Custom preset for vivid colors and low light perfo

[Mark Shea]

I've been using the factory preset and I think my colors are looking flat compared with my mates sony and jvc cams.

So I am wondering if someone could suggest a preset which will give me more vivid colors and a bright (noisefree) image in lowlight?


I've been reading forums and found positive feedback on the:

PanaFilmVision preset - http://www.dvinfo.net/forum/canon-xh...ht-preset.html

Any suggestions and/or footage of people's fav presets?

[Richard Hunter]

Hi Mark. I find PFVision to be very good at maintaining colour and brightness in low light. But I suggest you try these presets for yourself and see what you prefer.

Richard

[Mark Shea]

thanks Richard

I'm about to produce a series of online videos for a tourism region. I will be using minimal lighting ( on camera and 1 x 500w halogen on stand), filming in museums, restaurants and a lot of outdoor scenic stuff.

Have you used PFVision for outdoor 'nature' shots? How did it fare?

[Ravi Kumar]

There are lots of threads on this forum about presets and how they were derived by several talented individuals.

Listed below are arguably the most popular ones. Please correct me if I have posted any of these incorrectly, thanks.


1) VividRGB

GAM: 1
KNE: L
BLK: M
PED: -5
SET:0
SHP: 3
HDF: H
DHV: 0
COR: 0
NR1: 0
NR2: 0
CMX: N
CGN: 25
CPH: 0
RGN: -2
CGN: -2
BGN: -3
RGM: 0
RBM: 0
GRM: 0
GBM: 10
BRM: 0
BGM: -13



2) True Color

Parameter Value
GAM Gamma N
KNE Knee M
BLK Black P
PED Pedestal -9
SET Setup -9
SHP Sharpness -9
HDF Hor.Detail M (default)
DHV Detail HV Balance 0 (default)
COR Coring 0
NR1 Noise Reduction 1 0
NR2 Noise Reduction 2 0
CMX Color Matrix N
CGN Color Gain 0
CPH Color Phase 0
RGN Red Gain -7
GGN Green Gain 3
BGN Blue Gain 12
RGM Red Green Matrix 40
RBM Red Blue Matrix -12
GRM Green Red Matrix 6
GBM Green Blue Matrix 0
BRM Blue Red Matrix 12
BGM Blue Green Matrix -3



3) Panalook

PANALOOK ................... PANALOOK2

Gamma: Cine 2 ............. Cine 2
Colour Matrix: Cine 2 ..... Cine 2
Colour Gain: 1 .............. -4
CPH: 0 ........................ 0
Knee: Low ................... Low
Black: Middle ................ Stretch
Master Ped: -7 ............ -7
Set-up Level: -1 .......... -1
HDF: Middle ................. Middle
DHV: 0 ....................... 0
Sharpness: 1 .............. -2
NR1: Off ..................... Off
NR2: Off ..................... Off
Coring: 0 .................... 0
RGN: 2 ....................... 8
GGN: 2 ...................... 11
BGN: 3 ...................... 12

Everything not listed is set to zero.

[Nic MacDonald]

I use TrueColour for shooting everything. Here is the original article on that preset, which argues the benefits.

One thing to note, Ravi: You've set the Pedestal to -9, which was the original setting, but this was amended to -7 soon after to give a bit more detail in the blacks.

[Alex DeJesus]

I have one or two settings on several of my presets that don't match what I see on this forum. For example, the BGM setting on the VividRGB preset is "-13" according to a recent post. I have that setting at "0." Does anyone have the latest complete list so I can update mine?

[Mark Shea]

I read about the trucolor preset Nic, and some users found it produced a blue tinge.
I found this post http://www.dvinfo.net/forum/canon-xh...-xh-a1-10.html where changes were made by Bill Busby to get rid of blue:

GAM N
KNE M
BLK P
PED -4
SET -1
SHP -1
HDF M (default)
DHV 0 (default)
COR 0
NR1 0
NR2 0
CMX N
CGN 8
CPH 0
RGN -1
GGN -2
BGN -3
RGM 10
RBM -12
GRM 6
GBM 0
BRM 12
BGM -3


Amazing seeing the quality of image people are getting with the humble XHA1.

Here are some links I found -

*Steven Dempsey has created some much used xha1 presets including panalook, vividrgb and disjecta. Really nice eg film, love it

An Uncluttered World on Vimeo

*Prime eight preset, lovely film like quality

The Corn Crib on Vimeo

*Giovanni Speranza of Vision preset fame. vivid filmlike images

Showreel1 on Vimeo

[Mark Shea]

Earlier this year I was looking for a film-like preset and contact Steven Dempsey for suggestions, he informed me:

"If you are going to be shooting a lot of low light stuff, I would really shoot with a flat preset like the Canon one. You can do a lot more tweaking in post than you can with some of the other presets. Panalook2 is about as pretty good for that kind of work also, it’s probably a little noisier because some of the colors are pushed a little more than the Canon preset. One of the things I think very few understand is that it’s always better to get a good clean image from the camera and then shape the look in post rather than trying to capture it with a final look. That way, you will have less noise in your image and, if you decide you don’t like the look, it will be much easier to change the overall feel.
Make sense? In a nutshell, shoot flat and tweak in post"

Yet I'm keen to experiment, sick of flat factory setting. I will experiment with Trucolor and see how it goes.

[Nic MacDonald]

That seems like good advice from Mr Dempsey. At the high end of the digital capture spectrum - with cameras like the F23/F35 and Genesis - their 'log' modes are basically linear video captured with 'safe' camera settings which produce images that appear flat and desaturated, similar to how Canon's factory preset does. This is then worked with in post.

I use TrueColour because I don't really have the skill with colour grading software to work with such a flat image, as well as not liking some of the biases the camera comes out of the factory with.

[Randy Panado]

Originally Posted by Mark Shea

thanks Richard

I'm about to produce a series of online videos for a tourism region. I will be using minimal lighting ( on camera and 1 x 500w halogen on stand), filming in museums, restaurants and a lot of outdoor scenic stuff.

Have you used PFVision for outdoor 'nature' shots? How did it fare?

When I used my PFVision for the first time outdoors, it clipped in the highlights quickly (as it was TOO bright :). Imagine that...). I would suggest to really be careful of your exposure when using the preset outdoors. As far as how it renders, beautifully vivid colors and they really pop. May be too saturated for most taste but I was really happy with it. YMMV.

[Richard Hunter]

I tried PFVision only once outdoors, and found that it is too unnatural. Indoors under low light it is very effective though, and I find it less noisy than shooting flat and boosting in post.

Richard

[Adam Jung]

I'm new to capturing video and I was wondering what I'm supposed to do with the White Balance when using these presets? Would manually setting the White Balance when using one of these presets change the intended color, or is it still necessary?

[Richard Hunter]

Hi Adam. You still have to WB as normal, as the preset does not know the lighting conditions you will be facing.

Richard

[Mark Shea]

I have decided to use the trucolor setting for a tourism project I started today. I am using auto whitebalance for outside shooting and manual whitebalance for indoor shots. I am using a new fluoro lighting kit with a pink filter to cut greens. I run a few seconds footage of white when I am whitebalancing in case the pink filter messes color mix. Will post on youtube at youtube.com/visitmacarthur

regards

Mark

[Brian David Melnyk]

i'm not sure, but auto white balance outdoors may not be a good idea... it may change balance in the middle of a shot, as light is always shifting, and could ruin the consistency of the shot. sure sounds tempting, though... any other opinions?