I've recently acquired an HPX-300 with the stock lens and threw up a new lens chart and was appalled at the amount of purple fringing with the lens wide open. I didn't notice any appreciable difference when I put on an older Fuji T series lens ... I thought the CAC was supposed to correct for that. Am I missing something? I also put my HDC27H up with a Canon J series lens and was blown away by the LACK of CA. Sure, one is 2/3" and doesn't have to work as hard but I was hoping for a bit more. Any suggestions for tweaking the CAC settings? Any useful guides on the CAC settings in general? Thanks in advance for any help.
HPX-300 CAC settings
- Thread starter mlevro
- Start date
Kolor-Pikker
Well-known member
No, you're not seeing things, feel free to download my exhaustive PSD file that lets you toggle between layers for every 10% of the zoom range both wide open and at f/2.8: https://dl.dropbox.com/u/41183616/Fujinon 4.5-77mm zoom lens.psd
If you don't have Photoshop, here are just the jpeg files at max quality: https://dl.dropbox.com/u/41183616/JPEG.zip
I set only two layers active by default - 50% f/2.8 & 100% f/2.8, to show how impressive the CA is at the tele end, 50~60% zoom is sharpest even wide open, 100% wide open is just hell. This is the first time I've seen such aberrations that it can be clearly seen in normal footage.
Yes, CAC was on. From the first charts I did, toggling CAC almost didn't seem to do anything, I even switched through profiles for all other compatible lenses just in case, but no...
So the only redeeming quality this lens has is that it comes free with the camera and it's all manual. The 13x Fujinon zoom is said to be sharper. But it's also a problem with the sensors being 1/3" size, the tolerances of such a small sensor are simply too great for a proper ENG design, and you're fairly limited in usable aperture range (f/2~f/4 at most). Some people online have said that they even tried out expensive zooms on this camera and it still wasn't as good as a half-decent 2/3"er.
Not saying this camera is bad especially considering the price, it's just not very flexible, and spending more on it isn't worth it. If you get the feeling that you really need an upgrade, the HPX600 is still the least expensive 2/3" native 1080p camcorder on the market.
I like my 370, but it's not something I really push to the limits of its capability, and my output is often compressed and/or downsized anyway. Always keep in mind the output, the footage doesn't look so bad when you consider that it's likely to end up online, here are some screen grabs at Youtube size:
Medium zoom:
Telephoto:
If you don't have Photoshop, here are just the jpeg files at max quality: https://dl.dropbox.com/u/41183616/JPEG.zip
I set only two layers active by default - 50% f/2.8 & 100% f/2.8, to show how impressive the CA is at the tele end, 50~60% zoom is sharpest even wide open, 100% wide open is just hell. This is the first time I've seen such aberrations that it can be clearly seen in normal footage.
Yes, CAC was on. From the first charts I did, toggling CAC almost didn't seem to do anything, I even switched through profiles for all other compatible lenses just in case, but no...
So the only redeeming quality this lens has is that it comes free with the camera and it's all manual. The 13x Fujinon zoom is said to be sharper. But it's also a problem with the sensors being 1/3" size, the tolerances of such a small sensor are simply too great for a proper ENG design, and you're fairly limited in usable aperture range (f/2~f/4 at most). Some people online have said that they even tried out expensive zooms on this camera and it still wasn't as good as a half-decent 2/3"er.
Not saying this camera is bad especially considering the price, it's just not very flexible, and spending more on it isn't worth it. If you get the feeling that you really need an upgrade, the HPX600 is still the least expensive 2/3" native 1080p camcorder on the market.
I like my 370, but it's not something I really push to the limits of its capability, and my output is often compressed and/or downsized anyway. Always keep in mind the output, the footage doesn't look so bad when you consider that it's likely to end up online, here are some screen grabs at Youtube size:
Medium zoom:
Telephoto:
Last edited:
Kolor-Pikker,
Thanks for the reply. I see less CA in the center than is displayed in your pictures, it's most prevalent in the corners. I like the features of the camera (mostly the vari-speed capabilities) and just want to feel that I am getting the most out of it. Tonight I'm going to pull out my Sony EX1 and see how it performs in a side-by-side. I'm not a heavy user, mostly a casual docs and free-lance user but I am an engineer and like to tweak the settings to maximize my results. Since I didn't pay a lot for the camera I might be willing to spring for some better glass but for most of my work I can tolerate stopping down in order to reduce the CA. I'd be interested how the camera performs with some prime lenses if I can find a Nikon to 1/3" adapter. Anyway, thanks for sharing your pics and info.
Cheers,
Mark
Thanks for the reply. I see less CA in the center than is displayed in your pictures, it's most prevalent in the corners. I like the features of the camera (mostly the vari-speed capabilities) and just want to feel that I am getting the most out of it. Tonight I'm going to pull out my Sony EX1 and see how it performs in a side-by-side. I'm not a heavy user, mostly a casual docs and free-lance user but I am an engineer and like to tweak the settings to maximize my results. Since I didn't pay a lot for the camera I might be willing to spring for some better glass but for most of my work I can tolerate stopping down in order to reduce the CA. I'd be interested how the camera performs with some prime lenses if I can find a Nikon to 1/3" adapter. Anyway, thanks for sharing your pics and info.
Cheers,
Mark
Kolor-Pikker
Well-known member
Since you like to tweak settings, here are a couple of my favorite setups:
Flat picture, for outdoors & high contrast scenes:
Detail: -5
V detail: +2
Coring: 0
Chroma: 0
Chroma phase: 0
Color temp A -2 - This is so that I can get a slightly warmer tone if the WB looks too cool
Color temp B 0
Master Ped: +10
Gamma: Cinelike D
Matrix: Norm2
Skin DTL: off
V Detail: Thin
More contrast, for indoors:
Detail: -5
V detail: +2
Coring: 0
Chroma: +2
Chroma phase: -1
Color temp A -2
Color temp B 0
Master Ped: +10
Gamma: Cinelike V
Matrix: Norm2
Skin DTL: off
V Detail: Thin
Some people like to set a negative Master Ped to crush the blacks, but I think it doesn't matter, the 10-bit codec lets you do whatever you want with the tones in post; as a test I once pulled down shadows after recording with +50 Ped and it looked just like a similar 0 Ped recording.
You really really don't want to under-expose with this camera, because the noise is visible up to 15% IRE, and will ruin the image if you push. Make sure skin exposes at no less than 35% on the waveform. -3db gain is useless, because it also lowers the DR of the camera in the highlights; same as if you shot 0db and pulled the exposure in post. 720p has much less jello than 1080p. That's all I can remember at the moment.
Flat picture, for outdoors & high contrast scenes:
Detail: -5
V detail: +2
Coring: 0
Chroma: 0
Chroma phase: 0
Color temp A -2 - This is so that I can get a slightly warmer tone if the WB looks too cool
Color temp B 0
Master Ped: +10
Gamma: Cinelike D
Matrix: Norm2
Skin DTL: off
V Detail: Thin
More contrast, for indoors:
Detail: -5
V detail: +2
Coring: 0
Chroma: +2
Chroma phase: -1
Color temp A -2
Color temp B 0
Master Ped: +10
Gamma: Cinelike V
Matrix: Norm2
Skin DTL: off
V Detail: Thin
Some people like to set a negative Master Ped to crush the blacks, but I think it doesn't matter, the 10-bit codec lets you do whatever you want with the tones in post; as a test I once pulled down shadows after recording with +50 Ped and it looked just like a similar 0 Ped recording.
You really really don't want to under-expose with this camera, because the noise is visible up to 15% IRE, and will ruin the image if you push. Make sure skin exposes at no less than 35% on the waveform. -3db gain is useless, because it also lowers the DR of the camera in the highlights; same as if you shot 0db and pulled the exposure in post. 720p has much less jello than 1080p. That's all I can remember at the moment.
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Kolor-Pikker,
Thanks again for sharing. I'll try out those settings this weekend when I am out shooting. Do you happen to know if anyone makes a B4 adapter that would fit this camera? I see the JVC/Sony 1/3" adapters from time to time but I'm not sure if they would work with the 300.
Best regards,
Mark
Thanks again for sharing. I'll try out those settings this weekend when I am out shooting. Do you happen to know if anyone makes a B4 adapter that would fit this camera? I see the JVC/Sony 1/3" adapters from time to time but I'm not sure if they would work with the 300.
Best regards,
Mark
Kolor-Pikker
Well-known member
MTF services makes adapters for pretty much any combination you could possibly need, here's the B4 -> 1/3" adapter listing: http://www.mtfservices.com/home.htm...lypage=flypage.tpl&product_id=4&category_id=2