*** PLEASE HELP!!! Canon C100 Picture Profiles for Weddings

[John Armando]

Hi to all.....

I'm a wedding videographer shooting with a Canon c100. I've had if for a couple months now and have shot about 10 weddings with it. I love everything about the camera but I'm a bit stumped on choosing an overall good looking picture profile that requires NO COLOUR GRADING in post. I had asked around here when I first got the camera and the majority said to stick with the WideDR profile. I don't know if it's just me or what but it just doesn't look that good to me. It looks very dull and flat with no life to it. But that might be the right look and my eyes are still not trained to see it. To me, EOS Standard looks good but others say the colours are too saturated.

I realize that it comes down to personal preference but I just wanted some feedback on what you guys think the best picture profile would be for weddings. Or if you guys have custom profiles you wouldn't mind sharing.

Now this might be a dumb question..... When choosing a picture profile does lighting matter? I generally shoot in low light situations (grooms/bride's house, church, hall).
Again, I only shoot weddings and I need a profile that requires no post production colour grading.

Thanks to all in advance for any help.

John

[Andrew Maclaurin]

I'm in a similar situation. I just use WDR as I don't really like EOS standard. I suppose someone has a tweaked WDR setting but when shooting a wedding you need an all terrain setting and so far WDR is that.

[David Dixon]

C300: Cowpunk's Profiles

I know it says C300, but this long (1 1/2 year) thread gives some great info on C100 also. If I had a C100 I'd read the whole thread.

[Jeffrey Fuchs]

I use EOS Standerd for now but I am also looking for something different. I did turn down the sharpness to like 4. I have also tried wide DR but do not like it for the same reasons as you stated.

[Jody Arnott]

I personally use WDR and then bump up the saturation in post. Really loving the look of the footage that way.
Even without bumping up the saturation I think WDR looks great.

[Bob Drummond]

On the other board, Paul Frederick posted a modified WIDE DR profile called WIDE_PF. I think it looks great out of the box. Roughly the same dr as WIDE DR, but with little or no extra grading required. Only problem I've found is that it looks pretty bad at high ISO's--one of the areas where the C series is supposed to shine.

Check out what Paul has to say here:

Their Last Days - A Canon C100 Nature Film on Vimeo

[John Armando]

[QUOTE=Jody Arnott;1860743]I personally use WDR and then bump up the saturation in post. Really loving the look of the footage that way.
Even without bumping up the saturation I think WDR looks great.

Thanks Jody, I guess my eyes are not trained for that look yet. But I'd rather go with the majority here.

Does anyone know which profile looks better at high ISO's? WDR or Eos standard?

Thanks to all for replying and helping!!

[Matt Davis]

I think many of us are rather glued to the Wide Dynamic Range, but we all do a little 'global' (or not so global) tweaking. Not grading, just a little 'happiness' or 'punch'.

The reason that I don't go with the punchier profiles at the get-go is because AVCHD tends to go really blocky and dirty with the strong colours you'll find at events such as wedding parties, stage lighting, etc. WDR will cope with most eventualities with a bit of wriggle room.

I've shot corporate events with the C100 and EX1R (another 4:2:2 8 bit camera) and this has always been the issue. On the Sony, I had an additional Picture Profile for night time events which had the chroma wound down a few clicks, which would need re-saturating in post (for all of the 10-20 shots I'd use).

For the C100 with WDR, I've not yet needed to do that even with some insane lighting setups.

The EOS profile is incredibly punchy and saturated, and represents the sort of 'out of the box' settings of a consumer DSLR. It can cheer up a drab overcast day, but I'm always concerned that it doesn't leave much room for correction or adaption if you don't like the look later. That's just my opinion, based in the UK where as usual the sky looks like we live inside a tupperware sandwich box. It's the sort of light where WDR won't exactly look its best but you get enough to do that later, but I fully appreciate that not everyone will have a chance to do a quick grade.

[John Armando]

Hi Matt, thanks for your helpful response as always. I'll try some of the picture profiles posted by others that just give WDR a little tweak but other than that I'm just going to leave it as is. I'd rather go with the majority and stick with wdr instead of eos standard just to be safe.

[Mervin Langley]

Also try Paul Joy's profile. I used it last year. Canon C300 & C100 matching custom picture files | Paul Joy – Freelance Filmmaker