If you know my style. Help...
 

Ok, well i've got a shoot one thursday for the first time with the XL2. Now if anyone has seen what i've done before, maybe they can help me out here. But I dont know if i should keep the settings mostly center? Or should i try to get the look i want in camera. I'm saying this cause i dont know if i wanna just Color Correct in post like I always have.

For you I would recommend the following settings:


16:9
24P with 2:3 pulldown
1/48th shutter
Warm White Balance (balance to grey)

Knee: LOW
Blacks: PRESS
Gamma/Color: CINE
Color Gain: +1 or 2
Color Phase: +1
Red Gain:+1
Master Pedestal: -3 to -6
Setup Level: -3 to -6


Leave everything else flat. If you want a greener picture leave the color phase in the middle and dont boost the reds. If you want bluer, boost the blues a notch or 2. The XL2 is ALL ABOUT settings. I will be happy to help you with a setting for any situation, just describe what you are after.



ash =o)

welcome to the wonderful world of the XL2. it's an amazing device. i would say, hook it up to a monitor and experiment your brains out. it helps to turn every way up high and way down low at first, to get an idea of how the features affect the picture.

ash, i'm curious, why crank the master pedestal so low? i get a a pretty washed out look if i do that. seems better to desaturate in post, where you can control that look. sometimes i ratchet it down a notch or two but never that low.

i'm always learning on this camera.....

I'm pretty sure he said that since he know's what all my stuff looks like, and he knows that i Color correct alot and whatnot. So if the blacks arent crushed then you can retain all the video information just incase you need it in post. If you crank the blacks up and the master ped. Then you cant see the details in darker areas of the picture if you want to in post. :)

It all depends... some settings effect others. If you want THE most detail, you can shoot flat with a low knee and stretched blacks. This will give you a flat very detailed picture to tweak in post, it can look a little milky but all the info is there.

Generally a high master pedestal will wash things out while still maintaining a lot of information, having it high is only recommended in situations with stark contrast to keep the background from completly washing out.

To understand how the master pedestal/setup levels work together I recommend people play with them... both up, both down, one up while the other is down, etc. etc. etc. Try shooting something with contrast (lamp in a dark room)




ash =o)

Ash, you said to get a warm feel, adjust white balance using a grey sheet of paper. In order to get a pale, empty feel, what color of paper would need to be used? I would experiment right now, but my camera's currently at a friend's house.

Thanks,
D.C. Joseph

To mute the warmness you need to make the whites slightly blueish. You can do this with a light yellow or light pink. There is a great thread of other things you can mess with here:

http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?t=50403



ash =o)