1.51 Firmware Impressions & Examples

M

mapper65

Well-known member
Hi guys, I just spent some time messing around with the 1.51 firmware and thought it would be good to start a thread and compare notes and share some footage. So far here is what I have found.

In the new firmware I've found that I like the factory SCN5 the best out of the factory scenes. I think this is probably the same SCN5 that was in the camera prior to the firmware update but it seems more correct looking after the firmware update. I kind of like the more rich tones and colors of that scene.

I don't do too much run and gun work but I thought I would give SCN5 a shot in full auto and see how it holds up now compared to before. I think most people will agree that AWB was terrible and probably the most limiting factor when trying to use this camera as a run and gun camera.

After the update and using factory SCN5, in full auto outside, I really think this camera is now capable of true run and gun work like some people were hoping for. The sky doesn't have the goofy painted look as it did before and I think many, if not all of the colors are more true. Even the auto white balance seems to hold up really well unlike it did in any of the previous generation firmware releases.

I did a little shooting inside under incandescent light (also SCN5) with manual white balance and skin tones seem to be more realistic but there is still kind of that zone where you can quickly go from correct to blown out highlights on people's skin. It's just not very forgiving when it comes to that but I think it's something that we all have to get used to. It seems like just a characteristic of this camera. I'm not seeing hardly any of the painted look in skin tones as before. Definitely no yellow in the skin.

Hopefully I'll have something that I can share in the near future and I look forward to what others will be able to do under this firmware.

I know Barry put a decent amount of time into the GH4 files but it would be interesting to see them redone under this new Palette. I have a feeling that they would look even better and keep us from switching between the two pallets.
 
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I am very happy with skin tones on Scene 1 with Gamma dialed back just a couple digits. Recording externally to UHD 30p 10Bit to A PIX-E. BIG improvement! Thanks Panasonic.

Still facing one issue though. Shooting side-by-side with APS-C Samsung NX1 the faces look beautifully dimensional in any light on the NX1. Sometimes the DVX-200 faces look flat to the point of being almost pictures pasted to a piece of cardboard. It has forced me to add a back light and/or a key light moved around to the side or almost back in most situations when shooting with the DVX200 to give the faces more dimension.

Has any one else noticed this? Is there a small tweak in post to fix the range of color or exposure on faces from the DVX200 to help with this?
 
I was outside this morning an gave factory SCN1 a try. In a different post Barry had mentioned that he thought that the default scene file was going to make a lot of people a lot happier. I believe that he may have been talking about factory SCN1.

Whether or not that was the case, I decided to give it a try today. I gotta say, it's much better than we've seen with the previous firmware. I really feel that if you want to run and gun with this camera, they've got it to that level now. I'd be just a little caution about using AWB on a partly cloudy day where the light level is changing because it seems to play a little havoc with the colors if the clouds are temporarily blocking the sun. On a clear day I don't think this would be a problem.

It seems like the highlights now hold up a lot better and the colors seem to be spot on. I've been experimenting with SCN1 and dropping the MASTER PED to -4 which seems to bring the darks and shadows a little more into perspective to my liking.
 
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Gotta try this out Mapper! Thanks for posting! Were you getting this performance with the Knee ON? Seems I recall it is switched on for default scene 1
 
Knee mode is set to Auto in SCN1. You may or may not like the -4 MASTER PED. It's a subtle difference that I determined by comparing what I see with my eyes to what's on the monitor, to what I see during playback on my computer. A snap judgment tells me that I'm going to like it that way but that will remain to be seen until I get some more footage shot with it. I did not look at any skin tones outside but I suspect they will be fine.
 
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