scene settings - nature, outdoors, wilderness

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idylwyld

Member
I know asking about scene settings is like asking about the "je ne sais quoi" of a secret sauce recipe. But I need some help/guidance/direction.

I'm leaving soon on a 3-4 week wilderness canoe trip in northern Canada, and I'm taking my DVX with me. I'm happy to experiment, but leaving on such a trip is very demanding and I have many things to look after. Some useful ideas or suggestions on scene settings for wilderness and outdoors videography would be really helpful to me.

Links to other threads where issue has been discussed is also fine, for some reason I am unable to use search feature on site and keep getting error message.

Thanks in advance!!!
 
it is honestly up to you
i like these main settings though
detail: +4
Coring: -2
chroma level: +7
temp: -2
master ped: -15
iris: +4
gamma: normal or cinelike
knee: auto
n progressive is on er off depending on you
 
Thanks for the suggestions so far ... keep them coming.

I found another thread that might be relevant to topic ... on how to keep noise low when shooting outdoors:

http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/showthread.php?t=173368

The discussion points to a series of reference settings offered by Panasonic: NATURE and OLTYMR. I gave them both a try and found them to be lacking (but it IS a matter of taste). Getting the sky to be represented in a compelling and realistic way is a definite challenge. OLTYMR is far too dark.

Dvx Kid ... I gave your settings a try. I like the naturalistic appearance, but you have your iris setting set way too high. The whites are all blown out, and zebra settings confirm this. I tried lowering them, and found some interest, but am still searching.

blondie ... I found this thread before, but found the settings far too stylized for shooting wilderness and nature scenes. The DVX seems to excel in a soft and naturalistic representation, with stunning colors. I'd like to take good advantage of this, and create an artistic interpretation of the original (but provides "the feel" of having been there).

I have used these settings in the past:

"Idylwyld #1"

Detail Level: -3
Detail Coring: +1
Chroma Level: +5
Color Temp: -1
Master Ped: -5
A. Iris Level: -1
Gamma: Cinelike
Knee: Auto
Matrix: Normal
Skin Tone: Off
V Detail Freq: Thin
Progressive: 24PA

I'm not too happy with sky ... although land forms and foliage look very soft, naturalistic, and very relaxing to look at (despite the harshness of the Arctic landscape, where I shoot). There does seem to be a subtle shimmering from noise (which I understand to be the white balance function on the DVX).

In trying out the Panasonic reference settings ... I found FILMIC and VELVET to be the closest to what I am looking for. FILMIC provides a very neutral color palate, as close to "naturalistic" as I have seen (but it's a little static). VELVET has the richness of the color palate in my custom setting ("Idylwyld #1), but may need a little tweaking.

I'd appreciate some other suggestions or adjustments from members who shoot outdoors. This could potentially be a very helpful thread to others (since all of us shoot a mix of indoors and outdoors). In case you are interested, I travel fairly widely in the arctic, and I shoot video in places that few people have photographed (much less documented on video). I'm all for learning from experience and trial and error, but this is not my main business or hobby, and I'm trying to do a decent job regardless. Any other suggestions would be very helpful? You will be amply rewarded with a detailed and engaged discussion. I leave this Friday.
 
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I try to shoot fairly flat. Minor adjustments to pedestal and detail. But the less I'm committed an in-camera look, the more control I have over the look in post.
 
Definitely a good recommendation to not do too much in-camera processing. After some trial and error, I found these low impact settings which give me good color range, not too much saturation, but a nice soft look with a lot of contrast. I have a couple of other settings around this range: one for a more dull and steely look (which make rocks look really rough and tactile), and a more vivid setting (which gives a garden like look to the scene). If anybody else wants to chime in, test my settings, make other recommendations, please do ... any an all input would be very much appreciated.

baseline outdoor/natural scenery scene file setting ("idylwyld"):

detail level: -3
v detail level: 0
detail coring: +1
chroma level: +2
chroma phase: -2
color temp: -2
master ped: -2
a. iris level: -2
gamma: cinelike
knee: auto
matrix: normal
skin tone: off
v detail freq: thin
progressive: 24PA

Here's some screen shots:

dvx_scene_outdoors.jpg
 
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