TrueColor configuration for XH A1

[Dennis Wood]

Doug, we'll throw up an HV20 grab on the scope so you can compare to Paolo's XH-A1 preset.

[Paolo Ciccone]

Originally Posted by Bill Busby

Manual WB made whites seem a tad blue. .

Bill, check your WB again and the settings, there is no blue cast in TC, it's made to be as neutral as possible.

Let me know...

[Paolo Ciccone]

Hey Dennis, thank you for creating the config file, I bet people will appreciate it.

Paolo, here's what it looks like from the Ambi2: http://www.cinevate.com/images/trucolor.jpg

Boy, that looks dead-on to me. Colors are in the right place, the WFM is perfectly balanced.
Regarding the test to check the range, I discussed this with bot David Corley and Scott Billups some time ago and the suggestion that I was given was basically to light the chart evenly and start closing the iris counting the stops and check on a good monitor until all the detail is gone.

[Paolo Ciccone]

To all of you who posted about TC, thank you for the appreciation, I'm glad that the scene file is useful.
Happy shooting!

[Alain Mayo]

Originally Posted by Doug Lange

Thanks for the fabulous preset. It's CP1 on my cam! This preset greatly improves the issues I've had with the my XH A1. The image is more natural and will cut better with with other cams. I found it perplexing that the HV20 seemed to have better color than my XH A1.

Bill may have something with the image being a little cool. However, I was only looking through the LCD, so I don't expect all the blue hues to be exact on it. I'd rely on a scope more than what my eye sees on the built in LCD.

I'm noticing the same, the image seem to have a little bit of blue.

[Paolo Ciccone]

Originally Posted by Alain Mayo

I'm noticing the same, the image seem to have a little bit of blue.

Each camera can be slightly different and the way the color matrix responds can be different. Please double check the values, there was absolutely no blue cast in my tests but if that's the case with your camera than the only solution is to calibrate it.

[Alain Mayo]

Originally Posted by Paolo Ciccone

Each camera can be slightly different and the way the color matrix responds can be different. Please double check the values, there was absolutely no blue cast in my tests but if that's the case with your camera than the only solution is to calibrate it.

ok, thanks

[Lou Bruno]

Put me on the list. A slight BLUE cast. I adjusted the setup and gamma to make it more light sensitive.

Originally Posted by Alain Mayo

I'm noticing the same, the image seem to have a little bit of blue.

[Christopher Neville]

Originally Posted by Dennis Wood

BTW, here's the preset file "TRUCOLOR": http://www.cinevate.com/images/PRESET19.CPF

I appreciate you taking the time to compile and post this preset file. While I was looking at these settings I noticed that a few things looked different. The values for GRM and GBM in the above preset file were -12 and 1, rather than 6 and 0 as shown on Paolo Ciccone's page. Were these changes a tweak for something?

[Taj Jackson]

Originally Posted by Christopher Neville

I appreciate you taking the time to compile and post this preset file. While I was looking at these settings I noticed that a few things looked different. The values for GRM and GBM in the above preset file were -12 and 1, rather than 6 and 0 as shown on Paolo Ciccone's page. Were these changes a tweak for something?

Yeah on the site it says 6 and 0...could that be the reason for the blue cast?
I followed the exact settings from Paolo Ciccone's page. Here it is. Of course you must rename the file. Let me know if it is any better.

[Chris Hurd]

You can upload .CPF files as attachments here... no need to zip them.

[Dennis Wood]

That cpf error was a typo on my part...it's fixed, same url. Sorry about that Paolo. I'll try the stopping down method and see how that compares to just setting white at 100 IRE and reading steps off the wfm.

Cheers,
Dennis.

[Paolo Ciccone]

No problem Dennis, thanks again for taking the time to set the file. There are many parameters and those tiny menus in the cameras are so crammed that anybody can introduce a typo.

[Dirk Bouwen]

Interesting approach, which looks very similar to the experiments Wolfgang Winne did perform in Germany (www.fxsupport.de). He also used vectorscopes and other electronic equipment to develop a number of presets. Purely looking at the parameters, hard to find any similarity between both approaches - which I theoretically should expect, to certain extend in the pure color settings & matrices.

What I question a bit, is the theory about sharpness. A complicated discussion, since nobody knows the real internal processing of the A1 (how can we say that a camera is not good in sharpening, while we hardly knowing it's really doing it?), and secondly, there's also a lot of subjective feeling in it. There's according to me no defense regarding projection of footage, as a lot of project systems tend to soften the focus anyhow. Going to the most blurry setting in this camera looks very challenging to me, and I hope that everyone in this thread realizes this is truely happening in this setting.

Let me put it as such: I personaly would never dare to go that far, risking to return with too unsharp footage, but again, it's a personal choice.

I also read something about the dynamic range of the A1 versus the JVC (which should be less), to be honest: the CCD's and circuits are almost identical to the H1, which is a standard in his level of camera's. All camera's are different, and I've never been working with JVC, but it would surprise me that its footage would overclass the A1's or H1's in this quality aspect.

Back to the preset, this is called 'trucolor' after all. And at first glance, the colors look quite neutral, a bit more then WW's preset. I must say, I've been filming a while with Wolfgang's settings, but left this approach after a few movies.

With a clear pitch towards filmic settings, and with also a lot of respect to the searchers for the perfect neutral preset, I doubt this is really the aim of most A1 users. This was exactly the reason why I dropped earlier Wolfgang's presets, and wouldn't use this one either as my favorite: it looks a bit like shooting with an old VX or PD, without any filmic appliance at all (don't take this as an offense, it's again a subjective issue)

My preference: still, it's in the original DV Info preset list: nr2, ACPREF. With a little color exageration but nice cine tonal balance, sharp, crisp footage without blowing out the entire color balance. I never had any bad comment on it, surely not regarding problems with the sharpness ;-).

You can tune a music instrument as well with a lot of electronic stuff, but when it's done with the bare ear, you will surely come to a somewhat deviating, interesting result. A little bit, like this, isn't operating of the A1 a bit like playing on a violin?

[Brandon Freeman]

I'm looking forward to trying this preset.

One thing -- I have found that turning the Master Pedestal down to -9 actually clips out some black areas (as in, I can't pull that information back up at all).