Color red tests at DVinfo.net

Stu Siegal · January 12th, 2007, 10:08 PM

First time out with the A1, wanted to see how this cam preformed on reds, so I went out and shot a great old mansion about to be demolished. Red brick in bright sun could have been nasty, but I was quit impressed with the results.

I have only monitored on an sd production monitor, but know that the noise you see in the blacks & sky are from compression, they are not there at all on my Sony pvm.

I mixed it up with presets, rolling tape on the ones I liked in the lcd. What's very valuable sitting with a printout of the preset spreadsheet while watching the footage, excellent way to learn how settings act & interact.

Impressions: My baseline will probably be preset 18, negative sharpening values didn't do it for me, which is surprising, as my dvx, my gold standard, was set up fairly soft. I've alwasy equated soft with filmic, but 18 is +1 sharpening, and its plenty filmic to me. LCD is surprisingly close on color, but a bit tricky for focus, even with peaking. Most important - rich, saturated reds can be had with the A1.

For all: shutter at 1/48, 24f, gain -3, nd on most, every thing else corresponds to preset number from the library, in lower left. No cc other than slight crushing of blacks on the second b&w shot. Be warned - its a big file.

http://www.filehosting.cc/file/20843...treds-mov.html

Jeff Nelson · January 12th, 2007, 10:38 PM

Very nice. My favorite, I think, was 17. A little brighter and warmer. Thanks for posting.

Stefano Folgaria · January 13th, 2007, 03:15 AM

Did you use the presets that are here?
I think, after did see you tests, that 17 looks very nice.. I was using 18 but I will do some other test with the 17.
Thanks for sharing it. Ciao

Stu Siegal · January 13th, 2007, 07:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stefano Folgaria

Did you use the presets that are here?

Yes, these are the presets from the dvinfo library.

Doug Davis · January 17th, 2007, 10:24 PM

Does anyone know the technical reason why red is such a freakin pain?

Alex Leith · January 18th, 2007, 06:23 AM

I dunno, but it always seems to have been a problem. I remember when I worked in news (all analogue), red was an "illegal" colour. None of the presenters could wear red jackets or shirts.

Cole McDonald · January 18th, 2007, 10:31 AM

it has to do with the way the compression algorithm treats reds when compressing for tape.

January 12th, 2007, 10:08 PM	#1
Stu Siegal Regular Crew Join Date: Nov 2003 Location: Boston Posts: 151	Color red tests First time out with the A1, wanted to see how this cam preformed on reds, so I went out and shot a great old mansion about to be demolished. Red brick in bright sun could have been nasty, but I was quit impressed with the results. I have only monitored on an sd production monitor, but know that the noise you see in the blacks & sky are from compression, they are not there at all on my Sony pvm. I mixed it up with presets, rolling tape on the ones I liked in the lcd. What's very valuable sitting with a printout of the preset spreadsheet while watching the footage, excellent way to learn how settings act & interact. Impressions: My baseline will probably be preset 18, negative sharpening values didn't do it for me, which is surprising, as my dvx, my gold standard, was set up fairly soft. I've alwasy equated soft with filmic, but 18 is +1 sharpening, and its plenty filmic to me. LCD is surprisingly close on color, but a bit tricky for focus, even with peaking. Most important - rich, saturated reds can be had with the A1. For all: shutter at 1/48, 24f, gain -3, nd on most, every thing else corresponds to preset number from the library, in lower left. No cc other than slight crushing of blacks on the second b&w shot. Be warned - its a big file. http://www.filehosting.cc/file/20843...treds-mov.html

January 13th, 2007, 03:15 AM	#3
Stefano Folgaria Regular Crew Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Rome, Italy Posts: 36	Did you use the presets that are here? I think, after did see you tests, that 17 looks very nice.. I was using 18 but I will do some other test with the 17. Thanks for sharing it. Ciao __________________ Canon, Nikon and Apple.. the right Team!

January 18th, 2007, 06:23 AM	#6
Alex Leith Major Player Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: Northampton, England Posts: 500	I dunno, but it always seems to have been a problem. I remember when I worked in news (all analogue), red was an "illegal" colour. None of the presenters could wear red jackets or shirts. __________________ Alex

January 18th, 2007, 10:31 AM	#7
Cole McDonald Trustee Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Sauk Rapids, MN, USA Posts: 1,675	it has to do with the way the compression algorithm treats reds when compressing for tape. __________________ Web Youtube Facebook

January 12th, 2007, 10:38 PM	#2
Jeff Nelson Regular Crew Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: Los Angeles, CA Posts: 194	Very nice. My favorite, I think, was 17. A little brighter and warmer. Thanks for posting.

January 17th, 2007, 10:24 PM	#5
Doug Davis Major Player Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Birmingham Alabama Posts: 259	Does anyone know the technical reason why red is such a freakin pain?