So what scene settings are working for people with the hmc-150?

S

szimmer

Well-known member
Hello,

Can people share what scene settings (inside, outside, low-light, low-noise, etc..) they are using with the hmc-150?

I have Barry's scene settings from his book but I was curious to see what others are using.

I did a search in this forum but did not find too much.

Thanks in advance,

Simon
 
Honestly I messed with scene settings for quite a while and have ended up with two scene files I use regularly...

Spark - For anything that is well lit. Ideal filming environments. I bump the detail to +1, detail coring +4, chroma +3, skin dtl on

B-Str - For low-lit situations. Weddings, so forth. Detail coring +4, skin dtl on.

I'm sure others will weigh in but I generally only use these two settings after trying with MANY different settings. Some people will drop the detail down to as low as -7 in order to reduce noise... I find that the camera is soft enough as is, and that I'd rather have a little noise and sharpen in post, than have a SUPER soft image and still some noise.

Avoid DSR (or whatever its called). I have used it in bright light on a beach and loved it, but later wished I had just shot it on Spark. Other forum members were quick to correct me on it and brought to light the issues with DSR such as trails in the shadows, increased noise.

I shoot everything at 720p 60fps. The autofocus works much better at 60fps than 24, and it makes it easy to get beautiful slo-mo at any point. There are other advantages too, but thats my input!
 
I tend to use this one for most things shot 24p

Detail -3
coring +3
Master Ped -11
Gamma: Cine D
Matrix: Cine-like
Skin Detail usually on (on means it lowers detail for skin tones) unless I am filming sceneries etc (non-human objects).

Most of my shooting at any frame rate is fairly similar. I adjust master ped depending on noise (WFM with iris closed technique). Maybe some DRS in low light if shooting 720-60P. Or in high contrast situations such as bright sun and dark shadows (DRS will knee off the brights and raise up the blacks in a pixel by pixel method).

Lower frame rate allows more light in low light situations but if you need to pan faster then that might not be so great an option.
Outside of sports, I usually shoot 24p or 30P depending on what the footage is for. Daylight (bright) sports an believe I use 60p with a 120 shutter.
 
"Detail" and "V.Detail" have nothing to do with resolution -- they're in-camera edge contrast enhancement settings. I think Barry Green's book talks about this, I don't remember. For sharpening images from your HMC150 do it in post -- don't leave it up to the "tiny little computer" in the camera that ends up enhancing noise and/or other artifacts. The setting that actually does destroy real detail is "coring."

Understanding the above, try this:

F5
Detail -3
V Detail -7
Detail Coring +2
Chroma Level -1
Chroma Phase 0
Master Ped -2
DRS Off
Gamma Cine-Like V
Matrix Norm2
Skin Tone DTL Off

Always do the black balance when you switch recording modes (like switching between 1080/24p and 720/60p). Do that and you should end up with something pleasing out of the camera and low noise. If you want to crush your blacks and/or create something that looks similar to a Canon HDSLR, then do the above but take the master pedestal down to -7 or -10.

Some people, including me, take both the detail and v.detail to -7 -- and sharpen in post.
 
Well, I really haven't used my HMC150 all that much, but here is a scene file I think I'm pretty happy with.

I'd very much like some opinions however, such as have I gone too far with some of the settings? I feel like I've got a good comprimise between sharpness and lowering the "noise", plus a nice color saturation level with good contrast ratios. I'm NOT interested in trying to achieve a special look or the so called "film look" I just want a clean "low noise" picture under adequate lighting.

Please, tell me what you think of this one.

Thanks,
Tom

DETAIL LEVEL +3
V DETAIL LEVEL +2
DETAIL CORING +3
CHROMA LEVEL +1
CHROMA PHASE 0
COLOR TEMP Ach 0
COLOR TEMP Bch 0
MASTER PED -5
A IRIS LEVEL 0
DRS OFF
GAMMA B.PRESS
KNEE HIGH
MATRIX NORM2
SKIN TONE DTL OFF
 
Denwa said:
Coring has no effect with detail at -7, since detail enhancement is effectively "off".
V Detail effects the balance between vertical and horizontal detail, so in most cases, you really should leave it at 0. Not even sure if lowering v. detail has any effect when detail is at -7.


Check out the following PDF and or get Barrys book.

http://www.dvinfo.net/forum/attachm...-thoughts-panasonic-hmc150-scene-file-doc.pdf
Click to expand...


No where in that scene file book does it say what you said it says about coring. I was also under the impression that even at -7 edge contrast enhancement was not completely eliminated.

I also think you're wrong about V.Detail -- that has a history that dates back nearly forty years in video.

That said -- perhaps Barry Green can clarify, and, as always, I defer to his superior expertise in these matters.
 
Coring is noise reduction on detail enhancement, no detail enhancement then no coring. What I said about v detail is in the PDF. And I said -7 detail is "effectively" off, as in very miniaml as to seem off. I'll let Barry clarify as he knows the ins and outs.
 
The higher the detail level, the more effect coring will have. The lower the detail level, the less there is for coring to do.

V-detail is unrelated to the overall detail level. V-detail is a separate detail control that affects only vertical detail. The regular detail level control affects both h and v.
 
I tend to shoot wider scenes (stage productions, often with the HMC locked down for a full-stage shot) and find it's best to really crank the detail... I've been using +5 lately. I've been reducing the coring level over the last few events from around +5 down to around 0; and am still deciding if the noise vs. detail tradeoff is to my liking... I'd love to see a shot taken with the AF100 of a scene about 50-60 feet wide and 30 feet deep to compare detail and depth of field (how deep can the AF100 get?)
 
do these scene settings apply at all to the dvx100b?

is there any correspondence between settings in the hmc150 and the dvx100b?

thanks in advance to those who care to share.

be well

rob
smalltalk productions
 
what is black balancing?

what is black balancing?

AG Media, what do you mean by black balancing?
 
oxband said:
AG Media, what do you mean by black balancing?
Click to expand...

It's in the user manual...hold the AWB button for 2 seconds.

It seems if you ask 10 people for the best scene file settings, you'll get 10 different replies. Myself, I just lower the master ped + detail a bit and focus on a getting an image that's properly exposed. As long as the image is properly exposed it's trivial to fix minor color/white balance issues in post.

Stay away from auto-iris.
 
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