UX180 Profile tweaks

[BillP]

Hello all,
I've been trying for a few days to tweak my UX180 so it can handle blown out highlights better. When using the stock profiles the highlights would make ugly color changes which Panasonic camcorders are notorious for. In the past (on my HMC150 and AC160A) I would just lower the knee compression, and that was usually all it took. But this camera wasn't so cooperative.

I had heard that the 'Filmlike Gammas" were good for highlights, but not in my testing.

I noticed that the "Still-Like" F4 file gave the best looking highlights for my taste, but provided too much saturation and contrast.
So I tweaked it a bit.

Here are my preferred settings/tweaks so far:
Scene File F4
Chroma -5
Master Ped +10
Black Gamma +4
The rest of the settings left alone.

High Sensitivity On
DRS Off

I tested this in the studio and was happy with highlights and skin tones, and gave me a good overall image.

I still need to test these settings in outdoor sun to see how it looks.

Curious to see what others think of these settings.


Update:

Upon further testing, something a little weird is going on with skin tones. A little too orange and flat. Will tweak some more tomorrow.
But noise is reduced and is less colorful so that's a plus.

Scene File 4 Tweaked



And to compare, here is Scene File 1

 

[BillP]

Here is what it looks like on the waveform compared to a stock Scene File 1. The upper right corner of the foam core is what is clipping just passed 100ire on the waveform.



Scene File 1

Tweaked Scene File 4

 

[wbrock001]

Hi, I wanted to see if you had finalized some optimized settings and could share what you found since you were worried about the skin tones? Thank you!

 

[BillP]

I gave up tweaking, and just use the first scene file. Unlike in the past, I decided to just leave the knee setting on auto. Whatever I tried with the manual knee gave me the weird color shifts on highlights. Also, I think my expectations were just too high regarding dynamic range.

If you are careful with exposure on your highlights, the camera will do you well.

Here is some sample footage from an event that I covered: https://youtu.be/Bc9cmli1emY

-Bill

 

[wbrock001]

Thanks Bill, were you just looking to keep it as flat as possible with tweaking in the editor? Thanks again!