I needed to share some feedback on the F3 now that I’ve owned one for 8 months and worked on a variety of projects with it from interviews, feature length films, artistic music videos, and even photography (yes with the F3). For a Super 35mm motion picture camera you might expect rigid processes and finagling but the F3 is far from it once you learn how to use all the features of the camera and combine them.

GAMMA MODES

I’m now only exclusively shoot using gamma modes 1,3,4 with custom white balance temperatures dialed in. This let’s me cool down or warm up a shot depending on what I need, and especially outdoors where clouds are passing by creating shade and sunlight sporadically. I seem to use 4400, 5200, and 3200 the most for some reason. Gamma modes 1,3,4 will record signals above 100 IRE making them illegal for broadcast but adjusting ‘levels’ or ‘curves’ in post, or by using a shoulder plugin or some other legal NTSC plugin in your favourite NLE you can make your signal legal again. I like to spread my signal over a max area for capture (0-110 IRE) so I know I am clipping less and given some freedom later. To see the curves I put this handy document together; www.starcentral.ca/forums/SonyPMW.pdf

ND and GAIN

I own a full set of 4×4 and even circular ND filters but rarely need them with the F3 since between the built in ND filters (3 and 6 stops equiv.) and gain up/down settings (and the fact F3 is virtually noise free) I can accomodate a variety of exposure levels indoors and out to get my desired f-stop and resulting DOF. Never in a million years would anyone ever want to use GAIN to shoot (at least I never did in fear of introducing noise) but since the sensor of the F3 is so clean at high ISO, I can switch to the MAX built in ND filter then use my GAIN to bring the image back to where I want it, for example if I want to keep my lens iris at a specific f-stop. Indoors I’m typically shooting with f5.6-8 or 11 on wide shots and f2.8 on medium or close up shots. Outdoors are similar, but I lighten up on the DOF and tend to shoot closed down by 2-3 stops. (backgrounds are usually much further back anyway or infinite, whereas indoors you are in closer quarters).

SHOOTING THE SUN

The first thing I started shooting with the F3 were sunset/sunrise time lapses. A very good option I found for shooting the sun in the sky under custom picture profile is to select the FL setting under MATRIX. Most other MATRIX settings create a fringing blaring ring of ugly yellow chroma artifacting. Thankfully the FL mode seems to solve this.

EXPOSURE

Everyone’s process for image exposure is different, but for anyone who has read my post here on using a light meter for digital image acquisition knows I am a big fan of using it as my guide. I won’t get into too much detail how/why to use one here but will say its especially useful for scouting locations before even bringing or setting up the camera. Its just a guide, it works for me, and I will never stop using a lightmeter on my shoots. With my lenses I’ve calibrated my F3 @ 24fps 1/48th or 180 degrees 0db, 0 ND to be 800 ISO, or require 42 footcandles of light @ f4 to expose a grey card at 50%. I can’t and don’t drag around ext. monitors with waveform monitors or other tools built in so I am using what I have.

After I take a meter reading I set my lens accordingly, then use ZEBRA to see what’s over 100. Blaring hot sources or blown windows a little over 100 IRE do not bother me most of the time. Its what works for the scene (ie. do you really want to see what’s outside that window for your indoor shot? It can be distracting if not out of focus.) I also hover the built in marker function over the subjects face to see where it falls, I like 40-60 IRE depending on skin color and lighting angle. Last I cycle through my gamma modes to find one that evens out the balance of the scene between subject, background, and other elements.

Gamma 1 is great for high contrast situations. I would use this for a city shot with clouds in the shot, or maybe a subject standing behind a brigher background.

Gamma 3 is like REC 709 but illegal. Its great to record over 100 IRE and is a middle of the road curve I try to shoot 85% of the time with.

Gamma 4 is really good for low light situations, like indoors with limited lighting, or even with lighting. Interestingly, I’ve used it outdoors to lift the levels of the skin without increasing the brightness of the surroundings. I like this one a lot.

Why gamma curves? If you do it in-camera you don’t have to do it in post. And since I record to SXS cards (which is 8-bit) any grading I do in post I want to use to stylize my images, not fix my exposure. This is a BIG THING people when people talk about 8-bit not holding up for post. If you nail your exposure what you have left in post is some room to do some grading and styling work without tearing apart the image. My last check is the histogram but I don’t take what I see there as gospel. If you are shooting a high-key scene then YES your waves will be bunched up to the right for example, so one must be careful using a histogram to judge exposure.

Below, a frame taken from a music video I directed and shot recently for artist  Mike D., song titled BACK IN TIME. Metered f8 (shade side) on subject, Gamma 3 used, 5200 white balance, built-in ND1 filter .9 (3 stops), taking lens set to f2.8.