TrueColor configuration for XH A1

[Paolo Ciccone]

Originally Posted by Raymond Toussaint

But 'true color' does not exist, light temperatures are changing during the recording and so shift the colors.

It seems to me that your main objection about this is because of the name and I understand that it might sound a bit pretentious but I do have something in defense of it. When I released the first version of my configuration I didn't give it a name. I sent to Tim Dashwood, one of the trusted moderators of this board, for review and he posted it on DVInfo.net with the moniker "TrueColor". I didn't claim that my configuration was the one to give you true accuracy, other people used the term and it stuck. I find it just convenient because it defines the intentions of the scene file. Not to create a "look" in camera, something that I find being the wrong approach, but instead to cause a given camera to be as close to 1:1 as possible.
Regarding the blacks I already mentioned before that the original configuration was calibrated by using the reflectivity of the black chip on the chart, something that is close to the darkest object that you can have in the scene but that is not as dark as cavity black. It's very easy to apply a simple correction and raise the pedestal to 1-1.5IRE. Basically 1 or 2 clicks higher than the config that I gave. That's all you need to get a little more definition in the black. There is also another consideration here. Many times the result that we see from the NLE, without adjustments, is not completely accurate. I found that many clips that I shot looked too dark at first but after applying a color corrector, like Colorista, AE's levels or FCP 3-way CC, you can gain definition in the blacks. If this is the case then there is no crushing, the software cannot retrieve what's not there but if it does bring details back then the scene file has capture those dark tones as expected.

[Rashdan Radha]

Being angry about about the TRUCOLOR preset is like being angry about the AVGFILM film preset "Average film stock? It would be impossible to emulate the average film stock...lighting....chemical....DOF...Hulk smash!".

Paolo made a preset. He showed us how he achieved it. He suggested how it could be used. He didn't say "all you suckers better use this preset or else you footage will smell like fish".

[Brian Morris]

Paolo,

Whether I use the preset or not I just wanted to say thank you. I do like the look it gives. I am, like others, experiencing a slight blue cast but nothing that wasn't taken care of by a little CC in FCP.

Thank you to you and all that post your presets. I always feel bad for guys who post little shareware/freeware things on the web and then get flamed about them.

If you don't like it, don't use it. Easy-Peezy

[Lonnie Bell]

my footage is gonna smell like fish?!

Now - that's funny.

[Raymond Toussaint]

Originally Posted by Brian Morris

Paolo,

Whether I use the preset or not I just wanted to say thank you. I do like the look it gives. I am, like others, experiencing a slight blue cast but nothing that wasn't taken care of by a little CC in FCP.

Thank you to you and all that post your presets. I always feel bad for guys who post little shareware/freeware things on the web and then get flamed about them.

If you don't like it, don't use it. Easy-Peezy

Discussing on the web and fundamental critics are not the same as flaming, and it is not the name that was the fundamental part of my criticism's. Good things happen on the web in good collaboration.

Blacks: to see definition in the blacks on your [good] broadcast monitor, it is better to have it in the material. You can easily compress it later during CC, it's common sense to preserve the blacks in the recoding.

But indeed you can change the settings in truecolor , you can change a lot settings to make it into something you like and trust. Thanks for your addition.

What do we eat for free today? Smoked Salmon?

[Phil Taylor]

One more time. I do not get a blue cast when using this preset. A few here do but I and I believe most users do not get this blue cast. Perhaps its in the eye of the observer or perhaps the blue cast problem (if there is a problem) is cause by something else! If I knew how, I would run a poll of users here to see how many do or do not get this blue cast. Anyway I wish to thank Paolo Ciccone again, and as he stated if you don't like it don't uses it. He never professed it was the Holy Grail of presets, he just offers it (free) for those who might like it.

[Russ Motyko]

Haven't tested the preset extensively but I did shoot a short clip of a Sunday School egg hunt indoors. There was a mix of outdoor light coming in through a window and florescent fixtures on the ceilings.

I manually dialed in WB to get a slightly warmer look and the footage came out looking great. The skin tones looked natural and softly-warm as I wanted them to be.

The thing that I love most about this preset is that it negates the redness that seems to pervade the A1's footage on most of the other presets.

My only advice would be to set BLK to Medium, PED and SET to -6. This way you retain slightly more information in the blacks.

[Paul Mailath]

Originally Posted by Lonnie Bell

my footage is gonna smell like fish?!

I'd really like truecolour with B.O. or old socks

"what's that smell?"

"it's the new preset I'm using"

[Paolo Ciccone]

Coming up next: TrueFish!

[Paolo Ciccone]

Originally Posted by Christopher Neville

BTW, what white card do you use? Can you give me a link? I'm curious if Paolo Ciccone could recommend a target that would work well with his preset.

I use the small DSC chart, the grayscale portion of it as it is guaranteed to be neutral. I found that other white cards can have a bias toward cold or warm, usually "warming cards" are slightly blueish. Since we are on the subject I just want to throw a reminder to include a few frames with the white card at the beginning of the tape. That will make adjusting the white balance in post a snap. For example using FCP 3Way CC you can simply click with the eye dropper. Same thing for Colorista.

[Paolo Ciccone]

Originally Posted by Paul Mailath

in rereading this it sounds like I actually know what I'm talking about

Paul, as promised I put together a post that illustrates with images the advantage of not creating a "in camera" look by tweaking the color matrix. The example is a it extreme but it drive the point, IMHO, that neutral settings in camera give you a lot of flexibility. Here is the link: http://paolociccone.com/blog/?p=27

[Pat Reddy]

Paolo, thanks again for the preset. Actually, I would like it if you could come up with a Truefish preset as well. Fish are one of my favorite subjects. If I manage to get an underwater housing for the A1 before I change to some other camera I will probably use Truecolor. I try to get that look in post anyway.

Tom what are some of the horizaontal and vertical res settings that you have liked?

Pat

[Paolo Ciccone]

That's interesting Pat. Are the requirements for underwater shooting much different from land photography?
Not that I can do anything about it, just curious :)

[Glen Canning]

Originally Posted by 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!

I'd like to throw my thanks in there as well Paolo. Very much appreciate the file.

[Brandon Freeman]

I'd like to suggest two possible issues with the blue cast.

1) XH-A1 users are accustomed to an overly red picture, so their eyes have adjusted -- thus neutral (red being normal) would appear blue.

2) The white balance dial is calibrated for an overly red picture.

Just thoughts, as I have found when dialing in the white balance with TrueColor that 3200k doesn't look right -- even under 3200k lighting. However, when white balancing with a sheet of paper, everything looked about right.