Looking for set-up suggestions from the pros

[Bill Doyle]

I'ne had my A1 since November, but am just getting around to actually using it! Thanks to this forum, I think I have all of the accesories I need, but my first shoot comes up in a little more than week and coming from the GL-1, there's a lot of stuff on this camera that I won't have time to experiment with before I begin. I will be doing interviews with controlled lighting setups and also some factory footage with whatever lighting they have. I will be shooting in 24p, all manual. Querstions:

1. What do people use for a zebra setting? I know a lot of interview guys use 70 or 75% and get zebras on the facial highlights, but I'm not that experienced. Would 90 or 95% make more sense and then avoid all zebra lines?

2. I like the idea of one of the Cine gamma settings- recommendations for 1 or 2? One of the posters uses Gamma- Cine2, Knee- Middle, Black- Press, Pedestal- -5, Sharpness- -3 and Color Gain- +15. Another poster uses the Knee set to middle and Black on Stretch and then lowers the blacks in post to reduce gain. Can I avoid coring and NR settings for now as lonf as I have enough light? Your thoughts?

3. What about skin detail?

I'm sure there are as many suggestions as there are setting on this camera, but some general consensus for a good starting point would be appreciated.

[Toenis Liivamaegi]

As Canon XH A1 has quite similar controls to XL2 you can benefit from the 30 min feature tour video found at dvcreators.net it will answer more than your questions.

I saw this video after I decided to purchase A1. If I would have seen it before I would have spared few days of my life :)...

I can only imagine how much more A1s would be sold if such a video existed for it as it covers all the fundamental setups and logic behind those wonderful cameras. It would be a must-read sticky here in G1/A1 forums so no one could look back.

Cheers,
T

[Michael Mann]

Thanks for the link, Toenis. A good source!