Preset explanation
 

This may be a stupid question to ask but I feel that it is an important one because there have to be more people like me out there. The question is what do all the preset switches (ex: coring, setup level, etc) mean in real world terms. Can someone explain EXACTLY what they do in a comprehensive way. I can see what they are doing to the image when I adjust them in my camera but I don’t understand why. Like I said this may be a stupid question but I think one of the reasons there are so many posts about presets is because some people (like me) don’t fully understand exactly what some settings do. Hopefully some of you preset geniuses out there can help us out.

I've posted it before, but here again for your benefit is....

http://www.usa.canon.com/consumer/co...10350&pageno=4

and

http://www.usa.canon.com/consumer/co...10350&pageno=2

Scroll to the bottom of these pages to see brief explanations of most image control functions.

-gb-

And of course, the XL2 presets video... gah, for the life of me I can't find the link.

That is about what I was looking for. I wish people would educate themselves on this so we can end these constant discussions on presets but I doubt that will happen. Thanx for the help.

Color Matrix (Video/Cine)


The XL2's Color Matrix function manages the hue and saturation of the video to reproduce the most accurate color. The color matrix defines the camera's color output; the matrix lets you define the amount of primary and secondary colors that are produced. The primary colors are red, green and blue, with the secondary colors (cyan, magenta, yellow) made from the combinations of two primary colors. With the XL2's Color Matrix, you can change from a video to a cine "look" for the end product.

Gamma (Video/Cine)


Gamma controls the general brightness (luminance) of the picture and the contrast of the picture. Adjusting gamma allows you to control the way the camera reproduces various tones. Video shot on the XL2 can be gamma corrected to allow for the final usage of the video -- where it will be shown. The display medium can distort the brightness, therefore if the gamma is corrected for the display medium when the video is shot, the display will show the correct brightness level. By switching to the Cine curve, the tonal qualities of the images produced have shading and coloration similar to that of film.

Knee (H/M/L)


Among the XL2's picture-enhancing circuits is the knee circuit. Setting the control to high, medium or low manages the highlight compression of the video signal.

Black (Stretch/Normal/Press)


The XL2 gives the user control of the depth of black in dark areas of an image. To emphasize contrast in the video's dark areas, "Stretch" is selected. To deepen or enhance the dark area, "Press" (compress) is selected.

Vertical Detail (Normal/Low)


There are 2 settings: "Normal" for vertical detail optimized for playback on an interlaced monitor, "Low" for vertical detail optimized for a progressive scan monitor like a PC.

Coring (-6 to +6)


The Coring function on the XL2 is useful in helping to remove image "noise." Coring removes fine detail information that is not a major contributor to the picture detail but which adds noise to the image. You can adjust just how much detail information is removed -- just enough coring to reduce picture noise, but not enough to hurt the detail in the image.

Sharpness (-6 to +6)


The XL2 is capable of changing the degree of sharpness in the picture. By using this feature, pictures that do not require a lot of detail can be softened. This feature also can be used to hide imperfections during close-ups, for example. Increasing video sharpness can increase the video noise slightly.

Noise Reduction (OFF/H/N/L)


Noise Reduction removes video noise -- non-picture artifacts such as those commonly found in low-light images -- without hurting image detail or creating motion artifacts. This is important for two reasons. The first is that we have become used to viewing high quality video. The second is that video noise makes compression -- to DVD, for example -- less efficient.

Color Gain (-6 to +6)


The XL2 can deliver 13 steps of color gain, from off to oversaturated. This adjustment allows you to shoot in black and white.

Color Phase (-6 to +6)


Adjust the Color Phase towards red or green for exact control.


As for SETUP......I will post to see if it is 7.5 IRE or 0%.

Hi Alan,

I'm on your bandwagon... I've read a ton of threads on presets, and still hardly use them... I have one, that I constantly change... and I've been a little timid about even bringing them up because there are so many threads here on presets, and I keep thinking I'm going to find the answer... but maybe you've just asked in the right way... "I see what it's doing to the image, but I don't know why" YEA... me too... thanks for sticking it out there and asking... because now, there's some real concise information to read here...

Greg, and Lou... thanks for the info! good work guys!

It's at http://www.dvcreators.net/canon-xl2 under "Watch the XL2 Feature Tour Video."

WOW this is an old thread. This was made almost a year ago and by now I'm pretty good with presets. I actually have setteled on the idea of shooting all my video very wide and "fixing" the image later in the color correction phase. It just work better for me to not even worry about presets, I just get the most information on tape then basically throw away what I don't want.

The reason I am now pretty fluent with my presets is because I didnt ask the all to often asked question of "whats the best preset for..." I actually learned how to think for myself.

Give a man a preset feed him for a day, teach a man to make his own preset feed him for a lifetime, or something like that.

Have fun

I agree with you... to a point. Sometimes it's nice to share the shortcuts we've found. The optmal end is that we know enough to make our own, but understand and are helpful enough to share the ones we've made.

You've become proficient at them? Good. Anything to share?

Yes, it is an old thread. I wanted to learn about the presets, so I did a search so as not to annoy people with my question.

There are so many presets and none of them in my opinion look any better then the others. Like I said, I shoot wide and tweak it in the computer. If you have After Effects this works really well. I hooked up my camera to Dvrack and played with it until I got the most amount of data in the camera. The preset I use (I called it latitude) is…

Gamma – Cine (this is a well duh thing)
Knee – Low (controls roll off of whites, basically pressing of stretching white, they should have just called it white cause next is..
Black – Stretch (gets the most amount details in the black areas)
Color Matrix – Cine (I cant tell one way or the other)
Color Gain – 0 (duh again)
Color Phase – 0 (duh again again)
R – 0
G – 0
B – 0 (all duhs)
V-Detail – Normal, but some say use low cause it will soften scan lines.
Sharpness – 0
Coring – 0 (this has to do something with detail inside an object where sharpness is the edges, but aside from that idk. It works best at 0)
Setup Level - -2 (it’s the starting point for black… or whites… something like that. I just know pushing it down two gets more info.)
MP – 0
NR - off

Like I said I put preset to the test, watching all the graphs in Dvrack and it seems to gather the most data.

In After Effects I use levels and crush blacks or whites or adjust color or whatever. By shooting wide u decide later. I also usually shoot one stop under and tweak that later too. My raw footage usually looks like mud is smeared over the top, but it can be altered to look very good. Check this out to see, Kinda a decent example. Its actually before and after of an effects shot, but u will get the idea.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cH6HJ3ATQks

Alan,

Thanks for the post. I found it interesting. I liked the look of the second half, and I see what you mean about the washed look on the first half.
I have a couple months off and I will give that a try to see if I can learn a little more about the post aspect of the xl2!!