curves, as they
lead to good results overall.
Let us now look at the Color Mode.
Here you can choose the color tones or the
color space.
In simple terms, this is about how colors
are displayed and how they are assigned.
A color space can basically be larger or smaller.
ITU709 is the standard for HD televisions.
It corresponds approximately to the color
space sRGB and is of course intended for use
with the ITU709 gamma curve.
BT2020 is actually supposed to be the new
standard.
This color space is much larger than ITU709.
It is suitable for HDR recordings, and is
therefore well suited for the HLG gamma curves.
S-Gamut are very large color spaces from Sony
that are suitable for SLog.
Pro corresponds to the colour spaces of professional
Sony camcorders and this mode is therefore
particularly suitable if you are recording
with such camcorders at the same time.
According to Sony, this mode is intended for
use in combination with the ITU709 Gamma Curve.
Cinema creates a slightly desaturated look
and is good for the CineGammas and for easy
grading.
Of course, you can work with the gamma/colour
combinations that will give you the best results
for you personally.
Colour perception can be very subjective.
Now let's move on to the other settings.
I hope everything has been clear so far.
Personally, I believe that for understanding
the Picture profiles, the gamma curve is by
far the most important setting.
I will therefore go into the other settings
a little more briefly.
Black Level: Here you can set the black level,
which is basically the brightness of the darkest
area of the image.
A positive value leads to a faded look.
Black then appears more like a dark grey.
A negative value, on the other hand, emphasizes
the black tones and gives them more punch.
Black Gamma: With this value you can change
the shape of the gamma curve in the dark areas.
With Range you can set how large the range
you want to adjust should be.
Narrow stands for a small range close to black.
With Wide, on the other hand, you change a
larger range of the curve.
A positive value increases the brightness,
a negative value results in a darker image,
always related to the area of the curve that
is adjusted.
Knee: Here you can adjust the gamma curve
in the bright areas.
The goal should always be to avoid overexposure.
You can select an automatic function for the
knee point, which is the point at which the
curve becomes flatter, or you can adjust it
completely manually.
In the manual settings you can also determine
how steep the curve should continue, this
section is also called slope.
Saturation: Stands for the saturation of the
colors and does not need to be explained further
here.
With Color Phase you can adjust the Color
Hue.
This changes all colors.
A positive value turns the color wheel towards
red, a negative value towards green.
Color Depth: Here you can adjust the luminance
of the individual color channels, similar
to an photo editing software like Lightroom.
A positive value decreases the luminance of
the individual color channel.
A negative value increases the luminance.
For example, if you increase the value for
red, the color looks darker and deeper.
If you decrease the value, the color appears
lighter and softer.
Detail: Finally a very important setting.
With Details you can basically adjust the
sharpness.
It is not about whether more or less details
are visible in the picture.
Rather, the edges in the image are artificially
emphasized.
This makes the image appear sharper.
For video recordings I would rather recommend
a negative value.
The image looks more cinematic and if you
really need it you can sharpen your image
in post.
Let's recap the most important points:
Under Picture Profile you will find a number
of presets that you can adjust to your own
taste.
The most important setting is the gamma or
gamma curve.
This curve represents the relationship between
the input signal and the video output signal.
A standard gamma curve results in recordings
with a very limited dynamic range.
The gamma curves Slog, HLG and Cine lead to
a higher dynamic range.
However, the shots have to be graded.
Gamma curves such as Slog only make sense
if a higher dynamic range is required, because
they also have disadvantages such as image
noise or extensive grading.
In addition, the image should be exposed in
a different way for optimal results.
And that's it for today.
If the video was interesting for you, give
me a Like as feedback and see you next time!
