Thank you so much!
Tim

It gives way more in terms of dynamic range than you can achieve with any canon style. It gives you details in shadows and takes down highlights. This is a weak point for DSLR’s and helps correct that. You have to color correct either way this just gives more room. Look up dynamic range.

Thank you Shane, my observations is that is due to the limited room for changes in color corection sometimes it is better not to reflect the reality in WB but go after the disared look the scene needs to have finally.

Edward Smyła, you are very welcome, and thank you for your support. It all depends on the scene and what the practicals are, being day or night. There is no set rule other than when I shoot day exteriors I am at 5200K

Stephen, set you camera in neutral -4 contrast, -1 saturation, 0 Sharpness 0 Color Tone and see how it looks. Cinestyle will lower your BIT depth, but give you more latitude. Under sodium vapor lights I advise 3800 degrees Kelvin.

Jerry Greer, so sorry for the delayed response. I would use Neutral -3 Contrast -1 Saturation

You note that you only use cinestyle in extreme lighting conditions. What picture Style are you using under normal lighting conditions? I use Magic Lantern v2.3 with my 5D mark II and it allows me to use any chosen picture style for viewing but will automatically change to another chosen picture style (like cinestyle) when you begin recording. Magic Lantern v2.3 is incredible.

Neil. Thanks for the comment and support. I only use cinestyle in extreme lighting conditions because when coloring its harder to get good skin tones out of the footage. You sacrifice bit depth in the skin tones for the additional latitude.

Love all the info. One question. When using cinestyle I’ve noticed that skin tones are really flat, and I lose much of the color. I’m not a great colorist, but I can work well in color or with final cut’s color correction. Is skin tone usually an issue with cinestyle? (btw, have not tried exposing with neutral yet. Will do that!) Thank you.

Neil

Alessio. Thanks for the kind words and support.

Hi Chris.The cinestyle picture profile does more than just adjusting the settings in camera. Its a gamma curve made by Technicolor to give you more latitude in the highlight and shadow areas. By doing this your image feels like it has less bit depth, so I reserve it for extreme shooting condition. Like shooting into the sun.

This is great information. Is “Cinestyle” kind of like a preset for the settings, or does it do something else to the camera to get the flat image? Would we get the exact same image without Cinestyle by changing our contrast, sharpness, tone, and saturation to the suggested settings? Are there any other settings internally that Cinestyle alters?

Thanks!

Sincerely,

Chris

Hi Shane, I’m curious if you’ve tested the Similaar Flaat picture profile yet and how you think it compares to the Cinestyle picture setting? Are the skin tones much better like people have been saying online? I am out of country without my camera so I can’t test at the moment but I’m very curious…

Thanks!

Alex D.

Thomas McConnell, you are very welcome. Glad I could help

Chris Ryan, Thank you very much for the support. I try my best to give information that inspires storytelling, not just gear heads.