X70 Full PP Color Correction settings

[Paul Anderegg]

*bump*

I get a lot of email inquiries, or (enquiries as you weirdos like to say!) looking for the custom color corrections, so wanted to keep this topic fresher than page 10!

Tom, sorry for the delay. I abandoned messing withe the depth settings, just sticking with color corrections and properly gelled lighting.

AND SPEAKING OF UK WEIRDOS!!!!! Anyone near London that can possibly help me pick up something and ship it to me in the US? Found something on eBay that is local pickup only, and is not sold or distributed new in the US. :-\

Send me a private message or email if you can assist. Thanks.

Paul

[Paul Anderegg]

Getting close to putting out a new color correction settings recommendation. My previous REC709 one works better than the stock PP4 version, but I was always having green issues at high gain in dark, and cyan/green skies in early dawn. I went back and set my camera to Cinematone1 for gamma and color, and used the previously listed custom color settings for that. I have to say it looks MUCH better than REC709, at night and in the day. In pretty much every Sony camera I have, I am finding that even for direct to air, their REC709 settings have odd color problems and saturation.

For night and low light shooting at high gain, I recommend black gamma low +7. For daytime and low gain, I recommend black gamma high +7. High +7 at high gain will add a lot of noise to semi bright spots and dirties the entire image. The only alteration I have found beneficial to my previously listed Cinematone1 settings is to set hue at 0 instead of +3 Hue is a major irritation for me on the X70, as I can align the cameras red using a DSC test chart, but when shooting in the field it will want to be rotated over to pink, the +3. My previous recommendation to consider hue a FIELD ADJUSTABLE setting still stands. You will probably want to adjust it while pointing at something red, ensuring that it doesn't look pink or orangish. + hue moves red towards magenta (purple/pink), - values move reds toward yellow (orangish).

The video clips below were shot this morning using my listed Cinematone1 custom settings (with 0 hue) and AUTO white balance. All the colors came out true, the orange truck, the blue sky, the neon green vests, even the greens were accurate. It should be noted that if you mess with the white balance offset menu, +/- B or R or MG/G, this will invalidate the cameras AUTO white balance capability.

YouTube (Short URL)

[David Dixon]

OK, maybe it's late, but...

...I can't see how to use Auto White Balance unless the whole camera is set to Auto - Iris, Gain, Shutter, etc. So you use Auto Exposure as well?

And, by Hue do you mean Color Phase?

[Paul Anderegg]

Yes, phase means hue, sorry for the confusion. Hue is the consumer word for phase.

If you press the white balance button, the one that highlights the preset, kelvin, and lets you turn the dial to A or B, it will toggle the WB icon off, and you will be in auto white balance mode. So, to clarify, if you do not see a white balance preset, kelvin number, or A/B, you are in auto white balance mode.

Paul

[David Dixon]

Well I'll be damned - that works. I guess I had never tried punching the WHT BAL button more than once. And, I just checked and cannot find this anywhere in the manual. So, for those like me who need more of an explanation, when the camera master switch is set to Manual, if you keep hitting the WHT BAL button it continuously toggles back and forth between manual mode (the one where you can use the adjustment dial to select/store manual settings), and Auto White Balance.

Thanks for the info Paul!

[Paul Anderegg]

No problem David.

And keep in mind that any altered settings under the PP menu for White Balance WILL affect the auto white balance. If you change your WB and add more magenta for instance, when you go to full auto white balance that magenta will be ADDED to whatever the auto white balance settles on.

Paul

[Marius Boruch]

Could you please advise me how to get as close as possible in picture profiles for two camera shoot Sony x70 and Sony Ex 1. Thank you in advance. Paul A. Thank you for your posts, could you suggest settings for Sony ex1 that could get close to your PRO. And ITU709 settings as you posted on page 1.

[Paul Anderegg]

I owned an X180 and X200......I could get those to match by simply putting them on a vectorscope and my DSC Chart........the X70 will basically match......nothing? Perhaps if you put all the Sony's on standard stock settings they will match.........I know they all have green pushed WAY into YELLOW on the scope.

Paul

[Paul Anderegg]

Let me clarify, I could get the X180 and X200 to match each other, but the X70 has so few color corrections available to make, that it can not really be matched very well........it also has only one chip, so you've got that issue as well.

Paul

[Jeff Pulera]

Thank you Paul for sharing your X70 Picture Profile settings! I'm helping my buddy that just got the X70 and is not tech-savvy. We thought the picture looked really nice out of the box - until I loaded in your presets last night and toggled back and forth - wow, what a difference!! The default PP4 suddenly looked flat and gray in comparison to the richness of your profile.

I appreciate you sharing your knowledge here, really helped in the purchase decision. My friend gets amazing wildlife footage, but sadly it has all been miniDV up until now. Excited to see what he can capture in HD and 4K with the X70 going forward.

Thanks again!

Jeff Pulera
Digital Vision

[Paul Anderegg]

I am glad you like and can see the difference, using my little PP. :-D

I know i am always overjoyed when I find simple settings hidden in forums for things I own, that make them completely different and better, so I like to be able to "pay it forward".

Paul

[Ray Paula]

Originally Posted by Paul Anderegg

For night and low light shooting at high gain, I recommend black gamma low +7. For daytime and low gain, I recommend black gamma high +7. High +7 at high gain will add a lot of noise to semi bright spots and dirties the entire image.

https://youtu.be/qlqVNyBEUmE

Hi Paul,
I want to setup a PP according to your CINEMATONE 1 setting. I do understand your recommended night/low light and daytime Black Gamma settings. With that being said, I have a question in regards to Black Gamma settings for indoor use for example; Hall, gymnasium & general indoor lighting. I realize that lighting plays a very important part in regards to gain. Have you found a good setting in these type of situations and/or a good starting point? I'm thinking that setting the Range at Middle with the Level at or around +2 with a little gain may be a good starting point. I'd like to add, I normally shoot in 4k. Thanks for your huge contribution to this forum..... I've have learned an enormous amount from you and for that I sincerely appreciate it. Thanks again, Ray

[Paul Anderegg]

Since I cannot depend on having time to grade in post, I try to work my settings to deliver aceptable images right out of the camera.....I do a lot of live work, so that is important. I think it's fairly easy to go and mess with the black gamma settings on a scene by scene basis, adjusting your lows and mids to suit your lighting conditions, and how intense your highlights are. The PP button is pretty easy to dig into, and that thumb toggle is a joy to operate. One suggestion I have is to copy the same PP into every slot, and have a variable changed in each one........say black gamma low on 1, then black gamma high on 2, etc, so that you can simply scroll a change to a PP item according to the changes in your anticipated scenes.

I am finding for ENG, that black gamma low +7, with Chris Youngs knee settings, brings the highs down, and the lows up, but keeps the meaty middle normal, so I can more easily simply expose to the eye, and trust that the extremes are being kept in check as best as possible. :)

Paul

[Ray Paula]

Thanks for the quick reply.... I'm also trying to get the best right out of camera as you are without having to work heavily in post.
Your suggestion sounds really good. I'm going to copy PP4 to PP1 thru PP3 for three different settings for your CINEMATONE 1 setting as follows;
PP1 - Daytime & Low Gain: Black Gamma High +7
PP2 - Night & Low Light shooting at high gain: Black Gamma Low +7
PP3 - Change Black Gamma accordingly for most of my indoor shooting yet to be determined.

As always, Thank You for the great advice! Ray :-)

[Paul Anderegg]

Copy and pasting PP's is also a good way to do back to back comparisons of any setting you want to see at more than one step increments..........say you want to set PP1 to max and PP2 to minimum detail, and toggle the selections.

Paul