Exposure NIGHTMARE

[ian_walsh]

Hi I'm pretty new to magic lantern...and I'm struggling...

I'm shooting RAW Video and using magic lantern, 5D MarkIII, Black magic video assist for previewing.

exposure etc all looks great whilst shooting..... I get the raw files from CF, and everything is underexposed by a couple of stops.... am i missing something in the Magic Lantern settings?? I've been through them so many times and been searching online for a while. Everyone keeps saying to just compensate the exposure, that can't be the fix??

If anyone IS NOT having this problem, a run through of your Magic Lantern settings would be great!

Thanks
Ian

[hyalinejim]

Are you using Resolve? I always raise the exposure by 2 stops in the RAW tab there. Something to do with how it interprets ML DNGs. In ACR, however, you will see the same exposure you saw while shooting.

All the info is there, don't worry, if you exposed correctly while shooting (use the RAW histogram)

[Deadcode]

Hyalinejim wrote it correctly.

If you shoot raw you should shoot ETTR. With RAW histogram you can clearly see where you clip the highlights or any of the color channels. The best case is when you expose to 0,4 EV before clipping, or turn on Zebras and burn out "unnecessary" objects such as light sources for clearer shadows.
That means if you are shooting in P/A/TV mode, you can dial up the exposure about 1EV easily, and about 2 EV (or even more) in regular low contrast conditions.

In post Davinci only gives you proper exposure out of box if you shoot ETTR with the camera.
With ACR (After Effects) exposure is correct if you shoot with 0 EV compensation. It also gives better highlight recovery and cleaner shadows. But it's much slower than Resolve, and you have to sync sound in post, while Davinci do it automatically

[Levas]

How the image on the back of your camera screen looks, also depends on the picture style you choose.
If you're using cinestyle or something like that, the image probably looks brighter then you would expect.

Best way to judge exposure is to enable the raw histogram, like the rest says.

[beauchampy]

I've spent  a long time experimenting with different exposure techniques.

My go-to technique right now is to use RAW zebras. I will overexpose until the brightest thing that I want to keep detail in starts to zebra, then I will dial it back 1/2 a stop.

Usually this results in a slightly overexposed image, but one that looks beautiful when brought back down in Resolve.

[ian_walsh]

Hey Everyone, Thank you for all your replies.

So Im mainly using raw video to pair with really high res images, creating cinemagraphs

This is the current process I'm doing:

To shoot: RAW Video magic lantern (CF)
On shoot previewing : BlackMagic video assist (saves to separate SD)
Preview and choose footage: RESOLVE (from SD previews)
convert RAW magic lantern files to DNG: RAW MAGIC
Adjust exposure and process each frame at desired size TIFF : Capture one Pro

Still Exposure: Good
Previews from SD/Black Magic: Good
DNG files: Underexposed

hmm

The EXPSIM is set to Movie on magic lantern, but I can't seem to turn it off....?


I'm going to do some tests with the info from your responses today and I'll post back with findings

Thanks again