What perk ups you use in PP on GH13 clips? Advise needed

B

Black_Ste

Active member
I am about to blow money on a Intel i7 machine with enough muscle to do HD editing. For NLE, eying Premier Pro CS5 with a GTX 460 to enable the Mercury Engine.

I have been shooting with GH13 on 25p, SMOOTH, Contrast -2, Sharpness -2 others 0. I like the near neutral (may be a tad subdued) look of the raw clips.

Wonder what kind of PP people use on those settings. These are essentially personal clips but who knows, might end up doing some small work as a hobby.

Please be kind, I am new to NLE stuff.

Thanks.
 
I have exactly the same set-up, including the GTX460 and likewise I shoot with my PAL GH-13 set on smooth with settings at -2.

My main camera however tends to continue to be my Canon 5D2....perhaps because I know it better. With so many shooting options on a hacked GH-1 you can spend many weeks just 'playing' to find what holds up on your camera and CF card etc.
I obviously am adding some brightness and contrast to my raw clips from both cameras in PP CS5 and I had found that matching the two usually required a slight change in colour on the GH-13. I therefore realised that I should match the ND filters I had on both cameras and have settled on screw-on 'Kood' filters instead of 'Cokin's'.

I have also found that the GH-13 takes some time to become truly comfortable with it's operation, but I'm getting there! I often rely on 'auto' exposure in documentary situations as it sorts out the basic exposure faster than I can...focus causes me enough 'fun' when shooting anyway. In the 'shutter priority' and 'manual' modes the GH-13 seems to alter the ISO before the aperture...with unusable jumps, so I now have that set at a fixed value, but the 5D2 for instance steps through ISO changes without those visible steps.

Upgrading my Premiere Pro to CS5 has transformed my workflow. I no longer always need to transcode clips with Neoscene, even though the 10bit avi's might have allowed better post-production tweaking in the end. Currently I just drop the mts files on the timeline and get cutting. The endless pauses to render have been removed and jobs are completed much faster because I can see the grading results immediately. I don't think any other edit software, even Avid, allows quite such instant results with these 'difficult' compressed DSLR files as CS5 currently does.
David
 
Thanks Postfade.

So the GTX460 is working with MPE. I was a bit concerned on that as I was recommended to go to GTX470/480.

Yes, I too am mastering the camera, especially on doing MF. Unlike you, I have no other camera to distract me :)
 
Try turning NR off (-2) in your custom film setting as well. I find this looks better across the board for video but really helps get rid of in-camera processing artifacts which only get magnified as you start grading. My best results come from the Nature setting with Sharpness and NR at -2, the others at 0.
 
Hah - just splurged 1200 quid on an I7, GTX 470 system myself :)

Also looking at CS5 - feel like it might be a steep learning curve after using amateur NLEs before.

Any tips for us newbies on hitting the ground running appreciated.

I am especially concerned about all this 'timeline' business. In power director i just shove all my clips in - 720p/1080p and edit away without problem. Without having used CS5 before.... from reading between the lines on the forums... it isn't going to be that easy with premiere? Or is it?
 
Try vegas HD10 first, beofre Prem/CS5

Try vegas HD10 first, beofre Prem/CS5

Its a good compromise between high-end editors and low end packages like PD8. Also, have found you need true high end machine for CS5 with AVC dropped straight in, quad core/top-end graphics, for Vegas, not quite as demanding and a medium machine will do the trick, obviously if you go faster even better. Give the trial a go for Vegas before investing big bucks in CS4/5 and use the saved cash on MB plig-ins?
 
shaveblog said:
Try turning NR off (-2) in your custom film setting as well. I find this looks better across the board for video but really helps get rid of in-camera processing artifacts which only get magnified as you start grading. My best results come from the Nature setting with Sharpness and NR at -2, the others at 0.
Click to expand...


Thanks, I have used all settings at -2 as well in some clips. So after you finish grading etc., you will sharpen and boost contrast in post?
 
Adventsam said:
Its a good compromise between high-end editors and low end packages like PD8. Also, have found you need true high end machine for CS5 with AVC dropped straight in, quad core/top-end graphics, for Vegas, not quite as demanding and a medium machine will do the trick, obviously if you go faster even better. Give the trial a go for Vegas before investing big bucks in CS4/5 and use the saved cash on MB plig-ins?
Click to expand...

Thanks, will try the Vegas trial.

Actually I don't plan to buy a PC for another 3 years or so. As for the graphics card there are members at home who can extract every cent on that by playing game :). Only change I am mulling is a Phenom II X6 1055T and an overclock which would save $100. PP CS5 sure is a difficult decision because of price, but MPE is the lure given I could somewhat justify the hardware.
 
Turning the contrast and color settings down only means you have to bring them up again in post. I don't find these parameters destructive during capture, and the zero/neutral settings look right to my eyes for the Nature mode.

Sharpness and NR, however, are additive artifact generators which are best turned "off" or at least as off as -2 takes us. Once that stuff is baked into your raw video in-camera, there's no unbaking them.

As for sharpening the footage in post, that's a subjective call. I work in FCP and lately in Premiere CS5 and find that a very little bit of sharpening goes a long way with properly exposed and focused hack footage. I prefer a more filmic look and so I rarely sharpen in post. I also don't like the idea of little crispy outlines added to my subjects to make them "pop", but then I'm not shooting Audi ads either. As I said, it's a subjective thing. Season to taste.

I think people are used to over-sharpened video from a lifetime of looking at consumer TVs with the sharpness control cranked all the way. All that jaggy halo and false detail may look okay from across the living room when you're watching Deal or No Deal but I prefer a more natural and artifact-free picture when watching well shot material.


Black_Ste said:
Thanks, I have used all settings at -2 as well in some clips. So after you finish grading etc., you will sharpen and boost contrast in post?
Click to expand...
 
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shaveblog said:
Turning the contrast and color settings down only means you have to bring them up again in post. I don't find these parameters destructive during capture, and the zero/neutral settings look right to my eyes for the Nature mode.

Sharpness and NR, however, are additive artifact generators which are best turned "off" or at least as off as -2 takes us. Once that stuff is baked into your raw video in-camera, there's no unbaking them.

As for sharpening the footage in post, that's a subjective call. I work in FCP and lately in Premiere CS5 and find that a very little bit of sharpening goes a long way with properly exposed and focused hack footage. I prefer a more filmic look and so I rarely sharpen in post. I also don't like the idea of little crispy outlines added to my subjects to make them "pop", but then I'm not shooting Audi ads either. As I said, it's a subjective thing. Season to taste.

I think people are used to over-sharpened video from a lifetime of looking at consumer TVs with the sharpness control cranked all the way. All that jaggy halo and false detail may look okay from across the living room when you're watching Deal or No Deal but i prefer a more natural and artifact-free picture when watching well shot material.
Click to expand...


Thanks. That's the kind of information that I was looking for. More such insights as to how others do it will be welcome.
 
I find that the color and contrast settings on camera generally relate to needing to still do the same amount of processing in post to even everything out so I just make everything -2 in camera.

As far as in post I'll use color curves(luminance setting) first to bring down the highlights and the dark grays. this camera has a habit of giving things sort of a gray-ish cast in bright areas. Your color curve will be sort of S shaped. This works miles better than fiddling around with gamma/saturation/gain/contrast/etc. I'll then color correct as needed. I rarely find myself using any kind of sharpening as it will only accentuate any aliasing that is present.

However, one thing I'll mention right now even though it's not technically related to post processing is depth of field. Make sure you get your DOF right in camera. It'll make life a lot easier when you do your post work. How you ask? Well that's because things that are out of focus don't draw the eye away as much as things that are in focus and you can get away with a lot less post work which means things will look a little more natural.
 
Thank you Svart for thr detailed reply. I know what you mean about bright areas getting grey as I have seen them in bright sunlight shots without the NDF.

I hope the curves etc work the same way as they do in Photoshop. I am quite familiar with Photoshop which was one reason CS5 looked attractive.
 
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