PXW-Z90 / AX-700 Any go-to Camera Profiles you've created? Not "Picture Profiles"

[Charlie Ross]

Just wondering if users of this series or similar have created a few profiles for when you switch gears on what you're shooting. For two examples I find myself mostly going between in home and workshop interviews, then other times enjoying finding outdoor scenes, especially rocks and rivers. If wildlife shows up - bonus. Sometimes I'll end up shooting those on the same trip.

Those call for different priorities and mental focus concerning my sound recording setups, lighting, exposure and focus aids, which options I'd like to have for the Assign buttons. As I understand it, just about all of that can be saved in any one of the Camera Profiles of which there can be 99.

Anything work for you in that regard?

[Christopher Young]

My 2 cents worth.

For the Z90 what I'm using the most for general shooting 709 type profiles is/are the following. If the parameter isn't listed below then it hasn't been changed. Use any PP you don't use to try them out. The first of these settings will give you a fairly punchy bright image. The second set will give you the most dynamic range. Keep in mind these are 16-235 (64-940) settings for TV levels, not 0-255 (0-1023) full range settings for PC viewing.

Chris Young

Black Level = - 4

Gamma = CINE 4

Black Gamma = High with Level + 7 for very contrasty sunny, snowy, or beach type scenes otherwise = Middle setting with Level 0 for general work and indoors.

Knee Manual, Point 100%, Slope + 5. This is in effect running NO Knee. Expose for and protect your extreme highlights and Cine 4 looks after them pretty well.

Color Mode = PRO

Saturation = + 3 This is a personal taste. Dial-in more or less to suit your subject matter and taste.

Color Phase + - 3

Color Depth = as follows
R +1
G +2
B 0
C +1
M +1
Y +1

Detail = -2 (personally I find this family of cameras too sharp on detail and a bit prone to aliasing. A setting of -2 helps minimize the tendency to alias especially on fine patterns, lines, and fine horizontals.

My favorite setting for dynamic range though is:

Black Level = 0

Gamma = HLG3

Black Gamma = Middle, Level = 0

Knee = Manual, Point = 100%, Slope = +5

Color Mode = 709

Sturation = 0

Color Phase = - 2

Color Depth = as follows
R +2
G -1
B -2
C -2
M +2
Y -2

Detail = -2

[Charlie Ross]

Good information Christopher, but those are "Picture Profiles", not Camera Profiles. I couldn't find any information from Googling for Camera Profiles, it's all about PP. That's the only reason I resorted to posting my question in a forum.

The Complete Help Guide is very sparse on the subject but does mention on page 239:
Hint
Items that can be saved include setting values for menus, picture profiles, buttons, etc. You can save these setting values all together in the camera profile.

Doug Jensen's Master Class devotes Chapter 3 to this feature and now I'm searching for specific examples of videographers putting it to good use.

[Christopher Young]

Sorry 'bout That! Sloppy reading on my part. I don't use camera profiles on the Z90 as I only have the one.

I use Camera Profiles quite often on the FS7 when we need to set up a few cameras identically for a shoot. I know the the Z90 can store up to 99 camera profiles but I don't see much advantage to that for my shooting. Basically if I have small changes to make for various scenes and locations it's to a PP so I just copy the PP I'm working with into another PP register and make the adjustments there. I find it a lot quicker to just select the PP I require with its changes than to start loading camera profiles. I've done it this way with all Sony cameras since the introduction of the EX series and find it suits my workflow. Additionally the drawback I find with these smaller cameras is that unlike the bigger cameras which have a separate SD card slot to store camera profiles on these smaller camera store the profiles on the same SD cards that they record media on to. Format the card and you lose all your camera profiles. To avoid that it means having a particular SD card to store camera profiles on which obviously means probably having to switch cards for different scenes and locations. A bit too impracticable for me in many shooting situations. Especially at night!

Chris Young

[Doug Jensen]

Charlie, it's not clear to me what kind of information you are looking for regarding camera profiles. As you said yourself . . . "Items that can be saved include setting values for menus, picture profiles, buttons, etc. You can save these setting values all together in the camera profile."

That's about it in a nutshell. Profiles are basically just "preference" files for the camera that allow you to make a safe backup of all your favorite settings and/or quickly change the camera's setup for different shooting situations.

What else are you looking to learn about them?

[Charlie Ross]

Hi Doug. Firstly I have gotten a lot out of the Master Class series for this model. Well done.

What I'm asking is for example if people find there are ways they like to have different features more easily at hand from the Assign buttons depending on the shooting situation. Also options buried in menus that you want "just so" depending on the shoot.

For example, maybe in fast moving outdoors activities, change the zoom behavior, Zebra and Peaking settings, it would be nice to just change the Camera Profile and get all of those things into your "Race Track" or "Air Show" mode. Then back in studio for an interview there is a whole other way you like those things set.

I could play with the profiles for ages but I thought some users have collections of settings they adjust all at once so they do it with swapping camera profiles instead of diving in to the menus.

[Doug Jensen]

Hi Charlie, I'm glad you liked my videos. Thanks.

I don't think you're going to find anyone online talking about or swapping Camera Profiles because they contain too many parameters that are mostly based on personal preferences that have nothing to with the acutal image quality or look of the camera. The best analogy I can think of is that if we both owned the same model of car, what are the odds that you would be happy with my choices for the position of the driver's seat, the rear view mirror, the side mirrors, the presets on the radio, and climate control? Zero chance.

I think what you are really asking is what SETTINGS do other people prefer for different kinds of shooting situations, right? If that is the case, then you'd be better off looking for opinions about specific settings, such as zebra, AF, peaking, white balance, or whatever. I hope that makes sense.

Just as a refresher, here is some of what I say about Camera Profiles in chapter 3 of my master class that might help explain why you're not going to want to give/receive profiles from other people:

The main purpose of Camera Profiles is to allow you to transfer all your settings to another camera (thus creating a virtual clone of the first camera) or to save a backup copy of all your settings on your computer or a memory card for safekeeping. Profiles are also great for multi-camera shoots and for quickly configuring a rental camera with all of your personal settings. They’re also handy if multiple people frequently share a camera. letting everyone have their own custom Camera Profile that that they can call-up to instantly configure the camera the way they want it. However, before we proceed, there are a few important things to know upfront:

First, it’s an all or nothing proposition. When you load a CAMERA PROFILE from a memory card you can’t pick and choose which settings to update. So be aware that you might be changing dozens of custom menu settings all at the same time, including zebras, peaking, markers, gain, audio menus, and almost every other setting on the camera.

Second, all 10 of the camera’s internal Picture Profiles will be erased and overwritten when you load a CAMERA PROFILE. Now that could either be a big time-saver, or a huge mistake, depending on what you wanted to happen when you loaded the file.

Third, the only way to move Picture Profiles into or out of the camera is to use CAMERA PROFILES. Unlike most other professional Sony camcorders – these cameras don’t allow you to save single Picture Profiles as individual files. So if you want to share a single Picture Profile with someone else you will have to transcribe all the settings by hand and then enter those values manually into the second camera.