C300 MkII Monitor Banding
 

On the C300 MkII LCD and on my SmallHD 501 monitor it looks like there is a lot of banding – very very apparent. This banding does not show up in the recorded footage so I’m assuming it must be down to the camera recording in 10 bit and the onboard LCD monitor being 8 bit and my SmallHD 501 being 8 bit?

The banding is so bad it’s quite offputting when filming and gives a poor indication of what’s being recorded – I'm just wondering why the cam can’t output 8 bit to monitor video, or convert to 8 bit monitors better? Is there any way to improve the monitoring? I looked at my 1DXII which is 8 bit and outputs an 8 bit signal to the same 501 monitor and there is very little banding visible, so it does seem to be entirely a result of the monitor having to convert a 10 bit signal to 8 bit? Does everyone see the same as me?

Thanks,

Matt

Re: C300 MkII Monitor Banding
 

Also, I'm wondering why, when I import the 10 bit footage into my NLE to playback on my 8 bit computer monitor screen I see no banding, yet when I'm viewing on my 8 bit SmallHD monitor I am seeing the banding (which I'm presuming is due to the10 bit output from the C300MkII being on an 8 bit monitor).

If the banding was all down to 10 bit output being displayed on an 8 bit display, then surely I would see the same banding on my 8 bit computer screen....

I've tried searching for info about this, and found nothing to really explain so any thoughts appreciated!

Matt

Re: C300 MkII Monitor Banding
 

What a strange problem.

Sounds like you are picking up some interference. Do you have anything else attached to your camera or rig that could be causing the problem? I had initially thought it might be the cabling from the camera to the LCD but the fact that you are getting this problem on both the onboard LCD and the Small monitor points to something else.

Could there be a fault with the Small 501? Do you still get banding on your LCD when the 501 is totally disconnected?

If you have a fault on your LCD unit you might be visiting Canon at Elstree and they will presumably replace the unit under warranty. I've had one Canon LCD monitor die on me and it was replaced.

Re: C300 MkII Monitor Banding
 

Not specific to your question, but you would only see banding in theory with 8bit material on a 10bit monitor...not the other way around. As for the lcd on the c300II, you shouldn't be seeing any banding...so there's something wrong.

Re: C300 MkII Monitor Banding
 

Thanks Barry, that's very useful information. I've another shoot tomorrow so will have another look. On the shoot where I noticed the banding being particularly apparent I was outputting to a teradek through the monitor out, whilst using HDMI to my SmallHD - I wonder if that might have had anything to do with it?