When I got to play with a Sony NEX-FS700 with new 3.0 firmware update I also did some side by side comparisons with my FS700 with 2.0 firmware. I was especially interested in comparison between the new S-LOG2 gamma and CINE4.
I loaded my most used picture profile on my camera.
Black level +2
Gamma Cine4
Black gamma – range middle, level -2
Knee – point 105%, slope 0
Color mode – type Cinema, level 8
Color level +2
Color phase -2
Color depth – R 0, G 0, B 0, C 0, M 0, Y 0
WB shift – all 0
Detail – level 0
I used the same profile on the other camera. I just changed gamma setting to S-LOG2. I used MIR-I 2.8/37 M42 and Sony SEL16F28 16mm f/2.8 lenses because these were the only lenses I had in pairs. I used the same rig I used on previous shoot where I needed several cameras shooting simultaneously.
I asked my lovely friend Polona to go with me on a golf course to practice her golf swing on a driving range.
I used completely the same exposure settings on both cameras. Both had ISO set to the lowest setting possible depending on the gamma selected. S-LOG2 had ISO 2000 and CINE4 had ISO 640. That is why I am sceptical about the high ISO value at S-LOG2 gamma as both had quite the same highlight levels except black were substantially higher with S-LOG2. So you cant say that you get additional 1 2/3 stops when shooting S-LOG2 as you need it to expose the footage properly.
I did a quick colour grade on the footage. Mostly bring the blacks down and lift the highlights, lowered the saturation on CINE4 and lifted it on S-LOG2 to bring it more together. I really like the colours in the S-LOG2, especially in the skin tones.
Here is the clip so that you can decide for yourself and a download links below with ungraded S-LOG2 and CINE4 clips (they will be removed if there will be too much load on the server).
Download area: