Volunteers needed to test some new scene files...

[Tim Dashwood]

It is very important that you set your white balance with a "normal" setting (CINELIKE HD24P as suggested) before loading one of the new scene files.

The problem is that if you manually set your white balance after loading the a scene file with specific colour shifting (towards green for example) the white balance circuit will counter-act it. It really sucks that the white balance circuit samples the image after it has been processed, but that's the way it is.

The other thing I want to mention is that for those of you using the SCN files I emailed, I just realized that the "preset" white balance switch was set for FAW instead of preset. FAW should be set to "NONE."

I have corrected the mistake on all of the SCN files, so please download these the revised versions here:

TD_scene_files_v2.zip

Good luck,
Tim

[Soroush Shahrokni]

Thx for that info Tim, now its starting to look like something!

I have a question. When I use the BLCHBYPASS setting I get flicker, specially in lowlight, do you know why?

I have also noticed that the iris on the Fujinon closes down when you zoom in using the settings, I dont know if its there also when using "normal" settings but its the first time I have noticed it. When I zoom in past 40 it starts to get darker and darker...looks really weird!

[Jiri Bakala]

Originally Posted by Soroush Shahrokni

When I zoom in past 40 it starts to get darker and darker...looks really weird!

That's pretty normal, just about every zoom lens will 'close down' toward the end of its range. Check your still camera zoom, chances are it will behave the same. Lens manufactures usually indicate that by marking the lens like this (i.e. my still Nikkor lens) 70-300mm 1:4-5.6 suggesting that at the wide end the lens (70mm) has f stop of 4, whereas at the longest focal length (300mm) it drops down to 5.6

[Tim Dashwood]

Originally Posted by Soroush Shahrokni

Thx for that info Tim, now its starting to look like something!

I have a question. When I use the BLCHBYPASS setting I get flicker, specially in lowlight, do you know why?

I don't know why you are getting flicker. Flourescent light? TV in the room?

Originally Posted by Soroush Shahrokni

I have also noticed that the iris on the Fujinon closes down when you zoom in using the settings, I dont know if its there also when using "normal" settings but its the first time I have noticed it. When I zoom in past 40 it starts to get darker and darker...looks really weird!

That is the stock lens, you are seeing the effects faster in that setting because the blacks are crushed. We've been discussing the lens and ASA over in this thread.
http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?t=54054

I have also found that heavy vignetting starts at around 40mm and you lose at least 1 stop between 40mm and 88mm. The manual for the lens claims Maximum Photometric Aperature to be T1.5. It also states that the relative aperature is "ƒ1.4 (5.5mm~68mm) ~ ƒ1.8 (88mm)".

[Dean Lomax]

Hi from Western Australia.

Love to grab your files, load them and then test them. I live in Bunbury, down on the South West coast of Western Australia. Lots of different scenery, beaches (The Indian Ocean), wineries, wheatfields and late sunsets..

Kind regards
Dean

[Jiri Bakala]

Hello Tim,

I am getting the camera next weekend, so I'd love to have the files too. Kelowna, BC... snowy mountains and cold lake here at this time of the year.

[David Dessel]

Tim,

I've got a ton of projects coming up in NYC. If the settings are still available, I would love to provide you with some feedback.

Best Regards,

Dave Dessel

[Dave Beaty]

I did some tests today with your Scene files Tim. I was a little confused about the white balance settings. The first batch was using one white balance I did with Cinelike24 scn file. I then loaded each of your scene's without doing another white balance. There seems to be a problem with the white balance once a new scene is loaded. It looks way off leaning towards 3200.

I then set the white balance to preset 5600 and then loaded each scene in turn.
These are the jpgs with the 5600PSWB on the end.
Unfortunately, I bet some of your settings were defaulting the preset mode to 3200.

So, without doing a manual white balance after each load or going in and selecting 5600 preset, it's not gonna look right.

Dave Beaty

http://www.dreamtimeentertainment.com/hdv/

[Tim Dashwood]

Thanks Dave. You are the first to report back.

Hmmm. The white balance is interesting. Your manual balance should have been close to 5600K anyway since it looked quite bright and sunny.

However, you did the right thing going with preset 5600K when you noticed something was off. My testing was all in a 3200K environment, but the colour shifting in the scene files should be based on the set white balance as a starting point. I will test this myself with some CTB and see what happens.

The daylight results of the colour shifted scene files are definitely not falling exactly where I had intended, so this is useful information for me me to modify the settings. At least the REVERSAL and BLEACH BYPASS settings seemed to give the expected results - but there isn't much colour shifting programmed into them.

thanks again Dave

Tim

[Tim Dashwood]

Dean, Jiri and David. I can't get to your email addresses for some reason (Chris is still working out some bugs with this new software upgrade) so:

Instructions for Scene File beta test are at:
http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showpost....0&postcount=13

You can download the 6 .SCN files from:
http://homepage.mac.com/timdashwood/...e_files_v2.zip

Tim

[Dave Beaty]

Originally Posted by Tim Dashwood

ADDED NOV 12: IMPORTANT NOTE ABOUT WHITE BALANCE.

It is very important that you set your white balance with a "normal" setting (CINELIKE HD24P as suggested) before loading one of the new scene files.

The problem is that if you manually set your white balance after loading the a scene file with specific colour shifting (towards green for example) the white balance circuit will counter-act it. It really sucks that the white balance circuit samples the image after it has been processed, but that's the way it is.

If you are having problems with manual white balance then just use preset 3200K for tungsten or 5600K for outside and least you will get consistent results.

Tim

Tim,

I just discovered that one should white balance after loading a scene file. Yes this counter acts the advanced shift settings, but there's no other way around it. We'll have to manually shift them after WB.

It seems the actual white balance that is in memory will be stored when saved and thus loaded when that file is later loaded back into memory. That's what it seems like based on my casual test.

Try this test, white balance and note the setting. Now load a file and check the status, it will change to the WB stored on the scene file. Just FYI.

That's why my tests of your scenes were all BLUE. :) I was shooting outside and some of your scenes load up as 3000K.

Dave B

[Stephen L. Noe]

I think the way around what you have written is to re-save the scn file but have the white balance in FAW.

[Tim Dashwood]

Originally Posted by Dave Beaty

It seems the actual white balance that is in memory will be stored when saved and thus loaded when that file is later loaded back into memory. That's what it seems like based on my casual test.

Good observation Dave. You've discovered the "missing link" of the problem I've been experiencing with scene file WB. This has been an issue I've been trying to work out. I created the original scene files in tungsten balanced light (3000K according to the camera) and originally assumed that the captured WB A and B values were not stored with the scene file. It is a silly way to do things, but we have to deal with the fact that on the HD100 everything is recorded in the scene file. I wish it worked like the XL2 and only saved actual image parameters and not switch settings.

The other problem I've been encountering is that the WB PAINT values seem to be absolute instead of using the base WB value as a starting point.
If WB PAINT was not based on absolute values, then it should have worked like a physical colour correction filter, and therefore had the same effect in any properly white balanced setting. I'm still testing this aspect of WB PAINT.

So, in the case of scene files that do not use WB PAINT values you can obviously white balance after loading the file or use a 3200K or 5600K preset. These include FILM NOIR, BLEACH BYPASS, REVERSAL, CINE WIDE LATITUDE, LOW LIGHT, & FILMOUT.

In the case of WARM, WARM GREEN, FILM VERT or the DVX100 MATCH scene files, only use them in tungsten balanced light (for now) with 3200K preset. I will rename these original files as "3200K" and then create additional 5600K versions with different WB PAINT values. This is the only way I can think of to work with the JVC method of scene file storage.

[Brian Duke]

Originally Posted by Tim Dashwood

I will rename these original files as "3200K" and then create additional 5600K versions with different WB PAINT values. This is the only way I can think of to work with the JVC method of scene file storage.

Will you post those files? Thanks Tim

[Diogo Athouguia]

Tim, do you need some more footage from us? I just followed your instructions and my shots are also too blue... I will shoot again white balancing after loading the scene files.