XL H1 and that "film look"
 

So video responds to light using Red, Green, and Blue. Whereas film responds to light using Magenta, Cyan, Yellow, and the fourth for the intensity of the light. As i was re-reading the canon XL H1 mini-site i noticed this:

R gain: This is for adjusting the white balance (WB) of the images. When the cursor is moved in the [+] direction, WB shifts toward red; when moved in the [-] direction, it shifts toward cyan. The coloring is adjusted to suit the user's personal preference in a range of -9 to +9.

G gain: Also for adjusting the white balance (WB) of the images, when the cursor is moved in the [+] direction, WB shifts toward green; when moved in the [-] direction, it shifts toward magenta. The coloring is adjusted to suit the user's personal preference. Adjustment is possible in the -9 to +9 range.

B gain: For adjusting the white balance (WB) of the images. When the cursor is moved in the [+] direction, WB shifts toward blue; when it is moved in the [-] direction, it shifts toward yellow. The coloring is adjusted to suit the user's personal preference, in a range of -9 to +9.

-now wouldn't this help in making custom presets more resemble film? If each is moved to the -9 position, you would be mixing magenta, cyan, and yellow- like film does.

-or am i mistaken?

Interesting,
Ben I tried this just now. Given it is night and I am shooting indoors,
But it looks quite wonderful!
That leaning towards Magenta (and green) that the Canon has isn't there.
and the colors seem surprisingly balanced.
I pumped the general color Gain, and took down all the individuals to -9 (except fot the Blue, which I put at -8)

The darks are darker and so I had to make sure I wasn't Pressing Blacks/ Gamma was Normal
Very Very interesting.
Can't wait to test it in the daylight.
Thanks,
J

Ben, excellent post. I'm excited to try it out.

The results form this are quit beautiful. The darks do become darker, and I always increase the overall color gain, but even though the darks become darker my favorite setting is with cine 1, knee low, master pedestal all the way down, setup levels all the way down, sharpness at -3, color gain at +5, and Red, Green, and Blue color gain all at -9, and everything else at normal. This to my eye resembles some of Kodaks more modern film stocks (maybe 5218) with the deep rich blacks, that make the rest of the colors pop. This is all being used with decent lighting, though.

-excited to hear what everyone else thinks

An excellent thread, and I hope this doesn't come across as being too silly, but here's some "extreme" examples of what you can do... maybe not all that useful unless you're remaking "Night of the Comet."

(No trashing that movie now, it's a sentimental favorite... one of my guilty pleasures!)

Hey Chris, I like the second frame. Very poppy and saturated like CSI:Miami.

Okay, no trashing CSI:Miami....it's one of my guilty pleasures!

-gb-

Chris, which values did you use in the second image?

Sounds interesting. I won't be able to try this until the weekend. Benjamin or anyone else trying this, would you please post either some footage or some stills?

thanks

Steven

Anyone tried this with an XL2? taking down the individual color gains and raising the saturation to compensate?

This isn't true; film has three layers of emulsion. Also, Magenta, Cyan, and Yellow are just opposites of Green, Green, Red, and Blue (I think...) when you're talking color not pigment.

The method may work, but it has nothing to do with film versus video.

Magenta Cyan and Yellow are secondary colors created by the combintaion of two of the primary colors Red Green and Blue when related to additive color.

vince

-that is true, black (key) is used when you make your prints.

none the less, the technique is interesting. CMY is producing a different color palette than RGB.

benjamin,

i agree. that's the kind of thinking that compels us all to look at things differently.

vince

The proof is in the pudding as they say. If someone can post a shot using the negative and positive values, it would make for an interesting comparison.

Frankly, if it looks really good, I really don't care about the theory :)

I am excited to see the result. Hibernating.