Picture Profile Recipes

There's been some discussion regarding "in camera" image adjustments.
Some feel the best way is to capture the most natural color correct image as possible and tweak it to your liking in post.

Here's a link I found from Sony that has some changes, mainly gama curve changes to effectively widen the unit’s expressive range.

http://www.sony.co.uk/biz/view/ShowC...=1193315622112


If you have any picture profile settings you find interesting, please post them in this thread.

[Chris Brown]

Originally Posted by Greg Kiger

So my question here is this; do Picture Profiles change the data the EX1 records (ie Destructive), leaving some aspects like shadow detail or highlights lost forever or is it just XML data file (non-destructive) that simply changes how it looks.

Using a camera like the EX1 or EX3 is like shooting in JPEG mode. The raw data has already been modified before it hits the data pipe (even when using the SDI output). The footage has already been compressed, and it uses the Picture Profiles as the recipe.

The Red One shoots raw, and their proprietary software is designed to log & process the acquired footage.

[Craig Seeman]

One can debate the term "uncompressed" but the HD-SDI out is uncompressed. That does NOT mean it has not been processed. The HD-SDI out is processed by the picture profile but it has not been compressed by the XDCAM codec (when coming live off the head).

Originally Posted by Chris Brown

Using a camera like the EX1 or EX3 is like shooting in JPEG mode. The raw data has already been modified before it hits the data pipe (even when using the SDI output). The footage has already been compressed, and it uses the Picture Profiles as the recipe.

The Red One shoots raw, and their proprietary software is designed to log & process the acquired footage.

[David C. Williams]

Red is a long way from RAW too...

[Greg Kiger]

Originally Posted by Vincent Oliver

Yes, the default settings are meant to produce a flat looking image, from here you can apply curves, colour coorections, saturation etc. Not, quite the same as shooting in RAW with a digital camera, but it will do as a starting point.

You might also want to take a look at Alister Chapmans guide to EX curves.

YouTube - XDCAM EX Gamma Curves and Knee, what they do and which ones to use.

Thanks Vincent. I checked out the U tube piece on EX1 Curves. It differentiates between footage shot with the intention of being graded in post and not. Since my workflow involves grading all footage in post it sounded like I would be best served using the camera's Cine 1, 3 or 4 as a way of capturing the maximum amount of image information and leaving myself the greatest number options in post.

Would you agree with this bit of novice logic or advocate shooting at the flat factory defaults?

as always - thanks to everyone for the informative posts

Greg Kiger
St Louis

[Chris Brown]

Originally Posted by Craig Seeman

One can debate the term "uncompressed" but the HD-SDI out is uncompressed. That does NOT mean it has not been processed. The HD-SDI out is processed by the picture profile but it has not been compressed by the XDCAM codec (when coming live off the head).

I'm under the impression that the 4:2:2 output means it's compressed. If not, wouldn't it be 4:4:4?

[Chris Brown]

Originally Posted by David C. Williams

Red is a long way from RAW too...

In the context of this chart what does "raw" mean then? I see the Red One is "4k" and not raw.

[David C. Williams]

Originally Posted by Chris Brown

In the context of this chart what does "raw" mean then? I see the Red One is "4k" and not raw.

The Red marketing team appropriated the term RAW to help sell the camera. They simply called what comes out of the camera Red RAW in the hope of people associating it with the DSLR RAW format. It actually is a proprietary format using wavelet compression, 12:1-9:1. It doesn't get close to 4K either, after de-bayering, depending on lens and setting, 3.2-2.8K roughly.

[Chris Brown]

Originally Posted by David C. Williams

The Red marketing team appropriated the term RAW to help sell the camera. They simply called what comes out of the camera Red RAW in the hope of people associating it with the DSLR RAW format. It actually is a proprietary format using wavelet compression, 12:1-9:1. It doesn't get close to 4K either, after de-bayering, depending on lens and setting, 3.2-2.8K roughly.

Thanks for the clarification!

[Rafael Amador]

Originally Posted by Chris Brown

I'm under the impression that the 4:2:2 output means it's compressed. If not, wouldn't it be 4:4:4?

That's call down-sampling.
rafael