Matching 5d3 to a PannyCam

[ggrantly]

Hello Listers,

I'm going to make a music video with a 4 piece acoustic group and plan to use two cams. A-cam = Stock 5D3 fixed on sticks and my trusty Panny PX270 on a crane for the B-cam. The venue is private in a large living room with controlled lighting. Since there are some very nice windows in the room, I'll augment with daylight panels and some flos. The 270 has the typical Panny color science, but has much more detail options since its brain is a 5000 series cam at heart. I haven't used the 5d for video, so any tips for matching would be appreciated. I understand this may not be a match made in heaven but would like to get it close as is possible. I plan to take some time next week to work on this, so any starting points would be appreciated.

Grant

[David W. Jones]

Grant, aside from color matching the 2 different cameras, you are also likely going to see 2 very different looks due to sensor size, cutting from the 1/3" and the FF sensor of the 5D3. Best advice I can give without going into really pre-pro work of matching in advance of the shoot would be to bring along a chart so you have a starting point for correction in post.

Good Luck!


Dave

[ggrantly]

Thanks David,

This is just a fun project for myself and an old duffers gypsy jazz band. Ordinarily I wouldn't mix the two, but for obvious reasons want a second cam. I plan to spend some time trying to match, but know this could be tough, so just looking for a starting point. The 270 has much more extensive creative control, so I'll try to tweak the 270 to match the 5d. Any other advice would be appreciated.

[Imamacuser]

Manually white balancing off an 18% grey card or White balance filter will help with matching color, you'll still have to do some color correction though. Matching DOF will be pretty difficult without bringing in a ton of light.

[Joshua_G]

Manually white balancing off an 18% grey card or White balance filter will help with matching color, you'll still have to do some color correction though. Matching DOF will be pretty difficult without bringing in a ton of light.

Aws far as I know, doing manual whit balance on both the Canon and the Panasonic will result in a difference in colors rendition apart from, possibly, the whites - since the color science of each of those companies is different.

[yoclay]

If you really want to match the 5D, you should stop down to get the same level of depth of field as the Panny.
You might also want to use a neutral or standard profile for the 5D and then additionally lower both the saturation and contrast by at least 2 notches.
Do not touch the sharp as the 5D is quite soft in it's native H264 format. Personally I think you would be best off using the Magic Lantern program and shooting in RAW.
However, if you haven't already done this, it is probably too late to get that together. Makes a HUGE difference though in terms of color manipulation and sharpness in post.
Nothing will bring the cameras closer together than this.

I would also use a grey, white and black chart and equal out the values on a RGB scope in post.
http://xritephoto.com/colorchecker-grayscale

[ggrantly]

Thanks for the quality comments everyone.

Grant

[ggrantly]

I guess it's ok to hijack my own thread so here goes

Would it be easier to match a 5d3 to any of the eos cams like a c300 for example? I would assume so, but has anyone done it?

[yoclay]

I guess it's ok to hijack my own thread so here goes

Would it be easier to match a 5d3 to any of the eos cams like a c300 for example? I would assume so, but has anyone done it?

Absolutely. Further, the ability to share glass will help a lot. There are numerous examples out there. The C300 will be sharper for video though, unless of course you do RAW from Magic Lantern. Which would be a great fit. Bear in mind the c300 will also have about 2 stops more of dynamic range than the 5D. The color science, particularly skin tones will be much more similar though.

[Joshua_G]

…
Personally I think you would be best off using the Magic Lantern program and shooting in RAW. However, if you haven't already done this, it is probably too late to get that together.

I believe you meant too late for this shoot.

…
I would also use a grey, white and black chart and equal out the values on a RGB scope in post.

Grey, white and black chart is recommended even for 1 camera getting accurate white balance in post. A larger one may be more convenient, like this one: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Photo-Studio...oAAOSwu4BVwoj- .

[Joshua_G]

I guess it's ok to hijack my own thread so here goes

Would it be easier to match a 5d3 to any of the eos cams like a c300 for example? I would assume so, but has anyone done it?

As was written above, definitely. Another option is a second Canon DSLR, like the 80D.

[Imamacuser]

Aws far as I know, doing manual whit balance on both the Canon and the Panasonic will result in a difference in colors rendition apart from, possibly, the whites - since the color science of each of those companies is different.

Yes, it will still require color correction to get them to match, but in my experience a custom white balance will yield the closest starting point.

[ggrantly]

I think I can work through any DOF issues.

Ordinarily with the 270, I can bake in a very good look, but it may be difficult to match. So would I be best off to shoot both cams with very neutral color and then work through it in post?

I hate to say those 4 words: fix it in post.