Hi

I am very much on the verge of purchasing an XF300. I have owned an XHA1 for 3 years now and am very used to it. Unfortunately due to occasional drop-outs on it I have decided to move on. I have recently used a Z1 and a Z7, and apart from re-adapting to it I found that the LCD viewer and indeed, the view through the eyepiece was very flat in colour. I had been so used to the colours being well represented in the XHA1.

- But, the colours came out superb when imported from the sony's. I even thought that the Z7 the blacks were much richer and deeper than on my XHA1.

Anyway - I went to see a XF300 and a second hand EX1R today, and I was really blown away by the great LCD on the canon. The EX1 screen was good too - but it was a bit of a role reversal with the pictures. I thought that the canon picture looked flat in colour and the sony looked more vibrant. I'm used to the 'presets' for colour on the canon, but just wondering if that's what this was - just more of a preset issue?

I would think that judging focus is one of the most critical uses of a lcd, correct color is something you get by whitebalancing and for that you don't even need a color lcd. I own a xh-a1 and have it on peaking and black/white most of the time, it is very hard to get good focus manually on that tiny lcd. In that respect I think you will be very happy with the high res and much larger lcd's from most new camera's these days.

so, are there no colour preset settings that can be shared (on SD card or likewise) in the same way that settings were shared for the XHA1?

Are you now talking about the color representation on the camera lcd or the actual color of the actual footage and possibilities to tweak that?

so, are there no colour preset settings that can be shared (on SD card or likewise) in the same way that settings were shared for the XHA1?How to make Custom Picture Settings (http://canoncanada.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/21507/~/how-to-make-custom-picture-settings)

that's it Nigel! I know with the XHA1 there were many presets colour settings that people created - I just wonder if any of you guys had come across any yet, of have you created your own?

When we were using XHA1s there were plenty of user created custom picture styles that one could try out but I haven't seen much in the way of people publishing the equivalents for the XF series cameras. There are some suggested settings in this thread http://www.dvinfo.net/forum/canon-xf-series-hd-camcorders/496208-my-xf100-tests-issues.html

Due to the different sensors I don't think XF100/105 and XF300/305 presets will be interchangable. I have been working with the XF100 for a couple of weeks and the one thing I am seeing is that settings that are really good for 720 footage don't work as well for 1080. I'm starting to think this may be due to the single sensor, but I can't say for sure.

If you had a chance to play with the XF300 for long enough to test out a colour preset - try this one. I've been experimenting with this one for the last couple of shoots.

Gamma: Cine 2
Black - Master Pedestal: -10
Low Key Saturation: Enable - Level 30
Knee: Enable
Automatic: On
Slope: 0
Point: 95
Saturation: 0

I used to love using the VividRGB preset on the XH-A1. The wealth of presets available online for that camera was incredible.