Comparing the New Technicolor Cinestyle on a Canon 5D

Friends,

Technicolor has gifted us with an awesome new picture profile for video on our Canon DSLRs. I shot some quick comparisons between the Canon Neutral settings, Marvels Cine, Cinegray, and the new Technicolor Cinestyle. You'll be blown away at the amount of information you'll preserve with the new style!

Check it out at http://www.jdfnet.com/2011/04/30/comparing-the-technicolor-cinestyle-on-a-canon-5d-mark-ii/

Best,

James

Wow. I downloaded if for my T2i and inside shots look amazing on the built on LCD. Looks like the dynamic range really went up. I was recording with one 26-watt (100-watt equivalent) LED spiral light in my living room and filming down my long dark hallway, which was about 10 feet away and to the left. With no direct light going down the hallway the dark detail really opened up even compared to my own custom style which I thought had opened it up a lot compared to Standard with -4 contrast.
 
A flat picture style like that is not always a good thing, a cine-style gamma is nice when you have leg room to play around with, but DLSRs only record 8-bit 4:2:0 which is woefully inadequate for heavy grading in post, which is what this will require.
The best course of action is usually to make a style that closest fits the finished look, so that only minor adjustments have to be made afterward, otherwise you'll just be risking artifacts, banding, etc. This is a pretty big deal, as even on high-end cameras like the Alexa, you would want to make sure everything looks right in-camera, because in the real world people try to avoid post-work as much as possible. This is why the Alexa has a Rec.709 mode, and it gets used more often than you think, I might add.
 
Consistency of look is done through proper exposure and lighting - regardless of REC709 or LOG type recording. If all you want is REC709, then it is easy enough to apply a LOG->REC709 and be done with it. What this adds is the addition control over the image and make those decisions in post. So it is the best of both worlds as far as a post workflow is concerned.

Michael
 
Hi, when installing such a cinestyle to my camera does this mean its a permanent setting that will affect all my recordings, or is there a way to switch profiles to suit my change in shooting circumstances?
 
A flat picture style like that is not always a good thing, a cine-style gamma is nice when you have leg room to play around with, but DLSRs only record 8-bit 4:2:0 which is woefully inadequate for heavy grading in post, which is what this will require.
The best course of action is usually to make a style that closest fits the finished look, so that only minor adjustments have to be made afterward, otherwise you'll just be risking artifacts, banding, etc. This is a pretty big deal, as even on high-end cameras like the Alexa, you would want to make sure everything looks right in-camera, because in the real world people try to avoid post-work as much as possible. This is why the Alexa has a Rec.709 mode, and it gets used more often than you think, I might add.

 
cool tutorial. firstly, i'm very new to all of this. i like the idea of editing in final cut pro, with the eos plugin to directly transcoding to prores422. how would this affect my workflow in terms of color correcting? i guess i'm more wondering what would be my workflow. any advice welcomed
 
ok, did a bit more research. looks like the converting to prores 422 lt is actually a good way to go. would having the magic bullets colorista plug in be a good way to go for color grading? i like that i can do it within final cut
 
ok, did a bit more research. looks like the converting to prores 422 lt is actually a good way to go. would having the magic bullets colorista plug in be a good way to go for color grading? i like that i can do it within final cut

Well I did not make this tutorial, and have not yet had a reason to try it, but prores422 is virtually lossless, so when you upconvert it to prores you don't lose any quality (well a little, but you'll get it back if you do the above tutorial).

Colorista is great, but it depends on what you are doing. I use the simple 3-way color corrector in FCP for virtually everything I do, which is mostly wedding videos. I don't really have a need to complicate things. But when I do a feature or something that require a very specific look/feel, then a separate CC program is a must, IMO. I think Colorista is a happy middle ground, and if you are not making a your blockbuster movie then it should be fine to get the point across. Basically a separate CC should used for a large workflow with multiple people and you don't want to tie up one computer for everything, and also for heavy CC masking.
 
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