Sony Cameras - Favorite Features & Settings
One of the many reasons I love Sony is their customization and a large selection of camera bodies for every need. It’s nice to have cameras in different form factors and price ranges, yet know the experience and look is going to match well.
Here are some of our favorite setting for video followed by how we mapped them across the models we own.
PICTURE PROFILES
Sony has given us so many options to choose from. I love that Sony offers "log" in their less expensive models. The dynamic range is phenomenal and I've loved the flexibility if you can expose properly. Getting proper exposure is difficult though when using S-log on just the camera. If you under expose using S-log, your footage will be really grainy when you go to increase the exposure in postproduction. Proper expose is actually 1-1.5 stops over, to then be darkened in post. You'll be amazed by the highlight recovery S-log offers.
I typically only use S-log with an external monitor or recorder with a LUT so we can better judge it’s accuracy. For run and gun, we prefer Cine 4, which still has some of the dynamic range S-log offers, but with an image that is significantly closer to your final look. I also like that it doesn’t have the crazy high iso floor of S-log. When exposing for any profiles other than S-log you actually need to take care to protect your highlights, going for perfect exposure or slightly under.
ZEBRAS
Not to be confused with other stripes you might see roaming around in Africa, these are the moving stripes that can help you judge your exposure. Setting Zebras to 100+ is an easy way to check what information will not be present in your image.
They're also helpful when exposing for skin tones. When filming in S-Log, place the brighter half of someone skin in the 70% exposure range. For other profiles aim for 65%.
CLEAR IMAGE ZOOM
This in an invaluable tool when using shooting run and gun and when in HD. It's basically digital crop on the sensor that magnifies your image without losing much quality. I've found it works well on the lower half of the spectrum, but wouldn't recommend pushing it fast past.
FOCUS MAGNIFICATION
A great way to double check focus on a small screen. We like to keep it next to the shutter for quick access.
MEMORY 1 & 2
We won’t get into the specifics on how to, but this a great way to switch between 24p and slow motion (60 or 120fps) or HD and 4k. For example, you could set camera 1 to 4k 24p and Camera two to HD 120fps, just at the switch of a dial.
INTERNAL NEUTRAL DENSITY FILTER
Sony has built an ND filter right into a lot of their fixed lens cameras.
SENSOR STABILIZATION
Amazing stabilization for any lens with IS or not. No need to do anything when the camera romanizes the lens, but when using manual glass you need to indicate it’s focal length for best performance.
MARKER DISPLAY
A useful framing tool if you plan to crop your footage.
With these priority features are mind, we’ve adopted the following settings to each of our cameras.
We would love to hear from other Sony fans! What are some of your favorite features, settings, or hacks?
