Re: Color...is it me?
 

I haven't personally been able to do it in my NLE (Vegas Platinum 12), but I've seen a few grades that let me know it's me and not the camera.

Apologies to those who have already seen them, but here are some of my favorite BMPCC grades from the Pocket Cinema Camera group on Vimeo:







I still like the images (and the baked-in color) from my GH3, but it just can't match the DR or the 'gradeability' seen in these (or my own) BMPCC results.

I will be keeping the Pocket Camera. Eventually, I'll figure this grading stuff out :)

Cheers,

Bill
Hybrid Camera Revolution

Re: Color...is it me?
 

Noa, good question. I believe the marketing pitch of Blackmagic of 13 stops of DR is a bit of a load of old cobblers at the end of the day. Yes, the RroRes codec allows a wide DR to be captured but in regard the Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera where is the 13 stops measured and have we seen any science to back up that claim?

Two points about this; the first is that if one fiddles in Resolve which I know little about, and perhaps in other software I know nothing about, it is possible to isolate colors and so on and adjust the selection independent of the remainder of the image. Second, probably many high bit-rate 4:2:2 codecs enable this; it’s not just a ProRes thing (although Apple might claim otherwise). I suspect many sensors, including the sensor in the new Cyber-shot RX10, will capture a similar DR (published data) as that claimed by Blackmagic for the BMPCC, and if delivered in such a manner that it might be captured by a high bit-rate codec then almost infinite post manipulation is possible whereas highly compressed AVCHD does not permit the same degree of manipulation and is more of a ready-to-wear solution, and by the way most often for most of us is just fine.

The preset that you want is the DSP unit in your GH3 and it delivers a product that is not too shabby when all is said and done and meets your needs and the needs of your customers, presumably.

The good thing about the BMPCC is that you and I rather than Panasonic get to choose the levels of everything, more or less while the not so good (if you are a production unit and not a hobbyist filling in time) is that to do the full monty and fiddle with every clip one might be struggling to get the project completed in a timely fashion, have satisfied customers, and therefore make a profit.

Huge over-simplification I know but then I’m trying to cut to the chase, get beyond the hype, and understand the essentials. Please do not hesitate to tidy me up, in fact I’m counting on it:-)

My gripe with the BMPCC is not about dealing with the ProRes footage (although I’d rather not all the time – the option to save to AVCHD would be nice) but with getting good footage into the damn thing in the first place; the ergonomics. Sorry, my apologies to the OP, don’t want to get off-topic here.

Thanks for the links Bill, nice stuff, and I’m not selling my BMPCC either. I like the imagery and I am happy enough, for now, with my grading attempts, and I’m improving, and getting quicker, as I go. There will be an affordable EVF available in due course I reckon.

Re: Color...is it me?
 

Correct me if I'm wrong, but 13 stops is for raw, no? The DNG's seem to have more latitude than prores, but I'm in the early stages of learning color correction so I can't say with any certainty.

Re: Color...is it me?
 

For me the Pocket Cinema Camera a low cost entry point into the Log and Raw workflows. This is the future of video cinema. Does the camera have have flaws? Yes. Can they be overcome by perseverance and learning the tools available? Yes. Is it ready for videographers who want to use it in paid gigs. Probably not.

Re: Color...is it me?
 

You can crush the blacks as much or as little as you like. That's the whole point!

Re: Color...is it me?
 

Yes, but the question was if it was done intentionally and this was not mentioned, so to me the blacks looked crushed, something that has been mentioned more as a unwanted result when trying to colorcorrect pocket cam footage and this is not a camera flaw. For my Canon 550d I used the cinestyle preset a lot when it got real dark as it made a lot of difference, then I just had to drag a lut on top of the footage in Edius and that gave me a very good starting point to continue grading the footage, there should be something similar for pocketcam footage?

Re: Color...is it me?
 

There is..... Resolve.

Re: Color...is it me?
 

Hi Noa,

Since you are using Edius it only took me several minutes to set up a terrific colour mapping preset and save it as a cutomer preset. I only made a rough one to use on my sister-in -laws wedding, but if you start with 'combine filters" preset, add a YUV curve or two, then a three way colour correction to get out the slight green twinge, then tweak the overall colour using the colour balance, you can easily create an easily adjustable general use starting point for all corrections.

I keep changing my preset and re-saving it (using different names)as I fine tune it, or deal with different situation so I am getting a library of effects. Makes life easier!

Cheers,

Vaughan