FEATURE REQUEST: Ed Lachman Zone (EL Zone) Exposure System

This video details some of the problems with False Color:

I always shoot RAW and always mess with the image in post so I try to expose for the sensor and use any digital ISOs kind of like digital ND filters for preview purposes. So for my purposes, I'd much rather have a setting that switches the histogram to show me values that represent the sensor's exposure before the digital ISO is applied. My understanding is that Red allows you to do that on their cameras.

Actually on top of that, if I had the options to separate the ISOs into electronic gain (400, 3200, 8000-25,600) and digital ND (exposure compensation, exposure indexing, or whatever you want to call it) settings, I'd much prefer that. That way I don't accidentally record something at 1000 ISO with the exposure lower than it should be and, if I'm using the higher ISO (8000-25600), I can keep go until I'm just under the point of clipping and still have a way to preview what that will look like when I bring the exposure down in post.

Just putting it out there as a feature request, EL Zone in Resolve's scopes would be absolutely fantastic. Not node-based but in the scopes area where you can just click on it as if it were Waveform or Parade. Also, in the Blackmagic Camera App. Let's go!! Thanks BMD.

+1

Just putting it out there as a feature request, EL Zone in Resolve's scopes would be absolutely fantastic. Not node-based but in the scopes area where you can just click on it as if it were Waveform or Parade. Also, in the Blackmagic Camera App. Let's go!! Thanks BMD.

BMD would need to get a license from Ed Lachman and pay fees as the EL Zone has been patented.
So probably not gonna happen anytime soon.

Just putting it out there as a feature request, EL Zone in Resolve's scopes would be absolutely fantastic. Not node-based but in the scopes area where you can just click on it as if it were Waveform or Parade. Also, in the Blackmagic Camera App. Let's go!! Thanks BMD.

BMD would need to get a license from Ed Lachman and pay fees as the EL Zone has been patented.
So probably not gonna happen anytime soon.

I would pay for an upgrade if they add it.

Just putting it out there as a feature request, EL Zone in Resolve's scopes would be absolutely fantastic. Not node-based but in the scopes area where you can just click on it as if it were Waveform or Parade. Also, in the Blackmagic Camera App. Let's go!! Thanks BMD.

BMD would need to get a license from Ed Lachman and pay fees as the EL Zone has been patented.
So probably not gonna happen anytime soon.

I would pay for an upgrade if they add it.

Justin Allen wrote here viewtopic.php?p=1103212#p1103212

This may not be Blackmagic's fault, if they wanted to add it. I know there are several other companies would would like to bring this feature into their products however Ed Lackman and/or his company is holding up the licensing. I don't know the details, if it's pricing, royalties, or previous agreements with other companies. I know this has been going on for at least the last year.

Also interesting interview with Ed Lachman:
https://www.popentertainmentarchives.co ... st-vampire

Now I have the black & white lenses, the black & white sensors. All these things contributed. Then there's an exposure system that I used for the first time.

That's the system that you invented.

Basically, I don't make it complicated. If you knew Ansel Adams, he developed a way of evaluating exposure. You could read shadow detail and highlights and place your negative where you would get the most detail, which is a way of analyzing where your exposure was. I worked on an idea about doing that for digital technology. I was, again, very lucky – all the forces came together when a monitor company, SmallHD, came out with this inner monitor and they licensed it to me. I was able to use it for the first time in this film. That's why you have this incredible shadow detail that you would lose if you didn't know where you were placing your eye light.

And SmallHD says this:

https://smallhd.com/pages/os?srsltid=Af ... HBXO8hTe2c

EL Zone
The stop-based exposure map tool—developed in
collaboration with legendary cinematographer, Ed
Lachman, ASC—that works like a virtual spot
meter, replacing IRE exposure values with stops.
Sensor data from the camera provides a reference
point, and a false color represents each stop above
and below 18% gray, allowing for easier, more
intuitive on-set communication.

https://www.cinematography.world/el-con ... -monitors/

To make the EL system practical, considerable R&D was needed to calibrate for each camera model. With its ground-up product and software portfolio that spans all popular camera brands, SmallHD was an essential partner in putting EL Zone into practice.
“Ed’s concept for EL Zone is something so simple that it’s stunning it hasn’t existed for years. SmallHD’s technical architecture is designed for expansion and flexibility, so we were able to quickly develop an EL Zone tool with support for every camera system on the market,” says Greg Smokler, VP / GM cine products, Creative Solutions. “With the vast array of digital cinema cameras and the overwhelming diversity in monitoring LUTs and delivery requirements, cinematographers can quickly glance at EL Zone and instantly see a representation of any sensor’s dynamic range in an intuitive format that is at the heart of all photography: stops.
All current SmallHD monitors, ranging from 5″ to 32”, now incorporate EL Zone along with standard tools in their PageOS 5 operating system.

On EL Zone website there is even a link down at the bottom back to this forum:
https://www.elzonesystem.com/articles

That’s what I call circle-referencing.