Getting the best from the Sony X70

Here are some tips on how to get the best images from the Sony X70, including:

Record in XAVC format instead of AVCHD
Choose a Picture Profile
Shoot at a low gain setting
Protect your highlights
Use the Zebra patterns to set your exposure
Shoot with a wide aperture (iris)
Use the correct Image stabilization setting
Make sure the Digital extender is off
Set up multiple cameras the same
Load a custom camera setting to your camera
Shoot and frame for widescreen

Record in XAVC format instead of AVCHD

XAVC shoots at a higher data rate of 50mbs instead of 35mbs for AVCHD and records in 4:2:2 10 bit instead of 4:2:0 8 bit.

Here is a short video explaining what this all means in regards to the tiny pixels that make up the sensor in the camera.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WNy24_XD38o

The BBC minimum requirement for data acquisition for broadcast is 50mbs a second.., so if you were commissioned to shoot material for the TV the majority of the content of production has to be 50mps or above.

If you shoot a scene correctly in both codecs and compare them on a screen, you will not see a lot of difference at first, but the image will hold up much better when you make changes in colour correction and if you shoot against green screen your keys will be more effective. This is also a better setting to record high speed footage at 50 frames per second (50p) as you have more data per second

The cards need to be a minimum size of 64Gb which means the cards that come with the camera will not record at XAVC being 32Gb, so you need to get one of these. Less than £15.00

How to set the camera to shoot XAVC

In the camera menu

Scroll down to ‘REC/OUT SET’

Choose’ REC SET’

‘FILE FORMAT’ ‘XAVC HD’

‘REC FORMAT’

1080/25p 50Mbps (for a film look or 1080/50i 50 mbps for a TV studio ‘live” look or

1080/50p 50Mbps for high speed to be slowed down later in an editing package)

RETURN then out of the menu

Choose a picture profile

The default in the Sony is good but you can change the ‘baked in’ look by choosing a Picture Profile. The more neutral the picture, the more flexibility you will have in colour grading Picture Profile 3 (PPE3) has lower contrast than PP off . It is not a log setting though.

If you go into the settings you can make some more tweaks as well.

Go to Detail and reduce to -3, this will make the image a little more film like without making it too soft.

Select the Black level and raise to +5. This will help retain a little more detail in the blacks, but you will need to readjust in post to get a solid black if you want one in your image.

It is easier to add contrast and colour in Premiere or DaVinci Resolve later.

Or you can go to the store and borrow an SD card with this custom made Picture profile on.

Shoot at a low gain setting

Low means between 0 and 9db. This will keep the noise to a minimum. The camera looks fine up to about 12db, after that you start to see noise, though I have shot at 15 Db and got away with it, if the images are exposed correctly.

Protect your highlights

This means when you set your exposure, try not to let anything burn out out unless it is the sun or a bright sky or a white surface or from a strong back or edge light . The Sony has a weak point for this and you can lose image detail very quickly. Best to to be cautious then you bring your dark and mid tones up in the grade (if you have shot at a lower DB they will not be noisy). You can judge this by eye and use the Zebra patterns for skin tones (see below)

Shoot wide open

A wider Iris (or aperture) will also give a shallower depth of field which means you can throw the background out of focus, which will make your subject ‘pop’ out.

The Sony has a smaller sensor than ‘proper’ movie cameras, DSLRs and mirrorless cameras so it naturally has a deeper depth of field but you can help it by opening up the Iris.

If you are outside and you have too much light to shoot wide open you simply add some ND (neutral density) filters at the rear of the camera.

By using as much of the Iris as possible you get more exposure and can use a lower DB.

Use the zebra patterns to set your exposure

If you are filming big close ups of people, overexposure is very bad for the skin tones and cannot be fixed well in the grade. You can turn the Zebra patterns on, set them to 70% and let this appear on the brighter parts of the actors face.

Set the correct image stabilization

The Image stabilization is great on this camera for when you are hand held, but if you are on a tripod it is not needed, and will make your pans look a little odd. It works by only sampling the middle 80% of the sensor and leaving the rest to cushion the camera shake. If its turned off the camera will use 100% of the sensor giving a more detailed image.

Check your NDs are off (clear setting)

The previous user of the camera may have been filming outside on a bright day and put an ND filter in front of the sensor (the switch at the back of the camera) , If you go to a low light situation you will have to turn the gain right up to compensate and will get noisy images.

Always make sure you start with the ND filter set to Off/Clear.

Make sure the digital extender is off

This gets left on sometimes and will give you a very narrow angle view even at the widest zoom setting

Shoot and frame for wide screen

Widescreen formats, once the preserve of cinema films are being used increasingly for Netflix and BBC dramas. True wide screen is generated with Anamorphic lenses that gather a very wide image then squeeze it down to fit the more square format of the film or camera sensor.

Here is 2.35:1 frame as it is composed.

And here is the image after it is squeezed to the sensor or film stock

Some feature films are shot with normal ‘spherical’ lens and cropped top and bottom in post production to give this shape. It is important to know exactly what your framing is when you compose your shots. If you don't and you just a crop to the top and bottom in the edit, the final result will look wrong.

With the Sony we can set a marker in the LCD screen then frame within this to make our composition. Not worrying about booms or lamps in shot

Go to the menu

Choose the ‘DISPLAY SET’ and go down to ‘MARKER’

Choose ‘ON’

Then go down to ‘ASPECT’, select then choose 2.35:1, then escape (press menu again.

True widescreen with Anamorphic lenses can give a very shallow depth of field which is part of the look. This is not possible with the Sony but at least you can get the composition correct.

Set all your cameras the same

If you are using more than one camera at a time on a shoot, set them all up the same, so when you come to edit you don't have to work hard to make all the footage look the same. Seem obvious here but I see it a lot.

Make sure they have the same white balance, Picture profile, gain and shutter speed.

Load a custom camera setting to your camera

Every time I get a Sony from the store, I load my own camera settings on it. This includes the Picture profile, the assignable button settings on the camera. This useful to me so I know where the short cuts for Zebras and peaking are etc.

To do this I put an SD card in that already has the setting from a previous camera saved to it

Press menu on the side of the camera
Scroll down to the ‘OTHERS’ which looks like a chest of drawers.
Go down two lines to ‘CAMERA PROFILE’
Choose ‘MEMORY CARD A’
Choose ‘LOAD’
Choose 01 which will have a long code in yellow on the right hand
Choose YES (Reboot after settings)
The camera will reboot

It also sets the assignable buttons 1 and 2 on the side set of the camera to Zebra and Focus peaking.

Written by FR

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