Simple Question (Difficult Answer)

[John Hewat]

I sat my shiny new V1 down next to my Z1 to do some comparisons.

I had one Lowel Rifa Lite with diffuser aimed at my subject. I started with the settings exactly the same on the two cameras. 0 Gain, F2.8 both white balanced to the same card, etc...

Anyway, I was very quickly able to tweak the V1 to give me close to my desired effect.

With the Z1 however, which I've been tinkering with for over a year, I simply could not get what I wanted.

I've attached a comparison of the two shots. A highly compressed picture - but I'm not trying to talk about picture quality - I'm trying to talk about colour qualities.

For those of you who know more than I do (everyone) is it correct to say that the V1 footage is warmer?

And my challenge is this: I want to get the Z1 footage to look a little more like the V1 footage. Which settings would you suggest are off? I thought I went through everything but this was seriously the closest I got.

Thanks to you all!

-- John.

[Boyd Ostroff]

Are you familiar with the WB shift trick on the Z1? Did you try that? If not then that's where I would start. Unless I don't understand your question, it looks like you're unhappy with the white balance. See the following:

http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?t=79394

[Matt Davis]

Originally Posted by John Hewat

I want to get the Z1 footage to look a little more like the V1 footage. Which settings would you suggest are off?

WB off a Warm Whites card, shoot with Z1's black stretch engaged.

You may wish to up Color Level to +2, maybe nudge Color Phase to +2 (IIRC).

I'd save things like CineTone for post. HDV and the Z1 are notorious for having little leeway in the image to correct, only to enhance, so I'd be concentrating on exposure, contrast, neutral colour balance, then gently nudging the contrast and colour in post. So yes, this leads to long render times, but you'll need two runs of timing to get SD/DVD and web versions, and CineTone may produce too much murk to make it work cross platform.*

I think you can improve on the V1's image.

HTH.

* But CineTone works great when you're cranking up the effects with a polariser, or shallow DoF and high shutter speed, and when you're totally sure of the effect you really want. **

** Connect your Z1 to a good monitor (not a domestic TV) and play with your Picture Profile settings. Don't get too extreme, but aim to get something that will get exciting with perhaps a little level control and a hint of desaturation.

[John Hewat]

Thanks guys! I'll test them out.

Unfortunately I don't have a 'good' monitor. Just a domestic TV.

That said, it's a 35" Widescreen CRT that looks beautiful.

In fact I've plugged my Z1 into the new Full HD Bravias and it doesn't look as good as it does on my CRT. Presumably because of the old CRT vs LCD debate.