Not a 500 but...

[digitalinnovations]

...a Panasonic full size cam.

Alright, I am hoping that Barry or some of the more knowledgeable people than I on this forum can help me out. I am wanting to tweak my Panasonic AJD-410 DVCPRO 1/2" camera's settings to get a little better picture out of it. I know that is not a HPX500, but the menu structure and settings should have a similar effect (maybe more similar to a SDX900). Right now the colors look a little too "video" and the blacks come out washed out looking, not a true black. I will list below some of the settings that I have available (and what they are set at currently) and hopefully you can suggest some tweaks to get the picture quality bumped up a little. This might seem silly, but I have never departed much from the factory settings and I know there is more "picture" to be had in this cam. I have seen some of the before and after settings changes in cams like the HVX200, etc. so I feel like I should have room for improvement. Here it goes:

1: Black STR/PRESS: Set to Norm (press-norm-stretch available)
2: Master Gamma: Set to +00
3: H Detail: Set to +00
4: V Detail: Set to +00
5: DTL Coring: Set to +0
6: H DTL Freq: Set to 3MHz
7: Matrix: Set to A (A-B-Adj available)
8: Chroma Level: Set to +0
9: Chroma Phase: Set to+00
10: Master Ped: Set to +00
11: Knee Point: Set to 090%
12: ATW: Set to OFF (off-Bch-Ach-Pre available)
13: Super V: Set to OFF
14: Color / Skin Tone Options
PRE COLOR TEMP: Set to +00
Ach: Set to 00+
Bch: Set to 00+
15: Matrix Adj
R-G: Set to +00
R-B: Set to +00
G-R: Set to +12
G-B: Set to +00
B-R: Set to +00
B-G: Set to +00
16: Skin Tone DTL: Set to OFF
17: Skin Tone Range: Set to NORM (norm-wide available)
18: A. Iris Level: Set to -03 (-10 thru +10 available)
19: A Iris Peak/Ave: Set to PEAK,00 (peak 00 thru 10 and ave 00 thru 10 available)
20: Iris Speed: Set to +0 (-2 thru +2 available)
21: Shutter: Set to OFF

I also work quite a bit on green screens and quite often I get some halo around the talent, so if there are some detail settings or something that should be turned down please let me know that as well.

I really appreciate your time!!!!

[Noel Evans]

Try these

1: Black STR/PRESS: Set to Norm (press-norm-stretch available) SET TO PRESS
2: Master Gamma: Set to +00
3: H Detail: Set to +00
4: V Detail: Set to +00
5: DTL Coring: Set to +0
6: H DTL Freq: Set to 3MHz
7: Matrix: Set to A (A-B-Adj available)
8: Chroma Level: Set to +0
9: Chroma Phase: Set to+00
[10: Master Ped: Set to +00 SET TO A NEGATIVE FACTOR
11: Knee Point: Set to 090%
12: ATW: Set to OFF (off-Bch-Ach-Pre available)
13: Super V: Set to OFF
14: Color / Skin Tone Options
PRE COLOR TEMP: Set to +00
Ach: Set to 00+
Bch: Set to 00+
15: Matrix Adj
R-G: Set to +00
R-B: Set to +00
G-R: Set to +12 IS THIS FOR A SPECIFIC LOOK? If NOT RETURN TO +00 AS YOUR START POINT AND GO FROM THERE
G-B: Set to +00
B-R: Set to +00
B-G: Set to +00
16: Skin Tone DTL: Set to OFF
17: Skin Tone Range: Set to NORM (norm-wide available)
18: A. Iris Level: Set to -03 (-10 thru +10 available)
19: A Iris Peak/Ave: Set to PEAK,00 (peak 00 thru 10 and ave 00 thru 10 available)
20: Iris Speed: Set to +0 (-2 thru +2 available)
21: Shutter: Set to OFF

With the greenscreen are you getting a green halo?? If its halo/spill from the screen itself you can help this by
1/ giving more distance between the subject and the screen.
2/ try lighting your screen about 1/2 stop less than your subject exposure.

[digitalinnovations]

Thank you very much for the help! That G-R setting is nothing I had done, that is still from the factory settings, as far as I know. I will give those a try and see what happens. Do you have an opinion on the V & H DETAIL. Notice most those using the HVX200 and HPX500 dial down the detail settings. I didn't know if even with my cam, it might add some sharpening that might not be needed and/or could be giving some rough edges on keys. Thanks again!!!

[digitalinnovations]

OK, quick question. I tried some settings I found on the forums and tried to tweak them for my cam. Problem is, on a test greenscreen shoot tonight there is quite a bit of noise in the green screen. Here are the settings I am at now, you can see originals above.

Black Stretch: Norm
Auto Iris: -2
Chroma Level: Set to +7
Chroma Phase: -15
Master Ped: Set to -15
V & H Detail: -3
Detail Coring: -2 (as far down as it goes)
Skin Detail: On

Can you think of any adjustments that would make the green screen noisy? Thanks in advance!!!

[Noel Evans]

B-R: Set to +00
B-G: Set to +00

Might help to move these to a negative. Blue channel will most likely be your source of noise.

But Id really try a diff black stretch setting - Press maybe the way to go.

[digitalinnovations]

Thank you, Noel!

I am actually going to test those settings this morning. I will switch over to the Black Press too. I was also thinking of adjusting the Chroma and Chroma Phase as well, maybe between where it sits now and 0. I didn't know if maybe there I added too much and that caused the noise.

I have never had noise in the green screen before, but I am also wanting to squeeze as much "picture" as I can out the cam. This truly is a trial and error process.

I do really appreciate your time and help!!!