Does anyone have any good scene settings for the pmw 320?

Hello Rodney; I have searched for several days now and not found any good info on scene files for the 320.

We just took delivery this week and now have three EX cameras for our company. EX-1R, EX-3 and the 320.

We need information not only on the scene files but how to match the cameras. What I am looking for is examples of picture profiles and corresponding scene files that would help match the cameras.

Thanks

Ronnie Martin

Thanks, Ronnie. I'm still looking too.

Since I am camera matching challenged, what I am looking for is some standard scene files that I can download and then match the corresponding standard picture profiles for the Ex-1R and the Ex-3. More than likely they just do not exist. However, surely there are scene files with descriptive names... neutral.. lush....or something like that.

The 320, like the Ex1R and the Ex-3, are pretty neutral out of the box. The 320 seems a bit softer than the ex-3 . In order to start basically matching the three cameras we need some where to start and that seems to me to be a standard set of scene files. There are so many settings to choose from in all three cameras that I have no idea where to begin. On Monday I plan to call Sony in NJ about a shoe kit order for the 320 and I will ask about it then....

Thanks

Ronnie

Please share what you find out from Sony on Monday. Thanks.

Ronnie,

I would suggest calling a local broadcast rental house and ask if you can "rent out" their camera tech for an hour. Ask if you can take your three cameras to their location and sit down with the tech and match them up.

This is worth it as you will learn as well as have your cameras matched which will often be the settings you use for the life of the cameras.

Great Idea ... However, more than likely the nearest "rental house" that would have a 320 is probably in Atlanta, Memphis or maybe New Orleans all which are 200-400 miles from me. I really don't know anyone in my area that has any of the XDCAM cameras yet. I keep hoping that someone like Doug Jenson from Vortex media will come out with an instructional DVD for this camera and the 350. I spoke with Doug on another forum and he said that he was not working on one at the present. Have you seen any instructional DVDs for the 320/350.???

Thanks

Ronnie

Do you have a broadcast monitor? If not maybe you can get with a tech who does and you guys could learn the cameras together. I do this with all of my cameras. Setup a scene along with a color chart and adjust. It might not always be perfect, but it is my image. Plus you get to learn what makes an image good, bad or great in your eyes.

Does anyone have any good scene settings for the pmw 320?

After 1 month of daily use, I think I'm getting close to a perfect image with my PMW-320.

Of course that depends of the target of your work. In my case TV news.

I prefer not to use color charts, but instead use the real situations and then, after watch the footage in a good monitor, make the small adjustments.

The problem Rodney is that actualy I only work in SD, and I don't know if SD settings can help you...

The problem Rodney is that actualy I only work in SD, and I don't know if SD settings can help you...


Thanks, Miguel. I work in HD.

Hello Guys..... I work in both. My acquisition format is always HD. Many of my projects still are SD DVD. We always output each project with a BD-R along with saving the entire project to external hard drive.
Just recently acquired a Drobo back up device and with our current projects are using the Drobo because of the redundancy and safety of the raid.

In the next few days I should have some more time to get into the specifics of the 320 before putting it into service.

Ronnie

Has there any more development in Scene Files for the PMW320.
Can you use the 350 Scene Files posted by Alister?

Thanks in advance.

I am still at a loss for matching the 320 to the ex-3,ex-1R. At this point I am about to go back to the default settings and try again. I did try to match the Doug 1 PP but in doing so I over did it.

Still looking for scene files specific to the 320.

Ronnie

The 350 and 320 are very similar cameras and have the same processing sections, so my PMW-350 scene files are a good fit with the 320, although not completely identical due to the different sensor.

The matrix settings work well on both as do the gamma settings. Detail setting are quite different however. I would leave the detail settings on the 320 at default if you are unsure.

Charts are a great way to get several cameras to match. If you use a ChrmaDuMond chart and vector scope you should be able to set up each camera to give the most faithful reproduction of the colors even if you can't get all the cameras you want to match in the same place at the same time.

Thanks so much Allister. Here do I get a ChrmaDuMond chart? I did a search of the Internet and did not come up with one.

Thanks

Ronnie

ChromaDuMonde (http://dsclabs.com/chromadumonde1.htm)

Not cheap I'm afraid.

Yep $850 US... thanks for the info.... I will see if one of the local TV stations has one that I can use.

Ronnie

The 350 and 320 are very similar cameras and have the same processing sections, so my PMW-350 scene files are a good fit with the 320, although not completely identical due to the different sensor.

The matrix settings work well on both as do the gamma settings. Detail setting are quite different however. I would leave the detail settings on the 320 at default if you are unsure.

Charts are a great way to get several cameras to match. If you use a ChrmaDuMond chart and vector scope you should be able to set up each camera to give the most faithful reproduction of the colors even if you can't get all the cameras you want to match in the same place at the same time.

Thank you Alister.

I don't have to match the camera to anything so i don't have that problem.

I would just like to see a good scene setting for the 320 but if you can work from the 350 scene settings, thats a good start.

There isn't a lot of response to the original question, wonder why.

Thank you.

Detail level or Crispening, which one of these setting will give a PMW320 a bit more sharpness to the image?

You might want to take a look at my guide to picture profiles and scene files. Within the main page you'll find links to more in depth information which should give you an idea of exactly what the key settings do.

Picture Profile Guide. | XDCAM-USER.COM (http://www.xdcam-user.com/picture-profile-guide/)

Detail is the main control, crisping is a subset of detail, so if you have no detail enhancement, crispening will do nothing, but if you have a lot of detail enhancement, then crispening will modify the detail settings.

Thank you Alister.

Does anyone have any good scene settings for the pmw 320?

I did contact Sony Service and there is not a set of factory picture profiles in any of the settings of my EX1R and EX3 that will match my 320K. Doesn't exist. And they don't plan on designing any matching profiles. I have come close to matching by setting the 320K to Standard/factory default, and setting the EX1 & 3 to Cinegamma 4/Hi Sat. My 320K is sharp and crispy, so I knock it down -10 detail. I can't rent the three out together and definitively say they'll match---and EX3 renters expect that. So I am regrettably trading the 320 for another EX3 asap.

My 320K is sharp and crispy, so I knock it down -10 detail. .

So are you saying Chris, a + detail will increase sharpness to the 320.

A positive detail value will increase the contrast around edges which will make the picture appear sharper but at the expense of un-natural "video like" edges around things and noise becoming more visible. The actual resolution does not change. A positive Aperture value will make the 320 look sharper but without the blocky edges.

You should try setting the EX to Cinegamma 1 and the 320 to Hypergamma 4 as these are the same gamma curves. When comparing sharpness you have to remember that perceived image sharpness is primarily a function of contrast with resolution being secondary. So unless you first get the contrast range to match through matching gamma curves and gain, any changes to the detail settings or aperture are only masking the contrast difference, so you'll never get the cameras to match.

A positive detail value will increase the contrast around edges which will make the picture appear sharper but at the expense of un-natural "video like" edges around things and noise becoming more visible.

Thanks again Alister for your advice.

Detail level or Crispening, which one of these setting will give a PMW320 a bit more sharpness to the image?
"Crispening" is the Sony term for what used to be known as "coring".

In my engineering days the conclusion we came to was that it was best set as low as possible. Increasing it can reduce noise - but very adversely affect the picture otherwise. Don't be tempted into just thinking of it as a noise reduction knob. On some pictures that's all it may seem to do - on others it can have a more definite (and undesirable) effect.

Quite a good explanation here: http://www.panavision.co.uk/pdf/downloads/equipment-info/other/sony-creative-shooting-tips.pdf and look closely at the diagrams.

In brief, it means that detail enhancing is only given to quite distinct edges, and not to small changes (such as noise). Nice idea in principle - but it can't distinguish between noise and subtle detail.

Therefore as it gets increased, high contrast detail is unchanged, subtle detail is lost. That can look really bad, since typically such as a face can still be sharply outlined, but lack all the skin texture and become "puddingy".

If you look at the diagram next to "Technical Information" then what it actually does is vary the distance between the red lines - more crispening means moving the red lines further apart. hence the more descriptive term of "coring" - it removes the "core" of the detail signal.

I have 4 great files set up by engineering department at Band Pro. The 1st is named Normal and if I am on 2, 3 or 4 when I power the camera down it defaults back to the Normal file. Is there a setting in the menu where I can stop this from happening? Thought I would ask here first before checking back with them.

Thanks

Apparently it is the memory retention battery gone dead per engineering. Doesn't affect the memory for the scene files themselves though. That is a different setup. Now I have to see if it's user accessible or need to take it back in.