B&H HDSLR Educational Series with Shane Hurlbut

[John C. Chu]

Was checking out the first episode with Shane Hurlbut, ASC web series for B&H

B&H HDSLR Hub: Learn With A Pro

and he shares some of his recommended settings for the 5D in the first episode for beginners.

I was surprised about using Adobe RGB color space and turning off High ISO noise reduction.

Still, I think I actually prefer the standard picture style over the neutral setting. I actually like the sharpness of standard.

[Ben Denham]

I've found that in-camera sharpness (depending on the subject) can lead to very unattractive aliasing. Personally I would much rather at sharpness in post than risk that kind of ugliness being burnt-in to my files.

[Josh Bass]

Recommended "safe" settings I've seen on here and elsewhere are:

neutral settings

sharpness -4
contrast -4
color sat -2
(leave whatever the other parameter is alone)

[Peter Berger]

Hurlbut use this picture style settings:
Picture Style: How Do You Choose? | Hurlbut Visuals

[Kevin O'Connor]

This is great info for me. I also know that Shane Hurbut offers a HDSLR Boot Camp class, which can be found on his web site.

[Charles Papert]

I keep the sharpness all the way down (contrast the same, and saturation a couple clicks down).

[Ken Diewert]

Originally Posted by Charles Papert

I keep the sharpness all the way down (contrast the same, and saturation a couple clicks down).

Charles,

Is this to minimize aliasing? I've always shot with Standard settings. Do you change settings for interiors / exteriors etc.,

[Chris Westerstrom]

I always get a bit confused to what are the better settings in camera and which are better for grading.

Most of my work gets sent elsewhere, so I try to keep it somewhat neutral as I am not always sure how it is intended to be graded.

Looking around that site there were some other helpful blog posts and especially interesting is the conversation that follows in the comment section.

I like the free videos, but some of it leaves me wondering why he chooses the settings he does, but it is interesting nonetheless.

What's cool is if you follow the comments afterwards, they seem to all agree that different lenses require different picture profiles. It seems the Saturation of canon lenses needs to be brought down a little

[Jim Giberti]

I think the best way to look at it is that reducing the contrast and sharpening in the 5D is actually giving you the best latitude and least processing - in other words the flattest picture with the most information to use in post.

FWIW we've been using Neutral, -4, -4, -1 for contrast, sharpening and saturation for a while and get great average images from it....also using Adobe RGB.

[Tony Davies-Patrick]

Regarding 5D Mark II User settings, I think it all depends on your own requirements.

Personally I find the neutral settings rarely of any use to myself, because 1) I want to instantly view a shot (stills) or shoot (video) after each sequence that is close to the end result, and can then quickly dial-in extra camera micro-adjustments, exposure settings, Nds, CPL, Grad filters, external lighting or whatever, DURING the filming to maintain good workflow and best results.

I use various different User settings depending on subject, location, weather, above water, underwater, aerials etc., but my own 'Velvia' Picture Style setting tends to be used the most, for both video & stills during outdoor expeditions worldwide -
This is 4,1,2,0 with White Balance on 'Daylight' and Color space sRGB.
Sometimes, but rarely I'll use a 'Kodachrome' setting of 0, -1,1,1 sRGB; or a 'Fuji Reala' setting of 3, 1,1,1. sRGB.

I am constantly taking stills images and video footage with the same camera body during shoots (often with no time to change bodies), and need good, rich colours 'out-of-the-bag' so that not too much post-processing is required when I come to editing in video software or stills images in adobe photoshop.

Personally I have yet to find much difference to aliasing or artefacts with different in-camera settings (not enough to warrant me dialling in minus -4), and pay far more attention to my correct exposure levels, focus accuracy, and above all keeping the camera body rock solid or smooth & steady during shooting sequences.

Please don't take the above as gospel for YOUR own needs or shooting requirements. They have been reached through trial and error to meet my own particular shooting style.

[Jim Giberti]

I tend to shoot a good deal of photography while filming and have a sRGB based photo preset in my Custom settings that makes changing quickly. Both 5Ds also have custom VFs that slip on and off off instantly an make filming and photographing in real time very easy.

[Ben Denham]

I agree with aspects of what Tony is saying here. The conventional wisdom of do-it-all-in-post doesn't always apply. I was recently experimenting with a high contrast monochrome setting and found that seeing the images as I was shooting them really helped me to see what sort of subjects work well with that type of look (i was thinking and looking in high contrast monochrome). This instantaneous feedback really made my learning around that particular look a lot quicker.

The other part of those monochrome experiments was the sharpness issue. Because I wasn't aiming to produce any finished video out of the shots that I was grabbing I just left the sharpness at its default setting for the monochrome picture style (I think its around 3 or 4). When combined with high contrast this setting produced some very ugly aliasing artifacts. I think the fact that the high contrast was already producing more hard outlines meant that adding sharpness to that look was driving the aliasing into very unpleasant territory.

My current thinking, (which also isn't any kind of dogma) is that sharpness in video mode is a misnomer. When your are dealing the inherant resolution issues produced by the binning process in these cameras there doesn't seem to be much point in adding "sharpness" in camera and running the risk of turning lines into aliasing noise. When you are shooting stills with a decent lens you are starting from a much higher baseline level of sharpness and it makes more sense to me to add just that little bit of extra sharpness in camera to make your images ping. However the video mode of these cameras is fairly soft in the first place, (this has been illustrated by comparing a properly downsized still image, with a still from the video mode shot in exactly the same location) and for that reason I would rather take that softness as my starting point and try to sharpen it up a little in post if required.