Zacuto Z-finder pro calibration question

[Eugen Oprina]

Hi,
The z-finder arrived yesterday.
The image looks much brighter than the camera's viewfinder or lcd. Obvious one of them is wrong.
Would you please share your calibration settings.
Thank you very much,
Eugen

[Ron Wilk]

Hello,
I believe that I responded to your question on another forum, however, here it is again:
If you calibrate both your F3's LCD—forget about the F3's EVF—and the Z-Finder to color bars, using as close to standard technique as possible, they should end up fairly close. That said, you should not be using either as a means of determining exposure but, rather, using Zebras. In this regard, both the cam and the Z-Finder's Zebras can be set almost exactly the same—there being very little variance between the two.

[Eugen Oprina]

Hi Ron,
It is true Giani is my nickname.
Thank you very much for your answer.
Unfortunately, there is no way to calibrate the Z-finder using the standard procedure. I hope is not mine with problems. Whatever I try I cannot pass the briteness calibration, the line with negative black is still visible no matter what I do. If you succeed to make the negative black stripe look the same as black 0 stripe please let me know.
Best,
Giani

[Ron Wilk]

Hi Giani,
The idea is not to make the gray patch disappear but, rather, reduce its visibility as much as possible. To accomplish that, you may have to cut back a bit on the contrast on both the Zacuto's EVF and the F3's LCD. Neither can be calibrated with same exactness as a pro-monitor or high-end ENG EVF, but you can come close, and that's really all you need, since you should not be using either to judge exposure.

I have been using the Z-finder exclusively, rarely gaze at the LCD, and never use the F3's EVF, which I have sealed with a black eyepatch as suggested by another poster. However, I have been able to adjust both the LCD and Z-finder so that they are fairly close in appearance. But as stated above, it has little relevance since I only use the Z-Finder. Make certain that the F3 is set to output all of the data that you normally see in camera's LCD or EVF and there will be no need to use them any longer.

[Eugen Oprina]

Hi Ron,
Acording with the classic calibration procedure the first two grey patches which are -1,3 and 0 IRE have to appear black. The patch on the right which has positive + 1,3 IRE has to be barely visible.(I am not very sure about the numbers) So, the one that I can't make it black is the negative IRE one.
Would you please tell me your setting vor Z finder.
Thanks a lot for help,
G

[Ron Wilk]

Hi Giani,
The settings will be relative to those of your F3, but that said, here are they are:

Brightness: -37
Contrast: 1

As I mentioned in my prior post, the idea is to come close to the classic color bars setting. But given the nature of the Z-Finder's software, assuming it is a software related issue, exactness will not be possible and, most importantly, unnecessary.

Good luck

[Eugen Oprina]

Hi Ron,
Thank you for the settings.
I completely agree with you that exposure-wise zebra rules not viewfinder's image but in a perfect world (the one that I live :) I like to have the viewfinder as accurate as possible.
Good luck too,
G