Best Picture settings for 1080p24 movie mode on 7D???

N

Nicholas Natteau

Veteran
I've tried looking for this on Philip Bloom's web site but didn't find it yet. I believe somewhere he mentions his optimal Canon picture settings for movie mode.

Can anyone please tell me what in your experience are the best picture settings in 1080p24 movie mode on the 7D? Sharpness? Contrast? Saturation? Should they be all dialed down to the minimum or left at their midway default positions?

Thanks very much in advance,

- Nick
 
What is optimal is whatever works best for your project. For most people, optimal means highest dynamic range with the most flexibility in post.

Like most, I dial the Sharpness and Contrast down completely, the Saturation -2 notches. The change to Sharpness is to reduce the chance of moire; the changes in Contrast and Saturation are to give you some legroom in the editing suite when you want to adjust color.

I also change the curves with the Picture Style Editor, which came with the proprietary software. I open up the lows some and flatten the highs a touch to reduce contrast a little more and reduce the chances of blacks crushing and highlights clipping.

My camera came with a Magenta color bias, so under WB Shift in the menu, I have shifted one point away from the Magenta section.

All of this is saved under one picture style for my video.

You will probably want to experiment with your own adjustments.
 
Hi jscottprice,

Thanks very much for your detailed reply. That was really helpful. I'll go ahead and try those settings you recommended. Thanks again.
 
Faithful is also a good picture style. I always used Neutral because everyone else said to, but after doing my own tests, I found that Faithful yielded better looking skin tones in my tests. Your mileage may vary. I would encourage you to try both of them and decide which one you like better, after color grading the resulting footage.
 
Neutral/ standard / faithful.... 24 or 30

Neutral/ standard / faithful.... 24 or 30

I know this treat is a bit old. But question. I just shot over the weekend using these setting with picture on neutral and the image was soooo dark! I was shooting indoors, shutter speed at 50. Had to keep going up and up on ISO levels.... then I shot with same settings but Standard... It looked great. So I understand the concept of shooting neutral for more flexibility in post but is standard really bad?
Also I was shooting 1080p 30 instead of 1080p 24.... I am pretty unexperienced so I apologize for the ignorance but my manual for 7D says 30 is full hi def... so why does everyone shoot 1080p24 instead.. Appreciate all help/ advice I can get. First short on 7d, trying to get it right :)
 
24fps and shutter 1/50 gives you motion and movement similar to motion pictures/movies from cinema shot on film,30p looks more like cheapo camcorder not matter what you do and i would never use it for filmmaking,also never go lower than 50 shutter speed, i find that you can go as high as 125 shutter speed ,higher than that and movement becomes too choppy in 24p.
Best is to stay with 24p and shutter 50,but ND8 filter when its too bright outside.
 
Dont mess with contrast ,leave it in the middle, if you will take away contrast then your shots will be more noisy,there will be more gran visible in dark areas because darker colours would be a bit brighter and it would make high ISO's noise more visible,you can test this yourself ,make one pic style with contrast in the middle and next pic style with contrast all the way down,point camera at dark areas and see.
 
bwwd said:
24fps and shutter 1/50 gives you motion and movement similar to motion pictures/movies from cinema shot on film. Best is to stay with 24p and shutter 50,but ND8 filter when its too bright outside.
Click to expand...

+1

30P when slowed down to 24P makes a nice semi-slomo. Also if you're shooting music video or television can be better. There's no 2:3 pulldown to contend with, which can throw throw the singer out of sync with the image.

I suggest you learn what you can about picture styles. Technicolor is releasing a Canon picture style which will optimize video capture for post production. Should extend the range of the camera some.

I also suggest you experiment. I just bought a 3 CCD HDV cam and I've got to match it to my 7D now. The JVC has a cinelike gamma curve setting. My first tests will be comparing it to the latest Marvels picture style shooting the 7D at 720 60P. Due to the jello effect of the rolling shutter, the 7D is a Bcam on this picture.
 
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