GH2 GH2 and SmallHD DP6-Calibration and Features

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DevonH

Well-known member
My DP6 bundle just arrived in the mail, and I've been going through posts here on the forums about setting up the monitor. Over in the AF100 section I found a post outlining issues members were having with the color reproduction on the monitor, and several people posted their settings. Has anyone done any similar testing with the GH2, and could they share their results?

Also, this is my first time using a production monitor, and I'm finding that the SmallHD docs don't really outline how to use the features, just how to access them (I've read the manual and watched the videos). Could someone give me a quick run down on how false color works?


Thanks,
Devon
 
Hi,
I got my DP6 last month as well. Great toy! Love it!!!!
Yes there is a small yellow tint on the monitor and the color spectrum is not huge, but this monitor is mainly for focus and exposure.
here are my intakes.

1- color has been enhanced on the monitor side with the recent update so make sure your monitor is up to date.
2- The GH2 1.1 update has enhanced the color shift on the HDMI output. -- I'm waiting for the updated hack to install it but it will come soon.
3- I am still working on a couple of ways to setup the monitor for color calibration and have not been able to find the sweet spot yet. One of my ideas is to use a usb color calibration tool. The SMPTE calibration is tuff since you can't generate one with the GH2.

SmallHD-False-Color-IRE-Scale.jpg

4- above is the color chart for the false colors. The numbers are the %age of light. 0% is complete black and 100% is clopping overexposed to saturation.
basically, everything that is blue will be black/very dark (but doesn't necessary means the information is lost. purple is the dark areas, orange is average (also slightly higher than skin tone) green is light white is high light and yellow you are too close to clipping.
What you want to properly expose your image, make sure nothing except light bulbs are overexposed (yellow), then look at the faces, you should see a bit of orange in it and the rest mainly light purple. Then make sure that the rest of the scene is not too dark in the blue section.

Hope it helps.
You're welcome
 

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Thanks for the tips Victor, you're responses on my posts are always top-notch.

Have you found the included crop guides to be correct?
 
I have not done any format conformation but you can easily test it by printing a 16:9 format square on a paper, place it on a wall and match your camera framing on a tripod. If you do it let me know how it went (I actually have doubts about the 4:3 format marks as they may be for the whole screen (16:10) and not the 16:9 crop.
 
Have you found that the exposure is fairly correct, even with the differences in color? At this point, I'm tempted to send the DP6 back and go for a Marshall. 1300 is pretty steep for a toy I could most likely do without. I thought I'd done my homework, but sadly it looks like I've missed a few key points.
 
I can confirm that the 2.35:1 guides are accurate. At least they match the 2.35:1 matte in FCP. As far as "negatives", most of them have been fixed with firmware upgrades. The yellow cast is gone if you have a recent firmware upgrade. The new version of Focus Assist is much more usable. But the false color mode is what makes it great. It has made my exposure spot on, and I can easily tell if something is clipping or buried in the shadows.
It's an expensive monitor, yes, but I think it's worth every penny. The thing is rock solid in construction. I bought 2 of the SmallHD batteries and they last a long time. Customer service is very helpful and friendly. That means a lot to me.
 
Out of the blue, mine just went on the fritz. Nice vertical lines across the bottom, horizontal across the top half. Menu still shows up, as does my cross hair. I was planning on using this on a shoot next week, hope they get me a replacement soon. Only had it 3 days :(

dvbrother: Have you done any custom color settings?
 
Wow, that sucks. Sorry to hear that. No, I'm afraid I haven't done any custom color settings. To be honest, most footage I've shot with the GH2 has also been color graded later by ME. So I haven't had to worry about color accuracy on set. A while back I played back the same clip on the DP6 and on my editing monitor, and just matched the two by eye. May not be scientific, but I think I got it close enough.
 
Factory reset fixed it. I'm going to be the one editing my footage as well, so I suppose I'll shoot some tests today to see about how far off it is.
 
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