S-Cinetone better than S-Log 3? Truth is...

FREE 1-HOUR WEBINAR

MY COLOR GRADING COURSE

A real-world faceoff to help you decide which Sony Picture Profile you should shoot your next project on. The result might shock you. 🤷🏽‍♂️

TIMESTAMPS
0:00 intro
00:28 Sony profile dilemma
2:33 in camera settings
3:29 Sony white paper
4:51 inside resolve
5:55 the showdown
11:00 1-hour webinar
11:23 the showdown continued
20:56 pros and cons
24:16 use cases
25:18 Final verdict

TEAM
Video: @theqazman
Edit/Graphics: @scott_the_dreamer
Sound Design/Mix: Aadil Dar

ABOUT ME
I'm Waqas Qazi, founder and senior colorist at Qazi & Co. I have worked with PRIME VIDEO, ADIDAS, TOYOTA, VIZIO, etc. My mission is to share industry secrets by making fun, easy-to-follow, practical videos on all things color grading.

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SOCIAL

#scinetone #slog3 #davinciresolve

[theqazman]

Let's get one thing right. This is a Mac vs. PC debate so there are no winners here.

But if you want to hear a professional colorist who earns his living by grading and teaching it then listen up.

FACTS 👇🏾

Slog 3 is the undisputed champion between the two if you're not shooting in low light.

When compared to Arri, Red, Panasonic, it's the WORST log profile when you're shooting in low light.

And if you wanna know the WHY behind my claims then watch the video.

Much love. ❤

[maruwaanmoses]

I've yielded great results with both profiles. S-Cinetone I mainly use in low light. I swear it's almost too easy to get an awesome picture with it. Slog3 I usually use outside during the day. The shadow falloff and highlight rolloff is just unbeatable IMO.

[victorpavlovschi]

I have no noise issues with slog3 on the sony zv-e1 when using the base ISOs and exposing correctly. It gives me the best noise performance out of all the profiles because I have more room to overexpose without clipping the highlights. After normalizing everything in post the image is fantastic. The only weak point really is the codec compression. I also feel that exposing just under the point of clipping is quite practical for run and gun situations. Just use the zebras and make sure you are not clipping and worry about fixing the exposure in post. Also the A7IV used here has a dual gain ISO circuit. Switching to the second circuit would have given much better results under the same lighting conditions.

[mlanusu]

Great video. In Davinci, what should I configure when applying CST (or color management) for s-cinetone?

[SupraheadStudio]

Surprisingly, with all the buzz around this real-world faceoff, I haven't seen anyone discussing the HLG profile from Sony. It's a revelation that might shock many videographers. 🤷🏽‍♂ What are your thoughts?

[AutoclaveBeats]

Thank you for the comparison. Am impressed with what S cinetone can do... please do a canon edition

[ok-fdgq]

Thanx for comparison!
I shoot weddings. Recently switch to slog3. I can’t control lights 90% of the time. I use lights to help with exposure.But i got better results with log footage using phantom luts (maybe sounds like ad). I try to expose to 52-54ire on skin with monitoring lut on screen (not baked, baked looks super weird). When i expose on skin overall exposure looks good. Maybe i wrong, but it looks much better then before with cinetone.

[Kaotix_music]

SLOG-3 i use for much larger project where i want that extra bit of control of my image. But for fast turn arounds and even tutorials i make on another youtube channel - S-Cinetone. Ive already shaped, added, subtracted, colored light the way i want it as i shot it, all i have to do is apply my tutorial lut i made for myself because its always in the same place and bam, done, all i have to do is cut/edit and im done. My only issue with S-cinetone is the base ISO for it is so low, i always have to increase my ISO...but S-Cinetone taught me to never be afraid to go away from your Base ISO because....i actually get no noise after my final grade. Its very clean. To your point, S-cinetone is NOT R.709. The color space is slightly wider. Youll also notice the shadows are slightly lifted. You still have to "correct" the image in post but in resolve? Its like 1 node. Maybe 2. Thats it. I just love how fast you can work with S-Cinetone.

[Dannel_Daley]

I was on the fence about this for a while, I definitely appreciate you breaking down the differences. I feel a lot better about choosing to keep things quick and easy and using S-cinetone for quick turnaround work.

[theowlfromduolingo]

I also worked with Arri Log C3 footage and it’s just so much better than Slog 3. Arri‘s Log feels so much more flexible and organic to work with

[TheMrHolmes]

honestly im not trying to become a colorist so S-cinetone is awesome for me to save a lot of unnecessary work that i feel hinders my creative work flow and allows me to do more of what i love and less color grading

[lorenzocodino]

Probably a dumb question but I’m a rookie, which gamma should I input in the CST node for converting the cinetone? searching on the list I only find SLOG, thanks for the help!

[WillCaban]

@theqazman great video!
is shooting in S-log3 using the S-cinetone gamut a possibility to squeeze out more dynamic range but creating a Lut from LUTCalc?

[farzadjahanfard]

I want to mention something that perhaps hasn't been discussed much before: I am colourblind, and I recently got an A6700 to start my YouTube channel and enjoy photography. However, I struggle with colour grading. S-Cinetone works perfectly for me because I simply can't do normal colour grading like someone with a typical vision, so it gives me a good base. I would say that S-Cinetone is very disability-friendly! haha Love your videos, mate. Thank you so much!

[xalouris]

Not a pro myself definitely but in resolve you can mark your footage gamma and color (e.g. slog3, S gamut cine) in the media page or even on other pages by selecting camera, gamma etc and get your footage ready in a good starting point. Only with few clicks…

Am I having any misconception ..?

[sergeypasternachenko]

Very good video - how to save missexposed s-log3. Unfortunately A7IV have no CineEI for proper exposure.

[XVIIsionsProductions]

What color space transform are you supposed to use for S-Cinetone in Davinci?

I’ve used S-Cinetone a bit and S-Log3 more. I was having trouble with highlights in S-Cinetone, they feel blown out even if technically they aren’t but, I think it’s a color space transform issue and not necessarily the S-Cinetone. I’ve used S-Log 3 with a CST workflow the most because the CST gets me a solid base to move forward from and the highlights don’t feel blow out unless I want them to.

Another note on S-Log3, I know a lot of people use Sgamut3.Cine and according to Sony themselves Sgamut3 provides a larger color space than .Cine.
In my experience Sgamut3 doesn’t crush the blacks as much, provides a little better color in my opinion and the highlights are the same if not better than Sgamut3.Cine.

I think the main thing with S-Log3 is to always use a color checker card in the particular light you’re filming in to get the best color reproduction. The one thing I’m not the biggest fan of with Slog3 is it make reds feel nuclear compared to other colors and with that it makes oranges more red than orange so ya.

I work with Slog3 because it’s more familiar and flexible but, I agree S-Cinetone is magical, I just think I need to figure out what CST needs to be used on it and I’ll start using it more, don’t know what to classify the input footage as, rec709, dcip3, sRGB, etc.
My CST always uses Davinci Wide Gamut/Intermediate for the timeline space.

[Ptera.productions]

23:08 First of all: thanks man you probably the best YouTube channel for Color grading 🙌🏼 BUT in this video I heavily have to disagree with one fundamental thing: Gamma is not creating noise!! So there is absolutely no way S-Log3 has more noise than S-Cinetone. Why you have more noise here is cause you didn’t exposed S-Log right. I really recommend everyone who is using S-Log 3 to watch detailed videos about how to expose it properly. Than you’ll have a super clean image. Also the Color correction is super easy. For Davinci users use Color Transformation Tool, for other programs simply use Color correction LUTs like Leeming LUT.
You have to ask yourself the question what is the better profile for your own use:
- you want more flexibility in Color grading = definitely use S-Log 3
- Color grading is not the priority for your project = make your life easier and use S-Cinetone

Hope it helps some of you ✌🏼 Feel free to share your thoughts about my advice!

[sergey_chub]

Hello! Please tell me, I work in DaVinci on a MacBook Air m1, footage on SanDisk ExtreamPro (S-Log3). The computer is clearly not enough power, it becomes more and more difficult to mount. Should I upgrade to McBook Pro M2 Max? Does this make sense? I live in travel, so there is no way to buy a desktop computer.

[GregorMima]

That was an eye opener. Cheers man. Maybe you could have overexposed it to counter the noise. But still just shows me SLOG3 is so overrated. Care to check out HLG3 at some point?