S-Log
Capture everything with S-Log from Sony
Overview
The evolution of camera technology means that the sensors in modern cameras are now capable of matching, or even surpassing, the quality of 35mm film. The problem is that existing video formats don’t support the vast amount of information captured by a modern camera sensor. The result: reduced dynamic range and colour information.
S-Log is a gamma curve designed to record and transmit as much of the information recorded by your camera’s sensor as possible. S-Log breathes life into your images by preserving the wide colour gamut and dynamic range recorded by the sensor. Then, in post-production, you create the image you want as part of the grading process, with greater artistic control over the finished product.
Experience a world of creative possibilities with S-Log from Sony.
S-Log is a log curve which has been specially optimised for digital motion picture cameras to maximise the performance of the image sensor.
Cinematographers shooting in the current REC.709 standard have to choose whether to sacrifice detail in the highlights or the shadows. S-Log allows you to retain all of this information.
Information in both shadows and highlights is preserved.
Detail is lost in shadows and highlights are overblown.
The advantage of S-Log is far greater control over the final image than material shot natively in REC.709. S-Log gives you the freedom to create dazzling pictures which retain as much of the relevant image information as possible, despite the limitations of the display technology.
The wide tone area captured by S-Log makes it especially effective when shooting subjects which tend to experience loss of details in shadows or overblown highlights. Scenes which were impossible to shoot before, such as those with strong sunlight and dark shadows can be captured in far more detail.
Normal video footage is shot in the REC.709 colour gamut, but material recorded in S-Log is recorded in the much wider S-Gamut colour space. Put simply, the wider the colour gamut, the more colour information can be recorded and the more vibrant and realistic your images will look.
S-Log captures far more information than standard REC.709 footage can record, giving you more control over the finished image in post-production. Instead of exposing for highlights or shadows when shooting, you can capture all of this information and choose how you want to display it later.
When shooting in S-Log, colour grading is essential in post-production to display the footage on a standard REC.709 monitor. Due to the vast amount of information recorded in S-Log footage, the image needs to be tuned to fit the REC.709 standard. The advantage of this is far greater control over the finished image than would be possible with material shot natively in REC.709.
Sony Look Profiles are designed to simplify the colour grading process. Supplied as 3D LUT (Lookup Table) files, our Look Profiles convert footage shot in S-Log to the REC.709 standard, making it easy to achieve dazzling images with S-Log, even for beginners. For more advanced users, Look Profiles provide a useful starting point to begin the colour grading process before making further fine adjustments.
LUT Library
Visit our library of LUTs (Look-Up-Tables) for on-set monitoring and colour grading, including Sony Look Profiles designed to make working with S-Log even easier.
All LUTs are free to download.
