Panasonic "Mojo"

John Foundas

John Foundas

Well-known member
To quote a very helpful senior member,

" Most of the focus on the forum has been on minimizing noise and
banding, and maximizing dynamic range and post usability. I haven't
seen anything focusing on getting a really great baked-in look, that
Panasonic 'mojo' so many people love".

Let the games begin!
 
Imo, the af100, like most all of the Panasonic line, has the mojo, or nice skins tones, right out of the box. Unlike most Sonys, which have to be tweaked more.
 
Agreed, Matt. I spent an afternoon with my AF-100 hooked to a pro-calibrated LCD panel and dialed in a series of scene file settings for everything from bright exteriors to low light interiors. I couldn't be more pleased with the images I'm seeing from the camera. Plenty of "mojo" for me. :D


SM
 
We should start a thread of these settings. When I was dialing in my old XHA1, all the scene files that people gathered together were great resources. Maybe we could do the same with the AF100? Specifics, like this setting works great for lower light, and high gain settings, and this setting works great for natural harsh outdoor light. All the talk about settings so far, have been to reduce noise in controlled situations. You mentioning the above Stephen, states you have figured out ideal setting for basically any situation. I'm still waiting for my cam to come in, was promised next week sometime, and it would be VERY helpful to have a solid starting point from other users, to have setting for various environments. I know testing takes a lot of time, and it's very helpful for each user to test and figure out settings that work for them, but for someone like myself to already have good scene file information could save a lot of time, and many hours testing. In short, it would be greatly appreciated if some users could share settings, for shoots that have less than ideal lighting situations. Or just a variety of lighting situations.

Thanks!
 
Shot this last week: Panasonic Mojo straight of the HVX200, the way I love it.
All available light.

Frank

Lesung.jpg

Lesung2.jpg

Lesung3.jpg
 
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swanny said:
We should start a thread of these settings. When I was dialing in my old XHA1, all the scene files that people gathered together were great resources. Maybe we could do the same with the AF100? Specifics, like this setting works great for lower light, and high gain settings, and this setting works great for natural harsh outdoor light. All the talk about settings so far, have been to reduce noise in controlled situations. You mentioning the above Stephen, states you have figured out ideal setting for basically any situation. I'm still waiting for my cam to come in, was promised next week sometime, and it would be VERY helpful to have a solid starting point from other users, to have setting for various environments. I know testing takes a lot of time, and it's very helpful for each user to test and figure out settings that work for them, but for someone like myself to already have good scene file information could save a lot of time, and many hours testing. In short, it would be greatly appreciated if some users could share settings, for shoots that have less than ideal lighting situations. Or just a variety of lighting situations.

Thanks!
Click to expand...

The only way you will understand the camera is to do your own tests. Someone else scene settings will never help you.

The camera has endless setting combinations...we all have different eyes and tastes...subject matter , conditions and lighting are infinitely variable.

I have posted my base tests. in the Screen Grab sub-section. Chris and I now have a knowledge base to work from but testing will continue. ( Matrix , Detail , V Detail and Coring)

Once completed.. we will hopefully be able to apply the knowledge to whatever we are shooting. ( Its an eye thing in the end)

BTW: ..this camera has plenty of Panny MOJO !
 
Stephen Mick said:
Agreed, Matt. I spent an afternoon with my AF-100 hooked to a pro-calibrated LCD panel and dialed in a series of scene file settings for everything from bright exteriors to low light interiors. I couldn't be more pleased with the images I'm seeing from the camera. Plenty of "mojo" for me. :D


SM
Click to expand...

I don't believe the quote I presented said it "didn't" have MOJO. What it was trying to do was
start a new dialogue about the camera and it's capabilities, settings and optimum performance.
The sprit of the thread is of knowledge sharing. If you choose not to, that's fine. Just don't be so glib about your prowess as a video alchemist. Some of us aren't that gifted.
 
Actually it is you who should check yourself.

There are plenty people here, including Shooter, who are posting frame grabs and footage with the various settings they are using to "tune" the camera.

In the end, along with reading some of those posts, perusing Barry's excellent book, and TRYING different settings for yourself, you will come to "tune" the camera to your specific shooting style.

DVXuser is a community of both professionals and talented amatuers who are all hear to learn, help, and share.

Attitude not required.
 
mcgeedigital said:
perusing Barry's excellent book, and TRYING different settings for yourself.
Click to expand...

That is a great suggestion.

Don't know if you know but Barry's AF100 book comes with 24 scene files. I did a test shoot with them last night and some of them looked pretty damn great for my taste.

I would start there and perhaps tweak them further if your're so inclined.
 
Johnf said:
The sprit of the thread is of knowledge sharing.
Click to expand...

Matt,
I don't believe I need to check myself at all. In the first 2 posts of this thread , you and Steve seemed to give each other virtual "high fives" as if to say " were good…you figure it out.
"The sprit of the thread was one of knowledge sharing"
Again, some of us aren't that gifted at camera engineering and set up. Quite frankly, I don't have the time for it.

Steve, I am glad there are 24 scene file settings in AF book. I'm sure it will be a great help to me.
 
Relax guys.

Hey John,

I truly believe this camera is great out of the box. I have posted many grabs at default settings

Combined with those that I havent posted..all show me that I can use this camera out of the box, and I will. (Just like the HVX)

We have not even touched any settings such as Matrix, Coring or Detail. We still have not even mixed or combined any settings.

Everything has been tested default and now we have our little database. We have not even saved any custom Scene Settings.

To us it was a simple step by step test process so that we knew what the base we came from was.

I am confident that we can walk into any of our usual settings and shoot great images. I also know we can adjust things as situations change because we know what some of the settings do .

Additionally... the time it took us to do our tests ( about 8 hours total so far) has also thoroughly familiarised us with how to operate and function with this camera.

Apart from the small On/Off switch. It 's a really workeable camera.
 
Johnf said:
Matt,
I don't believe I need to check myself at all. In the first 2 posts of this thread , you and Steve seemed to give each other virtual "high fives" as if to say " were good…you figure it out.
"The sprit of the thread was one of knowledge sharing"
Again, some of us aren't that gifted at camera engineering and set up. Quite frankly, I don't have the time for it.

Steve, I am glad there are 24 scene file settings in AF book. I'm sure it will be a great help to me.
Click to expand...

You'd like some scene file settings? Here you go…

Det: -5
V-Det: -2
Coring: +3
Chroma Lev: -3
Phase: 0
Master Ped: -4
CineLike-D Gamma
Norm2 Matrix

Now, please share some of your knowledge with us, as that's the spirit of this thread, right?
 
Shooter/Steve/Stephen

Thank you. As I mentioned, I'm not much of an engineering guy. What I do is shoot, light and edit.
I can offer you a cool "Flash Pan" lighting trick that I recently did.

http://vimeo.com/19054009

Foil lined baking tray with a small mirror....fill half way with water, use portable fan to make ripples in the pan.
Bounce small Pepper or Mole light off the tray onto the wall. Blue gel for water, red for fire etc...Presto.

I won that Emmy for lighting.

Sorry for the snip earlier :)
 
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Johnf said:
Shooter/Steve,

Thank you. As I mentioned, I'm not much of an engineering guy. What I do is shoot, light and edit.
Click to expand...

You're welcome. I'm not much of an engineering guy either. I flinch at the idea of tweaking colors/scenes. Thankfully, I'm a writer/director by profession and just dabble in technical stuff so I can communicate with a semblance knowledge.

Check out Barry's scenes. They're good (of course I'm sure the dp I'm getting ready to work with will totally disagree :undecided).
 
tipota said:
Yes, Frank, give us the information please.... a project with Lauterbach?
Click to expand...

stip said:
Ey Frank, you shot Heiner Lauterbach? :)
Click to expand...


Yes, It´s pretty exciting. Psycho thriller feature film, written and produced by Tom Bohn, called REALITY XL.
Heiner Lauterbach, Max Tidof, Godehard Giese and Annika Blendl.

It´s a marvelous project. Totally independent, without a cent of TV or Filmförderung. So we have absolute freedom, to do the things the way we want them do do. Tom managed it to get a hell of a crew together, this will be very big.

Great location too. It´s the large array in Raisting.

Radom-300x201.png
EMC-Raisting-300x200.png


Check it out: http://frankglencairn.wordpress.com/2011/01/22/reality-xl-first-teaser-released/ and here : http://www.reality-xl.com

Frank
 
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Postmaster said:
So we have absolute freedom, to do the things the way we want them do do.
Click to expand...

Three thumbs up for that....

....and back to mojo..... not being a DoP nor a great tweaker I will have to rely heavily on what the camera will give me instantly in the first time. Nice to hear that it seems to provide good quality "out of the box".

Late February my DoP will throw it around a bit more if we decide to shoot our next movie digital and may use it as b-cam... will post our tests & else....
 
Steve Kahn said:
That is a great suggestion.

Don't know if you know but Barry's AF100 book comes with 24 scene files. I did a test shoot with them last night and some of them looked pretty damn great for my taste.

I would start there and perhaps tweak them further if your're so inclined.
Click to expand...

Ahh, I didn't know that. Awesome!! That will be very helpful.
Thanks for the tip Steve
 
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