Low light ProRes footage

[ianwood]

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Evaluating the M3 Cine in low light some more. Results are decent. Normally, I would shoot this on the Inspire and X5S in C-DNG but this isn't too bad and the drone is so much more stable.

This test footage is 5.1K ProRes 422HQ, 50fps, 360º shutter, WB 5600. Some is at 96% speed and some at 48%. Note the 360 shutter at 50fps is temporally similar to a 180 shutter at 24fps and should allow as much light. It's color graded. No noise correction. No sharpening. No flicker removal. I purposefully added a little more color correction than I might normally to see how it holds up. However, I am a minimalist when it comes to color correction as I usually add only a neutral grade to preserve detail before passing it off to professional colorists. I simply cannot bring myself to do the holy saturation, bleeding eyeballs, HDR seizure that some people prefer.

Some observations:

- Flickering from street lights. I think this is due to 50fps.
- Noise is manageable up to 800 ISO. At 1600, it is interfering with detail.
- f2.8 is soft especially on the sides. Not hugely surprising.
- Light blooms (street lights, cars, etc.) are blobby and not very pleasing.
- Decent shadow detail when pulled up.
- Lens distortion is noticeable towards edges.

 

[SmilingOgre]

All in all I see a very pleasant image which appears to be accurate per color. I consider this exceptional from a pro-sumer drone. Good dynamic range per mho. All observations made are quite minimal also per mho. I truly wish I could play with the unaltered file in Resolve. That would tell me what I could achieve with it and help me make a decision on purchasing the drone.

 

[brett8883]

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Evaluating the M3 Cine in low light some more. Results are decent. Normally, I would shoot this on the Inspire and X5S in C-DNG but this isn't too bad and the drone is so much more stable.

This test footage is 5.1K ProRes 422HQ, 50fps, 360º shutter, WB 5600. Some is at 96% speed and some at 48%. Note the 360 shutter at 50fps is temporally similar to a 180 shutter at 24fps and should allow as much light. It's color graded. No noise correction. No sharpening. No flicker removal. I purposefully added a little more color correction than I might normally to see how it holds up. However, I am a minimalist when it comes to color correction as I usually add only a neutral grade to preserve detail before passing it off to professional colorists. I simply cannot bring myself to do the holy saturation, bleeding eyeballs, HDR seizure that some people prefer.

Some observations:

- Flickering from street lights. I think this is due to 50fps.
- Noise is manageable up to 800 ISO. At 1600, it is interfering with detail.
- f2.8 is soft especially on the sides. Not hugely surprising.
- Light blooms (street lights, cars, etc.) are blobby and not very pleasing.
- Decent shadow detail when pulled up.
- Lens distortion is noticeable towards edges.

What was the reason for shooting 50 fps? Why didn’t you just shoot in 24/25 fps and use a 180 degree shutter?

 

[ianwood]

What was the reason for shooting 50 fps? Why didn’t you just shoot in 24/25 fps and use a 180 degree shutter?

I almost always overcrank aerial footage I shoot for stock. Most often I shoot 30 for 24 which yields a barely noticeable slowing to 80% and just makes it feel smoother. When I do shoot 50 for 24 with a 360 shutter, it means I have the option of either 96% and 48% speed.

 

[Ralph thompson]

There’s a RED website about the best shutter speed to avoid flicker

RED Tools | RED Digital Cinema

Convenient, multipurpose tools designed for use by filmmakers and camera operators to outline best practices in camera set-up for a variety of shooting situations. Available tools: Crop Factor, Recording Time, Flicker Free Video, Depth of Field, Panning Speed and Expusure.

www.red.com

It recommends 1/60 in NA but if that’s not possible then 1/30 would avoid flicker. Sorry not an expert, you may already be aware of this. Beautiful video, thanks for sharing.

 

[brett8883]

I almost always overcrank aerial footage I shoot for stock. Most often I shoot 30 for 24 which yields a barely noticeable slowing to 80% and just makes it feel smoother. When I do shoot 50 for 24 with a 360 shutter, it means I have the option of either 96% and 48% speed.

So why don’t you shoot in 48 FPS if you are always exporting in 24? That way you could match up perfectly. I’m not trying to be critical I just trying to understand your methodology. Do you use a 360 shutter even if you have plenty of light?

 

[ianwood]

There’s a RED website about the best shutter speed to avoid flicker

RED Tools | RED Digital Cinema

Convenient, multipurpose tools designed for use by filmmakers and camera operators to outline best practices in camera set-up for a variety of shooting situations. Available tools: Crop Factor, Recording Time, Flicker Free Video, Depth of Field, Panning Speed and Expusure.

www.red.com

It recommends 1/60 in NA but if that’s not possible then 1/30 would avoid flicker. Sorry not an expert, you may already be aware of this. Beautiful video, thanks for sharing.

I've used this calculator a lot. Just not this one time!

So why don’t you shoot in 48 FPS if you are always exporting in 24? That way you could match up perfectly. I’m not trying to be critical I just trying to understand your methodology. Do you use a 360 shutter even if you have plenty of light?

I almost always shoot 180 but for 50fps, I will use a longer shutter to help maintain the temporal feel of 24 if I want to maintain the option to play it at 96%.

As for 50 vs 48, it's such a slight difference for drone shots that it doesn't really matter in my opinion.

 

[Ralph thompson]

I’m guessing u were just testing/experimenting with the Cine, I’m envious, just can’t afford it right now. But if you’d just used 24 fps there wouldn’t have been a flicker issue, correct? I wrestled with this for an indoor job where I only had one kick at the can, had to get it first time but needed a higher frame rate.