Zebra Patterns

[Harry Harrison]

Certainly a subject that I know next to nothing about but I see that there is something called Magic Lantern which adds Waveform monitoring for certain Canon cameras, only for video of course.

[Harry Harrison]

Just by chance I have read a post on another forum which says that modern Sony cameras (A7RIV & A6700) allow you to set the highlight clipping threshold to 109% in order to more accurately reflect that of the RAW file. I've also read that the zebras are based upon the green channel alone.

[John Mitchell]

2 hours ago, Harry Harrison said:

Just by chance I have read a post on another forum which says that modern Sony cameras (A7RIV & A6700) allow you to set the highlight clipping threshold to 109% in order to more accurately reflect that of the RAW file. I've also read that the zebras are based upon the green channel alone.

 

The A6000 has a 100 and a 100+ Zebra setting, but doesn't allow for higher, custom settings.

[Harry Harrison]

9 hours ago, John Mitchell said:

The A6000 has a 100 and a 100+ Zebra setting, but doesn't allow for higher, custom settings.

This mercifully short and concise video shows how to set up the zebra settings on the 'new' cameras, not sure which cameras qualify. It seems that there is now the option to set 109% as a custom setting. He shows some real world examples when the zebras can help.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oIlEnLWE0KA

 

[Phil]

4 hours ago, Harry Harrison said:

This mercifully short and concise video shows how to set up the zebra settings on the 'new' cameras, not sure which cameras qualify. It seems that there is now the option to set 109% as a custom setting.

 

The Sony A7IV zebras can be set to 109+% in a custom zebras setting:  Another demo here at minute 1:17 into the video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jkk0qmoS0ts

 

 

Edited November 3, 2023 by Phil

[Harry Harrison]

16 minutes ago, Phil said:

The Sony A7IV zebras can be set to 109+% in a custom zebras setting

Yes, thanks, the other video mentioned the A7IV and the alpha1 and the other thread I saw was about the new A6700 but I don't know which other cameras have this new custom option. I also don't know how it works, is it just another guesstimate because they see the RAW file as having 9% more headroom for highlights? Perhaps they don't say. My Fuji doesn't have that so I allow for a lot more flashing in the clouds, more like 100+ on the Sony. It's always going to depend upon what is important in the picture of course.

[Ed Rooney]

 

Zebra patterns -- a clear example of tech taking priority over art.  Are you folks telling me you don't see burned-out highlights with your eyes? 

[MDM]

3 hours ago, Ed Rooney said:

 

Zebra patterns -- a clear example of tech taking priority over art.  Are you folks telling me you don't see burned-out highlights with your eyes? 

Some form of highlight clipping indicator is essential when shooting video which is where these zebras and other indicators come from as it is impossible to recover burnt highlights in post and it is not that easy at all to tell visually when there is clipping. This applies to raw video as well. Once highlight detail is lost, it’s gone forever. I’m not talking about specular highlights which are usually very obvious and where no detail is to be expected but areas that might be borderline overexposed and where detail is important. This ties in with the concept of exposing to the right (ETTR) where you open up as far as possible without highlights clipping in order to reduce noise in the shadows. Again it is more important with video especially now with Adobe’s magic Denoise which does wonders with noisy stills. 
 

So no I don’t agree that it is a clear example of tech taking priority over art. It is using the tech to make it easier to produce the desired art - images with a good balance between highlight and shadow detail and noise. That said, I don’t use any of this for my stills. I still use plain old spot metering mainly and the EVF as a secondary indicator of what I am getting in the raw file. The most important thing is knowing the camera and the limits of the raw image. But for video, these scopes are vital tools. 

[spacecadet]

3 hours ago, Ed Rooney said:

 

Zebra patterns -- a clear example of tech taking priority over art.  Are you folks telling me you don't see burned-out highlights with your eyes? 

Well I get the joke, Ed.

[Ed Rooney]

 

"But for video, these scopes are vital tools." MDM

 

I guess I should have said that I don't shoot videos.  

[MDM]

1 hour ago, Ed Rooney said:

 

"But for video, these scopes are vital tools." MDM

 

I guess I should have said that I don't shoot videos.  

Never too late to learn Edo. 😀

[John Mitchell]

14 minutes ago, MDM said:

Never too late to learn Edo. 😀

 

That's right, it's never too late for a zebra to change his or her stripes. 😉

[MDM]

22 minutes ago, John Mitchell said:

 

That's right, it's never too late for a zebra to change his or her stripes. 😉

Never argue with a 🦓. They have a reputation for giving a nasty bite.

[Ed Rooney]

 

I worked as a cameraman on three documentary films in Rome in the '60 using the then-new Eclair 16mm camera. I'm not intimidated by video, I just have no reason to go there. And yes, Zebras can be very unfriendly.