Matching HMC-150 footage with XH-A1 footage...Please Help

T

tall_sided

Active member
Hey everyone,
I'm planning on using my xh-a1 with an hmc-150 on an upcoming shoot and was wondering if anyone knew of any settings to match the two cameras.

I've searched through the forums and there's a lot of talk about how the camera's images differ, but I can't find anything in regards to a good way of matching the two of them. If anyone could offer some input, I'd appreciate it! Thanks!
 
I shoot them both together, and get generally close enough shooting with the Canon using Panalook preset.

The biggest difference to me between them is that the Canon will consistently seem to be slightly warmer, and maybe a little "softer". The difference is not objectionable, and when using each to cover a different angle at say a concert, they mix just fine.

Editing them together is another matter. Sure you can do it, but the render tims can be huge. For example if you set up your project as a DVCProHD file (1080 or 720p, it doesn't matter which in terms of this) and then drop the XHA1's HDV on it, it'll work--at least with Premiere Pro--but man, will it take FOREVER to render! That's the biggest drawback, right there. Not in matching the outputs, but in managing the workflow.

But it can be done, and the end results are quite nice indeed.
 
Although I don't think you can ever totally match these two cameras, the results from shooting with both of them together is very good. I did a few weddings with both of these before selling the XH-A1 and the results were great.

There are lots of scene file looks you can get from these two cameras. I used vivid RGB and a highly tweaked spark scene file. It is easier to get the 150 to look warmer than the A1 to look cool, so work on the 150 WB offset to make the 150 warmer. Then in post do some color grading using the primary color corrector and you will be set.

I shot with the 150 on 1080 60i to match the A1 output. Using Vegas 8.0c, I could easily and reliably edit them both natively off the timeline with no problems and extremely quick renders to NTSC DVD widescreen format.

IMO, the color matching in post is mandatory. However, I doubt many end viewers will notice even if you didn't if the cameras shoot totally different angles. Note: when it gets dark or low light, turn off the A1, it is much harder to match the footage and the 150 looks much better.
 
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