Settings, settings, settings...

Super Trooper

Super Trooper

Well-known member
Hi all. :)

I've been reading just about everything I can concerning the best settings to use for the dvx.

I'm attempting to compile an overall view of the most used, trusted, and recommended scene settings to get the very best picture possible out of the camera.

Granted, every shooting situation calls for it's own unique set of settings, and the best way to go about it is to experiment.

BUT, it seems (when looking at others' footage/details) people tend to stick close to a few essential #'s for any given setting in any given situation.

For example, and correct me if I'm wrong, most people seem to shoot at Master Ped at -6 and Detail Level at -3. This looks as if it's the BASELINE.

Of course, I suppose real baseline would be everything set at ZERO, but if one looks around, there seems to be an overall pattern of users using the same setting #'s everytime becuase it yields satisfactory results.

In the end, I'm really just trying to take the guesswork out of getting the right image.

It's not really splitting hairs if one says "NO! Master ped at -4, not-6".

The good thing is, we are in +-2 territroy as opposed to +-30 territory.
Know what I'm saying?

So, I think it would be beneficial to everyone out there having trouble if experienced users posted their most used, trusted, and recommended settings, and why they keep them that way.

In doing this, we could create a list that, while not neccessarily exact, will give the incoming and existing members alike a good idea of where to start out, what to expect, and a shove in the right direction to discover more on their own in the future.

Ideally, people could fill out the following, just to start off:

MASTER PEDESTAL:
MATRIX:
DETAIL LEVEL:
DETAIL CORING:
V DETAIL LEVEL:
V DETAIL FREQ:
GAMMA:
KNEE:
CHROMA LEVEL:
CHROMA PHASE:
COLOR TEMP:
SKIN TONE DTL:
PROGRESSIVE:

Feel free to add any other information you feel may be pertinent for getting the most out of your investment, such as shutter, aspect, etc.

I'm sure this might seem rather repitious to some of you out there. This forum is superb, filled to the brim with soooooo much useful information. Unfortunately, that information is spread throughout hundreds, if not thousands of threads weeks, months, and years old.

Hopefully this will save others alot of time. I personally tired myself out looking up different word combos in the search bar and skimming over 2 1/2 year old threads.


Thank you.

-Troop :beer:
 
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The problem with just declaring what are the "best" settings is that so many different looks are possible. For example, here's a pic that demonstrates a dozen different looks that are all achievable in-camera (no post tweaking at all, these are all the same subject shot with the same camera, only the in-camera settings were changed):

TwelveMPLooks.JPG


So which one of those looks is "right"?

With that said, for most footage I normally run at:
MASTER PEDESTAL: -8
MATRIX: CINE
DETAIL LEVEL: -2
DETAIL CORING: +2
V DETAIL LEVEL: -1
V DETAIL FREQ: THIN
GAMMA: CINE-D
KNEE: LOW
CHROMA LEVEL: +2
CHROMA PHASE: 0
COLOR TEMP: 0 or -1
SKIN TONE DTL: OFF
PROGRESSIVE: 24PA
 
Thanks Barry.

Alot of the footage I have seen in the forums isn't neccesarily as "stylized" as the pics you posted (although it's awesome to see what one can achieve in-camera).

Most footage looks, how should I say this, "balanced", as in not super stylized.

It just seems that alot of people are shooting all their vids with very similar setting #'s, and I think it would be nice to have an idea of what most people shoot at.

Granted, one can accomplish ALOT of diiferent looks by playing with the levels above, but there seems to be some sort of "filmic middleground". Then, one can adjust to his or her content after that.

Just curious. :)
 
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I am pretty consistently using SQUEEZE mode with the following settings:

MASTER PEDESTAL: -6
MATRIX: CINE
DETAIL LEVEL: -4
DETAIL CORING: 0
V DETAIL LEVEL: -4
V DETAIL FREQ: THIN
GAMMA: CINELIKE
KNEE: AUTO
CHROMA LEVEL: 0
CHROMA PHASE: 0
COLOR TEMP: 0
SKIN TONE DTL: 0
PROGRESSIVE: 24PA
 
Barry_Green said:
With that said, for most footage I normally run at:
MASTER PEDESTAL: -8
MATRIX: CINE
DETAIL LEVEL: -2
DETAIL CORING: +2
V DETAIL LEVEL: -1
V DETAIL FREQ: THIN
GAMMA: CINE-D
KNEE: LOW
CHROMA LEVEL: +2
CHROMA PHASE: 0
COLOR TEMP: 0 or -1
SKIN TONE DTL: OFF
PROGRESSIVE: 24PA
Click to expand...

Barry, how do you get your knee on the 'low' setting in 24p? mine is stuck on auto in 24p or 24pa......
 
It has nothing to do with 24p, it has to do with the gamma curve you have selected. Knee becomes disabled when using the cine gamma curves.
 
Barry_Green said:
It has nothing to do with 24p, it has to do with the gamma curve you have selected. Knee becomes disabled when using the cine gamma curves.
Click to expand...

Du'oh! you're right, I had a mental fade-out there....
 
say if you have all the different settings at 0. And do all the CC and tweaking in post.

Will that result in grain in the pictures? Because i have an impression when i CC in FCP the picture lose som quality and gets grainy?

So. If i want a specific look, should i change in-camera settings? Or find a way to do it on post?

And cam someone explain what EXACTLY the different settings do to the picture. I cant get that information out of the manual...

Sorry if this is a little off topic. But i only know half of what the different settings in-camera do to the picture...

thanks!
 
hEY CAN SOMEONE ELOBORATE ON THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE VARIOUS GAMMA FUNCTIONS?

ALSO STRUGGLING TO WORK OUT THE DETAIL LEVELS, WHAT REFERS TO WHAT, VDETAIL, DETAIL CHORING AND DETAIL FREQ?

FINALLY WHAT DOES THE KNEE FUNCTION DO?

ANY HELP WOULD BE APPRECIATED GUYS, GOT A SHOOT FOR 5 MIN FILM ON TUESDAY NEXT WEEK AND TRYING MY BEST TO GET THAT 'MAN ON FIRE' / 'DEJA VU' LOOK......
 
so you want the 'Man on Fire' look?

here's a good place to start....(courtesy of Evebite)

Detail Level: -7
V Detail Level: -7
Detail Coring: -7
Chroma Level: +4
Chroma Phase: -7
Master Ped: -15
A.Iris Level: -2

Gamma: Cine-Like_V
Knee: (Auto)
Matrix: Norm
Skin Tone Dtl: On

Progressive: 24P(ADV)
 
MatthewJankes said:
hEY CAN SOMEONE ELOBORATE ON THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE VARIOUS GAMMA FUNCTIONS?

ALSO STRUGGLING TO WORK OUT THE DETAIL LEVELS, WHAT REFERS TO WHAT, VDETAIL, DETAIL CHORING AND DETAIL FREQ?

FINALLY WHAT DOES THE KNEE FUNCTION DO?

ANY HELP WOULD BE APPRECIATED GUYS, GOT A SHOOT FOR 5 MIN FILM ON TUESDAY NEXT WEEK AND TRYING MY BEST TO GET THAT 'MAN ON FIRE' / 'DEJA VU' LOOK......
Click to expand...


Matthew, search for the man on fire look because several months ago someone had the perfect settings for that look with screen grabs.
 
QUOTE "For example, here's a pic that demonstrates a dozen different looks that are all achievable in-camera (no post tweaking at all, these are all the same subject shot with the same camera, only the in-camera settings were changed):"

Hi Barry, did you white balance with a warm (blue) or cool (red) card PRIOR to adjusting the different looks in-camera, or you white balanced with a true white card?

Another question, you posted your Gamma as Cine-D. Isn't this by far the noisest gamma setting that generates the most amount of noise in the image? Would your setting of Detail Level of -2 & Detail Coring of +2 have cancelled out the noisiness of the the Cine-D gamma setting?

I would like to understand why you chose Cine-D as I normally choose Cinelike, or Cinelike-V. Maybe is a matter of personal preference? Thanks for
 
Standard white-card white balance, same white balance was used for all the shots.

And Cine-D is one of the things that was changed. Some of those looks used cine-D, some used b.press, some used high, etc.
 
i shoot with everything at 0, except color temp +2 and master ped -10, detail -7. it's the most film-like look i've been able to get out of the camera while still retaining an easy lighting set up.
 
Barry_Green said:
Standard white-card white balance, same white balance was used for all the shots.

And Cine-D is one of the things that was changed. Some of those looks used cine-D, some used b.press, some used high, etc.
Click to expand...

I see Barry. I realise that most videographers set their master ped on the negative side (between -6, all the way down to -15).

I'm not sure if my logic & reason is correct here, but if I am doing an outdoor shoot at noon time when the sun is at it's strongest intensity, then I set my masterped lower to around -10 to crush the blacks & give more even shadows. On the contrary, when I'm indoors in a room with normal lighting & not much sunlight coming into the windows, then I would raise my masterped to around -5 because the room is not as brightly lit as in the outdoor scene. So if I kept my masterped at -10 for the indoor scene, then any details in the shadow areas would just appear as a blob of deep black illiminating any gradual shades of grey in the shadows. Would you all agree that this is good reasoning, or am I talking maddness?

Andrew
 
I've also read in posts on this forum that some people leave all their camera settings on ZERO & do their adjustments in post. I've also heard that doing adjustments in post actually degrades the image quality. Is this true?
 
I'm fairly new to all this, so does the shutter speed have to be set to anything certain to get these setting's looking the way you guy's have them.
 
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