[LensBeginner]

Hi,
tried recording short videos with my K-01 a couple of times.
I'm pleased with the results, however I find that the otuput is not very resistant to color correction i.e. there's little I can do before artifacts start to crop up and there's very limited dynamic range (clipped blacks and whites).
I suspect this has something to do with the very limited chroma subsampling.
I'm already at full-hd, 30fps, three-star quality.
Is there anything more I can do (I don't know... hdmi out is said not to work during recording, so maybe it's just tips on the exposure...)?

I also have a Canon Legria HF R406, very basic.
Video quality looks inferior (due to smaller sensor, lens etc.) at similar bitrate (in the neighborhood of 17Mbps).
Would shooting at higher bitrates (up to thirty-something) with that consumer camcorder provide me with a better video to edit, or I simply would gain nothing and throw away low-light performance and lens quality in the process?
Thanks in advance

Edit: as an aside, some weeks ago I also shot two 1080p short videos in awesome light, with the K-01 and my smartphone (Galaxy SIII). I couldn't spot the smallest difference if I tried. Bitrate was also pretty much in the same ballpark.
Now I know that under a sunny sky all the cameras are good, but I wonder... is more resolution really necessary, from a consumer standpoint at least, when we could benefit so much more from more color depth, more dynamic range and so on?

---

Last edited by LensBeginner; 04-26-2015 at 01:54 AM.

[Na Horuk]

If you press Info and adjust the jpeg mode you might be able to adjust the colour before taking the video. And adjust WB as well. CTE can make colours look more dramatic.
The main problem with video is that it takes a buffer and CPU and has to be encoded into certain codecs. Increasing the output quality just a little bit would immediately raise these requirements. This is why the depth (and then PPing) is so limited. I don't think there is much you can do other than adding polarizer and adjusting in-camera settings to get higher contrast and saturation

[LensBeginner]

I already have too much contrast, imho... nor I like overly-contrasty modes.
Thanks for the tips, didn't know that jpeg settings also applied to video, even though I think I'm already ok with the ones I have.

[kadajawi]

Reduce sharpening to an absolute minimum (sharpening creates details that need to be compressed and take away precious bits from actual content... you can easily add sharpening in post. The more sharpening a video has, the higher the bitrate has to be to keep a reasonable quality level), and if you need more contrast reduce that in camera too.

That's pretty much all you can do, apart from running out and buying a K-5 series Pentax.

[Steve.Ledger]

If you press Info and adjust the jpeg mode you might be able to adjust the colour before taking the video.

You can chose and set your colour directly in Movie mode custom image settings. Settings colours in stills mode doesn't affect video unless you assign/use the red button for quick movie shooting..

I don't think there is much you can do other than adding polarizer and adjusting in-camera settings to get higher contrast and saturation

No! You want contrast right down if you want any hope of detail in shadows.
Also saturation should be low. Colour grading can be done in post so you want the flattest output possible from the camera.

Here's how I have my K-01 custom image settings in movie mode.

[LensBeginner]

You can chose and set your colour directly in Movie mode custom image settings. Settings colours in stills mode doesn't affect video unless you assign/use the red button for quick movie shooting..

No! You want contrast right down if you want any hope of detail in shadows.
Also saturation should be low. Colour grading can be done in post so you want the flattest output possible from the camera.

Here's how I have my K-01 custom image settings in movie mode.

This is a really interesting post, I'm going to try that setup as soon as I can.
Thanks again!

Edit: what's that high-low key adjustment? the image looks a bit underexposed as a result... I'm afraid of losing too much detail in the blacks, maybe you use a positive exp compensation after that?

I've also noticed that settings carry over to still jpgs, not a big deal since I shoot RAW, but separate settings for stills and video would have been nice to have.

And what about the more general screen? shadow/highlight correction, (exposure settings, focus)?

[kadajawi]

You can chose and set your colour directly in Movie mode custom image settings. Settings colours in stills mode doesn't affect video unless you assign/use the red button for quick movie shooting..

No! You want contrast right down if you want any hope of detail in shadows.
Also saturation should be low. Colour grading can be done in post so you want the flattest output possible from the camera.

Here's how I have my K-01 custom image settings in movie mode.

Oh. In the K-5 the settings are applied to both stills and video

As for flattest possible output... sort of. Yes. But depending on the encoder you may then run into problems when you want to grade... it can fall apart. For example when you increase the contrast you may end up with an "8 bit look". In that case getting it right in camera might be preferable.

[Steve.Ledger]

Not found that to be the case so far

[Na Horuk]

Ah, thanks for correcting me! Interesting, makes sense

[Steve.Ledger]

You know, some Lightroom presets work well with video colour grading.
You can even create a custom preset from a frame grab of the video you want to grade. Save the preset, then open the video in LR and use your new preset

[grispie]

Oh. In the K-5 the settings are applied to both stills and video

Same for the K3.. No big deal, but i do find it annoying.

ps: maybe it's mentioned already, but i prefer the 'muted' setting to retain the most dynamic range

[PiDicus Rex]

however I find that the output is not very resistant to color correction i.e. there's little I can do before artifacts start to crop up and there's very limited dynamic range (clipped blacks and whites).

That's interesting.
I find the K-01's dynamic range is far from limited, easy two stops better then 7D or 5D, and probably the equal of the 13 stops of the Blackmagic Cameras.
The K-01 actually records well past the 0 and 100% IRE levels, but like others have mentioned you do have to turn down the sharpening and contrast a bit to get the best out of it.
The Picture Profile settings affect the video just the same as they do for the Jpegs.

If I'm shooting for something that's going to be colour graded in post, I stick to the Muted setting, with the High/Low Key adjusted according to what gives the best image for each camera set up, the contrast turned down slightly and the sharpening turned down one step.

When shooting for YouTube, Natural is fine, ditto for ENG sharing, just make sure you're careful not to over expose - turn the Bright / Dark overlay on under the Liveview options, and open the iris or up the ISO until the red overlay has come on to the second step - That way the highest of the highlights will be just blown out, but still retain colour.

Doing the expose till clipped, then back off till nothings over,... will mean you will need to add light in to the dark areas to get the best, balanced, image. Shooting this way when you have the lighting kit to balance the exposure does result in good, gradable vision.

However,.... There are definite limits to what you can do - don't bother with 3200 ISO in video, you can record at that setting, but the noise issue makes the video nearly unusable. Try to stay between 100 and 800 for the best results.

[LensBeginner]

That's interesting.
I find the K-01's dynamic range is far from limited, easy two stops better then 7D or 5D, and probably the equal of the 13 stops of the Blackmagic Cameras.
The K-01 actually records well past the 0 and 100% IRE levels, but like others have mentioned you do have to turn down the sharpening and contrast a bit to get the best out of it.
The Picture Profile settings affect the video just the same as they do for the Jpegs.

If I'm shooting for something that's going to be colour graded in post, I stick to the Muted setting, with the High/Low Key adjusted according to what gives the best image for each camera set up, the contrast turned down slightly and the sharpening turned down one step.

When shooting for YouTube, Natural is fine, ditto for ENG sharing, just make sure you're careful not to over expose - turn the Bright / Dark overlay on under the Liveview options, and open the iris or up the ISO until the red overlay has come on to the second step - That way the highest of the highlights will be just blown out, but still retain colour.

Doing the expose till clipped, then back off till nothings over,... will mean you will need to add light in to the dark areas to get the best, balanced, image. Shooting this way when you have the lighting kit to balance the exposure does result in good, gradable vision.

However,.... There are definite limits to what you can do - don't bother with 3200 ISO in video, you can record at that setting, but the noise issue makes the video nearly unusable. Try to stay between 100 and 800 for the best results.

Maybe it was a difficult situation... late evening with strong shadows, albeit still plenty of light (around ISO400, f/4, 1/750 for stills)...

Thanks for the tips, I'll check them out!

[Steve.Ledger]

The Picture Profile settings affect the video just the same as they do for the Jpegs.

Yes, this is right - I was confusing the MX-1 with the K-01. The MX-1 can set totally different custom picture profile for video than JPEG.

Personally I don't find the dynamic range that good with the K-01 video, so those Canons must really suck..

[grispie]

with the High/Low Key adjusted according to what gives the best image for each camera set up

I actually tried this tip out recently. It can be very helpful indeed.

so those Canons must really suck..

Yes, they do :-)