Green Screen XLH1s (Picture in general)

[Shaggy Franks]

Hey team, yippie I am back!

First here is my setup:
Canon XL H1s - AJA Ki Pro (OVer SDI) and Chrosziel box with filters.

Now to my concern....
After receiving XL H1s and Ki Pro I wanted to do some test how the camera feels and how the picture looks.
Yeah I am bit new to the Camera, coming from the XL2 club.

I noticed that the picture has a grain, mainly noticeable in the green screen. Really could not notice any grain in the funny dancing subject.
The footage was taking with the AJA Ki Pro (out of the box settings) and no filters in the box. Now is this a normal result (giving it a film look??) or can it do better and I need to tweak my settings? Maybe somebody can direct me in a good direction?

Like I said I am new to the Camera and I had not seen any demo footage.

Thanks

[Jarred Capellman]

Are you going to be using After Effects for keying out the green screen? If so between the built-in filters and after market (Red Giant makes a really good one) you'll be fine. I have done several green screen captures just using my H1, a FireStore FS-4HD and After Effects, you couldn't tell it wasn't captured via HD-SDI in motion, of course when you're keying you can :)

[Shaggy Franks]

So,

as I posted before the footage that we are receiving from the camera is really grainy or noisy how ever you like to describe it.

The footage is captured with the KiPRO over SDI, Adobe OnLocation over firewire and straight to tape (HDV).
So this rules out the KiPRO... Now I have been reading that the Canon XL H1s has this grain/noise naturally. Which would suck @$$ if it does. True or false?

I understand the complete technical side of the house that the camera is only a 1/3CCD chip and it needs light light and light like 16mm camera... the bigger the lens the marry the image. Correct?

So I went outside in the snow which is a overkill on lighting during daytime that is ;) and did some random shots from -3 up +18 Grain.
All turned out grainy.

I am just trying to figure out is the camera bad em I doing something wrong as overlooking a setting that is not visual to the naked eye or is the camera peace junk!?

Any tips and hints would be very helpful! Canon won't get back with me until next week! booooo

[Simon Wood]

I have the original XLH1. The image is naturally grainy, though I usually only notice this when I look at it up close on a bigscreen tv. It is not really evident on regular size tv's (or on bigsreen tv's at a normal distance). Some monitors seem to show it up more than others - the monitor I have on my computer does not make it obvious.

I'd be surprised if you are seeing grain / noise on a computer monitor, so much so that it is negatively affecting the image. I mean as I say there is grainy texture to the image, but you have to be really looking for it. The grainy texture always made the video look slightly 'filmic' to me, kind of like a 16mm on a wide lens.

Have you tried playing around with the settings and making different presets? The standard preset is lousy (I have not used it for years). Maybe try dialing down the detail. Have you looked at the captured footage on a variety of different monitors?

I usually keep the camera at -3 gain at all times if possible.

[Shaggy Franks]

Here is a test clip.
The Settings are:
Manual
GAIN db -3
Auto White Balance
AE Shift
Shutter 1/120 (edit 1/60 is the correct value)
F 4.4
Stabilizer Off
Custom Preset Off

Normal Indoor Sunlight with Panorama Window approx. 14:00, not dark.

[Simon Wood]

The image is noisy. I'm not sure what I was looking at (something fluffy)?

Question: have you tried hooking the camera up directly to a tv and playing a tape to see what the image is like direct from the camera without going through any capture process (just to make sure this is an issue with the camera and not something after capturing)?

Why 1/120 shutter (1/50 usually works best)?

You mention a/e shift - is this set to 0?

[Shaggy Franks]

AE Shift was at 0, the shutter was set do to the lighting of the previews shooting 1/60 is the correct value. In fact all the settings are.
The footage was captured directly into Final Cut and looks the same with OnLocation.

Yeah the fluffy was my sons toy that was left on the couch. :)

[Michael Galvan]

This looks too noisy for the settings you are mentioning.

My XLH1S video looks much cleaner than this at 0DB, and even more so at -3DB, which you are shooting at.

I don't know... maybe check out the camera with Canon?

[Simon Wood]

Final Cut and On Location have both been captured though. Have you actually just hooked the camera up to a big tv or monitor and played the tape directly to see if there is any noise before capture? That should determine that the fault is 100% in the camera, and then you probably need to have it serviced.

[Shaggy Franks]

Well I recevied the camera back last week, the service center seem not see any issues.
I will give it another try...

Maybe we should have waited for the Panasonic AG-AF100. :o/

[Simon Wood]

Have you really experimented with the recording specifications (custom preset settings)?

You really need to experiment with your camera and your recording device to see what works best for your specific set up.

I spent ages going through the settings when I first started recording out of the SDI port. I had the SDI out going to my Nanoflash, and the HDMI out of the nanoflash into a large HDTV. As you tweak the settings you can see the changes in real-time on your monitor (without saving them).

Try pressing your blacks (BLK). Turn on your noise reduction filters (NR1 at a low setting works well for me - it is off as default). Lower your sharpness (SHP). Mess around with your coring (COR).

Mess with everything, and see what works best. Make presets for different lighting conditions.

If all else fails you can always buy a AG-AF100 - though that is a different animal to an XLH1...