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Driftwood Quantum X Settings, Series 2: Sedna A, B, C
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  • @rigs thanks for the tip! I'll check it out

    edit: wow! I see what you mean

  • @jhero I know that a great amount of effort is being put into these patches and that there are some experiments with the matix settings. Hopefully something can be improved for the weaker channels. I have tried different white balance settings to head fake the problem but they always ends up on the weak side.

  • @rigs Patiently awaiting sedna :) I've ran denoiser II on the footage and seemingly the noise is gone in both channels

  • Denoiser sure helps, Even my Red Epic footage and most other cameras have a simular problem with weak red and blue channels. Some are better then others.

  • Some Pictorus tests

  • I think one thing that @onionbrain has proven is this: each setting should have a recommended picture profile with the appropriate (X/X/X/X) numbers to maximize image quality. As we have seen, different profiles have noise issues in different colors (some in green, some in red, some in blue). So if @driftwood is going to improve upon noise in certain channels, it has to be with one or maybe two picture profiles (which are similar, like cinema and standard) otherwise it just won't work. So the next Quantum X should come with a optimized picture profile. Vibrant indeed seems the best setting for general purpose shooting.

  • I am used to shoot in nostalgic mode (all -2), but with onionbrain´s test in mind, I gave vibrant a try. Vibrant swallows so much detail (all -2 on my GH2) in the shadows, it would probably be a nightmare to grade it in post. For me, it´s easier to remove nostalgic´s noise than to recover vibrant´s lost detail. But this is my personal taste. It´s very interesting to see, how different all those modes behave. @onionbrain: Thank you very much for this test!

  • I think the worst blue and red channel is the by product of any bayer pattern camera where you have two green pixel for one blue and one red. The nature of the bayer pattern is 422 at full resolution, it is when you interpolate and downsample in some ways that you can get true 444. That is why Sony claims true 444 for the f65 at 4k resolution, to differentiate it from lets say the red camera.

  • @sir_danish

    Try raising the midtones on the Vibrant footage with the levels adjustment slider or RGB curves. I know for a fact that you can pull more usable details out of shadows with Standard than you get with default Nostalgia. I suspect, suspect the same is true with Vibrant -- but I'll test that either later today or tomorrow.

    Also, at this point the best results I've gained with Vibrant are at -2, -1, -1, 0. That's on an enhanced version of Panasonic v11 firmware. Results will be different with the Quantum X variations.

  • @onionbrain: Thanks a lot! Which settings did you use for Standard? The default setting (all to 0) or did you tweak it?

  • @onionbrain We need to repeat your test for Quantum X.

  • @driftwood Sedna sure looks promising, beautiful picture there.

    @workerb Nice grading!

  • Graded screen grab from gf2 using Orion vd4 Helios 58mm f2 and sankor 16c

    Image6.jpg
    1920 x 1080 - 478K
  • So, with the new patches (Orion V4 and Orion Dark Matter V1) the best setting to record as many information as possible (best latitude), to have a flatter image to work in post, is Standard -2.0.0.-2 or still is Smooth -2.-2.-2.-2?

  • @onionbrain How about highlight roll-off? I only use Smooth because I hate video-ish highlights with one channel clipping before the others (I'm talking to you, Cinema!) In my smallish test I think Standard/Vibrant suffers from the same thing. Maybe @Driftwood could remedy this with his matrices and prevent those oversaturated highlights?

    Lumix 20mm/spot metering/aperture priority/ISO 160/film modes: 0,0,0,0

    cinema.png
    1920 x 1080 - 2M
    smooth.png
    1920 x 1080 - 2M
    standard.png
    1920 x 1080 - 2M
    vibrant.png
    1920 x 1080 - 2M
    nostalgic.png
    1920 x 1080 - 2M
    nature.png
    1920 x 1080 - 2M
    dynamic.png
    1920 x 1080 - 2M
  • @driftwood thanks for the info! I'm surprised the Panny rep let ya take a few snapshots of possible "classified" information :-)

  • @oscillian

    50% of the bad highlights problem on the GH2 is those Panasonic lenses. Stick a classic Nikkor on your GH2 and half the problem is instantly gone.

    The rest of the problem is the camera and its processing -- and, frankly, bad highlights spans the entire Panasonic line -- including the broadcast division. The only Panasonic I've used that didn't have awful highlights was the HPX3700 -- and you can't stick that on your Cineslider or Pocket Dolly.

    So, there's no picture profile on the camera that is going to fix Panasonic's problem with highlights. My guess is that no encoding matrix can fix the problem -- but that's above my pay grade -- the pros on this forum can respond to that.

    The best advice I can offer is to shoot with the Standard profile, do your best to not overexpose, and when necessary rescue dim shots by raising the mid tones and/or shadows with either a levels or curves adjustment. You can also use any of the various techniques in post to diminish or mask awful highlights.

  • @oscillian Based on your test, Smooth is still the best mode in terms of how it handled highlights.

  • Thanks @oscillian. Under soft controlled lighting I like cinema, but when it comes to hard lighting smooth wins. Here's the test I performed (a while back)shooting a gradient grayscale chart under hard lighting (peak day sunlight): http://www.personal-view.com/talks/uploads/FileUpload/3a/64ba92a9a6cac03cd812e220de8c8e.jpg Note: This test is for highlights and does not display low levels approaching 0 IRE.

  • @sohus

    I'm happy to do that. I'm under the impression that the X series is evolving to greater heights, and will do so soon.

  • Andrew ( @onionbrain ), I will have some test Sedna matrices coming to you tomorrow.

  • @Driftwood regarding the camera bag: don't mean to burst your bubble but I bought a Driftwood bag from a Korean department store 2 years ago.

  • @driftwood

    I'll be ready, should have much of tomorrow free, and it's supposed to be nearly 80 degrees tomorrow -- so I'll have no excuse to not go out and film.

    My thanks!

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