The next level of picture
from an 8-bit Sony
A picture profile Marko designed for the Sony a6000 series and any Sony that records 8 bits: Cine 4 with the ITU709 Matrix, a lifted black gamma and a high knee. It looks finished out of the camera and still grades well, without the banding S-Log gives in 8 bits.
MANTRA · DESIGNED BY MARKO BOŠKO · MANTRA PRODUCTIONS
Why not S-Log, in 8 bits
8 bits is small
Each colour channel has only 256 steps from black to white. That is enough for a finished picture, and not enough to stretch a flat one a long way.
Log spreads them thin
S-Log squeezes 14 stops into those 256 steps, so a face or a sky gets only a few dozen of them. Grading pulls them apart and skies, walls and skin break into bands.
Mantra keeps them close
Cine 4 with the ITU709 Matrix records near the finished look, so the steps stay where the eye looks. The black gamma opens the shadows and the knee holds the highlights.
The profile
| Setting | Mantra | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Black Level | −5 | Sets the black a touch deeper, for a solid base under the lifted shadows. |
| Gamma | Cine 4 | The cinema curve: soft highlights, more contrast in the darks than Cine 3, and close to the finished look. |
| Black Gamma Range | High | The shadow lift reaches widely into the dark tones. |
| Black Gamma Level | +7 | The most it goes: opens the shadows so there is detail to work with. |
| Knee Mode | Manual | We set the highlight compression ourselves. |
| Knee Manual Set Point | 105% | The highest point: the knee touches only the brightest highlights. |
| Knee Manual Set Slope | +5 | The gentlest slope: highlights roll off softly instead of clipping hard. |
| Color Mode | ITU709 Matrix | True, broadcast-standard colours that match the Cine 4 curve. |
| Saturation | +2 | A little more life in the colours, still natural on skin. |
| Color Phase | 0 | The hues as they are. |
| Color Depth | Default | All six colours (R, G, B, C, M, Y) at 0. |
| WB Shift | Default | Not on every body (the a6600 has none). Where it is, leave it at 0. |
| Detail Level | −5 | Less in-camera sharpening: no halos, a filmic softness, more room in the codec. |
| Zebra 2 on bright white | 90% | The stripes appear when a bright white reaches 90%: the edge of exposing to the right. |
Setting it in the camera, step by step
Sony has two menus. The a6600 (and the a6000 series, the A7 III generation) has the old one, with tabs along the top. The Alpha 7 IV and the A7 V have the new one, with groups down the left. Choose your menu, then tap a step to see the camera's screen.
The screens are drawn after the camera's menu, not photographed; the names are Sony's English menu. Page numbers and the exact order differ a little between bodies and firmware.
Storing it
- One slot, Mantra'sThe profile lives in the PP slot you edited and stays there through power-offs. Use PP5 (or any slot from PP1 to PP6) and keep PP7 to PP10 for S-Log and HLG.
- On the second bodySet the same numbers on every camera, so a6600 and A7 cut together. On a body with two Mantra variants, Copy in the profile's menu copies the slot.
- On a keyPut Picture Profile in the Fn menu, so Mantra and PP Off are one press apart.
- On the card (A7 IV, A7 V)Setup → Setting Reset/Save → Save/Load Settings saves every setting to the memory card, Mantra too. The a6600 has no such menu: this page and the table are its backup.
Shooting with it
Bright, not clipped
Open up until the zebra just begins on the brightest white you care about, then stop. The knee rolls off what is above it; the black gamma keeps the shadows clean.
Low ISO, fixed white
Cine 4 starts at the camera's lowest ISO. Set the white balance by hand (a custom white or Kelvin), never Auto, so shots match.
A light touch
The picture is close to finished. In Resolve: set the black, a little contrast, the white balance; no LUT needed. Grade it as Rec.709.
