Studio Technical Setup Guide

Lighting

Use three-point lighting to illuminate the SME/Dean, avoiding harsh shadows and creating a flattering appearance.

Place key light on subject’s smart side (away from the camera) and fill light on the subject’s dumb side (facing the camera) for maximized depth.
Adjust barn doors to direct light and avoid excessive blooming from rim light.

Light	Output	Kelvin	Diffusion
Key	100%	3600	Opal Frost with 216 diff roll
Fill	18%	3600	Opal Frost
Rim	35%	3600	Opal Frost

Audio

Place Sennheiser shotgun mic just out of frame above the subject via boom stand on the subject’s dumb side.
Plug male end of XLR into the XLR to 3.5mm jack adapter. Then plug 3.5mm jack into Sony FX3 audio input.
Audio Rec Level should be set to 18.
Test and monitor levels, which should range from -18db to -6db for crisp audio.

Camera Position

Camera	Measurement
`A` Camera Distance from Background	14 ft.
`A` Camera Height (floor to sensor)	46.5 in.
`B` Camera Height (floor to sensor)	48.5 in.
Distance Between Center of Sticks	43 in.

Camera Settings

Sony FX3

Feature	Setting
Mode	Manual
Frame Rate	23.98p
Aperture	F2.8
White Balance	3600K
Resolution	UHD 3840 x 2160
Color Space	S-Gamut3.Cine/S-log3
Codec	XAVC S 4K
Bit rate, Color Sampling, Bit depth	100M 422 10bit
Monitoring LUT	s709 On
Base ISO/EI	800
Shutter	1/48
Audio Rec Level	18
Lens	Sigma 24-70mm F4.0
Focal Length	70mm
Filters	Black Pro Mist 1/8

Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 4K

Feature	Setting
Mode	Manual
Frame Rate	23.98p
Aperture	F4.5
White Balance	3600K
Resolution	UHD 3840 x 2160
Color Space	BMD Video Gen 4
Codec	ProRes HQ
Bit rate, Color Sampling, Bit depth	220M 422 10bit
Dynamic Range	Film
Monitoring LUT	On
Base ISO/EI	800
Shutter	180
Audio Rec Level	Onboard recording
Lens	Sigma 18-35mm T1.2
Focal Length	35mm
Filters	Black Pro Mist 1/4

Equipment to Purchase

Expendables
	Clothes pins
	A clamps
	216 diffusion roll
	250 diffusion roll
Support	2x C-Stand for lights
	Seamless stand extender
Cables	20 ft. XLR cable

Last modified: 26 June 2025