Put an HM790 on a "scope"

[Paul Anderegg]

Bought one of those $7 Digital Kolor Pro cards from eBay, and decided to scope it with a Hamlet Microflex.

Things went well, and the camera was perfectly aligned to the card...........problem is, the card includes a PURPLE blue patch. Basically, Barney the dinosaur would look a very pretty perfectly SMPTE BLUE. :-)

Anyway, it was just a learning card, so I could get the hang of how the 790 adjustments work on the scope. I just purchased a DSC Pocket Camette for $119 shipped from B&H, and will put the camera back on the scope for a proper tune.

It was a lot easier (assuming I was doing it right!) than I expected to get the lines in the boxes using the menu. First did the rotations to get the lines pointed at the right boxes. Then used the gains to stretch them evenly, then adjusted all those other color factors to massage the tips into the boxes. The menu descriptions in the JVC are pretty straightforward, and allow a common sense understanding of what each item will do while looking at the scope. Lighting was provided by a pair of 100watt Lowel ProLights on stands, one on each side, adjusted until all the zebras were matching and lighting was even.

I also bought a cheap eBay Lilliput 7" LCD monitor with vectorscope/waveform for $320, and plan to use the new DCS chart to adjust my little Sony CX900 as well. Under $500 for a full camera alignment package isn't a bad deal. I normally pay around $400-500 for a professional camera alignment from a pro.

In conclusion, the DKP chart colors were a match for SMPTE for the most part, except for the blue. It has a rear glossier chart with more accurate colors, including blue, but thats like trying to scope a crowd wearing all the SMPTE colors!

Paul

[Paul Anderegg]

Progressing slowly. Spent a couple of hours on the scope last week. Going to spend a few more hours today. Hardest thing for me is what the darn thing is supposed to look like on a scope without 2x gain, and on a waveform monitor. I'm seeking help on a FCP X forum, and posted a few of the FCP X frame grabs of the chart with the NLE scopes next to them.

FCP.co Forum :: Topic: FCP X balance color feature and scopes (1/1)


Paul

[Scott Berrington]

I had the opportunity to have my 700 aligned by a technician at the CBC on a DSC Chroma DuMonde chart. I know Tim Dashwood has posted his alignment settings previously, but he was not using the Fujinon 18x4.2 lens. My camera was bang-on after the alignment, and looked really good when shooting outdoors...blue sky looked incredible! The only issue I noticed was an increase in noise, which is to be expected given the boost in the blue range. Maybe not the best setting for shooting under tungsten lighting. I saved the picture profile with the following settings. (I only list settings that are not "normal")

Gamma - Standard
Master Level - B(-1)

Colour Matrix - Standard

MG & R, R level (-8)
Yl & G, G level 8
Yl & G, Mask 10
G & Cy, G level 1
G & Cy, Cy level 10
Cy & B, Cy level 6
B & Mg, B level 15
B & Mg, Mg level 7

R Rotation 1
G Rotation 3
B Rotation (-3)

[Paul Anderegg]

Thanks Scott, wow, those settings worked great! I spent a few more hours last night aligning my camera on my scope, and I got all the colors pretty much on the boxes. Found the 2x gain control on my vectorscope, and what a difference that makes. I was having a slight issue getting green all the way into the box, got it to touch the box. Colors looks so bright, but yellow firefighter jackets looked ever so slightly off, probably due to the greens. The most obvious difference between my in the box settings and yours, is that your settings have background "lines" that are straight, and mine have those weird diamond patterns. On the waveform, our max whites and blacks are identical, but the color levels are very different.

I will post a scope shot of your settings and mine, just so that others can see that in the boxes is not always a sign of perfect colors. Just one question. I think I got one setting incorrect. When you say master level B-1, do you mean blue gain -1? On the scope the blue vector was ever so slightly longer than the rest of the colors. I set master level (not blue) to -1, maybe I misread the post while doing this in my car in a parking lot.

Paul

[Scott Berrington]

Hi Paul,

Blue gamma level to -1 and the Master level at normal.

Scott

[Paul Anderegg]

Thanks Scott. I will adjust that setting when I get to work and shoot the DSC chart tonight and screen grab the scope. Will post it so that others can see that there really isn't much more you can do than those settings to get these cameras properly color corrected. :)

Paul

[Paul Anderegg]

OK, here is a FCP X vectorscope view of the stock settings in the GY-HM790 vs the ones Scott provided by CBC. Both were white balanced off of the center grey grid, and as is typical of these cameras (stock settings), you need to adjust the R and B paint settings in white balance A and B to get the white correct, but you still see that ugly vector pattern.