The factory image out of the box is purposefully somewhat flat, to give you a baseline upon which to build your desired look. Think of it as terrain landscaping: one approach to creating an appealing landscape is to start with a flat, level surface. Sure, at first it's boring to look at, but it gives you a solid place to build whatever you want. That's the idea here.

You could build the look in post, but by doing it in-camera you are saving time and compression.

I have been using Steve Dempsy's Vivid preset and love it, I am doing a dance recital this weekend and can not get in the hall until the day of the show to check the lighting. If the lighting is a little dark, is there another preset that would be better?

I have to expand on the presets I use, dark receptions dont do well with that vivid preset.

I saw some footage (if i remember by Chris Hurd) shot in Japan at night in a taxi using no preset and it was fantastic. So i think that the cam is great even using no preset. It depends on the situation.

I use Steven Dempsey's Panalook2, and I like it a much better than his Vividrgb. To me, the colors with Panalook2 look more natural and don't seem oversaturated as they did with Vividrgb. The reds look more resonable as well. I think it produces a great image, and seems to work better in lower lighting. It may be worth experimenting with to see if you like the results.

It was shot by Kaku Ito, not me.

Thanks will give that one a shot.

Saving 20 Presets
 

I have had problems saving 20 Presets, I am going to get both cameras out again tonight but almost sure one of them would not allow me to save over 9 presets. Does anyone know why? I checked some obvious things like firmware versions etc.

I will get them out tonight and go into more detail of the problems I am having just thought someone may have run into this before.

Denny

Dear Denny,

On the XL H1, you can save 6 Custom Presets in the camera's memory, then 20 on the SD memory card.

Then, using another, more advanced technique, you can store an unlimited number of custom presets on the SD memory card.

Ok, thanks, I was thinking I could save all 20 on the cameras memory.

Any advice from you pros on the order you save them. Do you put the ones you use most first, or try and stick to the order thats on here for easy ref.

Also do the first 6 PRESETS on the card need to match the 1-6 Presets you saved on the camera?

Sorry for the probably newbie questions, but going to set up both cameras (XH-A1's) tonight and want to set them up the same and most effecient.

Denny

Dear Denny,

You can load any of the Custom Presets on your SD Card, or multiple SD memory cards, into the six available memory slots on the camera.

While one SD card can have only 20 presets, SD cards are cheap, so you can load 20 more onto another SD card.

(And there are more advanced techniques.)

(Note: The XL H1 has only 6 slots, the XH series may have more.)

So, which preset you load into which slot is up to you.

I keep an Excel spreadsheet of which preset is which.

If and when you choose a custom preset that seems best for you, you could load it into all six slots, just to be certain that you do not accidently switch to another (inappropriate for your conditions) preset.

Dear Denny,

The more advanced technique that I have been referring to is:

1. Enable the camera to save the "custom preset in use" with each photo taken in the camera.

2. Get a large SD memory card (optional, but desirable)

3. Load, or create a custom preset. Activate it.

4. Take a photo of the scene. This saves the scene image, plus saves the custom preset.

5. When you want to use that specific custom preset again, just find the photo, then reload the custom preset from the photo.

This advanced technique is great for cinema work as it clearly documents what you have done.

You can refer back to your settings at any time. Since the custom preset is attached to the photo, it is easy to find the preset that you used for any given scene.

Now, the less advanced technique of finding a great preset, and then using it for most of your work, works very well.

I like Alister Chapman's preset. I have recommended this to other XL H1 users and many have adopted it as "their" custom preset.

Thanks for that detailed technique, this is what I will do.

Another tip: to make it easier to navigate back and forth among all those presets, assign "CP Select Backward" to Custom Key #2. That gives you a back button in addition to the forward button, on either side of the CP On / Off button.

Menu > System Setup > Custom Key 2 > CP Bkwd Key

I have been using Panalook for a while now to shoot footage in Death Valley. I think it looks GREAT. How does Panalook2 differ from the original? What where the changes?

Thoughts on Panalook2
 

In my opinion, Panalook2 is very similar to Panalook in it's overall cinematic look, but the overall color gain has been reduced (from 4 to -4), while the green gain and sharpness have been only very slightly reduced. Also, the black has changed from middle to stretch. I have my black set to middle rather than stretch only because I prefer the way middle looks a bit more, plus I'm not that good at adjusting things in post. I think that stretch gives more latitude with your blacks though. I got the following from a post by Steven Dempsey that helps explain the black setting: "Black - Press will crush the blacks, Mid is a good average of decent black levels, Stretch will make the blacks a little milkier but you will retain more detail in the recorded image"

Some people have suggested that the sharpening on A1 adds noise, so they keep it set low. (See Trucolor threads for this discussion) While I can't prove this true, I can see the logic behind it and tend to believe it. I like the fact that Panalook2 is in the negative sharpening range and I would rather do light sharpening in post rather than in camera.

I have always thought Panalook had a great look to it, and the updated version seems to make colors seem realistic, but not oversaturated. It is a preset with a lot of range to adjust the overall look in post. Of all the presets out there, Panalook2 is my favorite.