Picture Profiles - how to improve the quality of your content and
reduce your budget.
Part 1.
Picture Profile (PP) settings are present in the menu of most of Sony’s professional camcorders. The
PP menu allows adjustment of the image characteristics. This article will focus on Picture Profiles in
the PMW-200 – the new XDCAM file-based camcorder.
Six different picture profiles (PP1 to PP6) can be stored in the internal memory of the camcorder. To
better organize your production and reduce the time setting Picture Profiles (PP) from one
camcorder to another, the profiles can be stored on cards (SxS, Memory stick card, SD card or XQD
card with adaptors) and recalled to the same model of camcorder in few seconds. This is especially
useful when matching video characteristics to create homogeneous images between multiple
camcorders or on successive shooting days to provide continuity and reduce post-production
corrections.
Why is correcting the picture with PP settings better than with post-production software? This
question is often asked by camera operators. Let’s look at some examples:
With PP it is possible to make highly accurate image adjustments while maintaining a full quality
image. Most camcorders compress the signal as they record. If you make adjustments such as
sharpness or gamma with post-production software further processing of compressed images only
increases the loss of quality. Any deficiencies in the video footage, such as poor contrast or signal
noise in low-light areas of the frame, may become more visible. The advantage of PP is that it
processes uncompressed signals. The change of gamma curves or correct image colours procced
without reducing the image quality.
The PP setting interacts with original picture with all nessesary tonal information inside. Unless
you have correctly adjusted and recorded the tones of dark or high-intensity sections during the
shooting, it will be not possible to change the image contrast at post-production later on. Areas that
are too bright or underexplosed (lighting with the candle, night footages) or overexposed (on the
beach, on sunny days, at the snowy landscape) won’t have any tone, any colour information to work
with. The satisfactory adjustment cannot be achieved if the original material has insufficient tonal
characteristics. For exemple settings like Knee allow more details in highlight environment and Black
Level, Black gamma or Low Key Sat help to get better results in low-light conditions.
If a Picture Profile is set up during shooting, the NLE software rendering time for necessary
adjustments can be radically reduced. The correction of image with PP can be made before, in the
pre-shoot test filming or before shooting on set . Most rental companies offer special low-cost
pricing for test periods else it can even be free of charge, this means that you can reduce your
budget when you prepare for production by setting up PP’s. This preparation allows the peace of
mind during your filming, you know you are getting the look you want, on set, ahead of any postproduction. Full correction during post-production needs rendering time and additional budget.
Each Picture Profile setting plays a different role to build a particular image. Let’s investigate these
settings in more detail:
Matrix
Benefits of setting
Description of setting
With this function the control of
the colour level or saturation of
whole picture is really easy. You
can give a special look or
homogeneous style to your film.
By changing the intensity of
colour you can provide a
particular atmosphere to the
image, influencing a better
understanding of scenario. (for ex.
The Matrix function activates the
colour phase adjustment with
matrix operations for the entire
picture. Allows selection of
differing colour matrices that will
give different colour ranges and
saturation levels.
when you change the background to
B&W and extract one colour by colour
correction adjustment - the attention of
the viewer is brought automatically to
the subject in colour
Multi Matrix
White
The same benefits are seen with
Matrix correction, you can select
one colour range for wider and
faster modifications to the look
of your picture.
Reduce the setting’s time.
Multi Matrix function allows
specific colours to be selected for
saturation correction in a 16-axis
hue space.
White setting is necessary
especially when moving the
camcorder from one lighting
situation to another. This
function allows quick and
accurate changes. You adapt the
setting in peace of mind, without
stress and complete safety. Also
possible to create a new
“artificial” lighting (to cool or
warm the image) without
spending the time and budget to
change or add additional lighting.
Setting the white balance offset
and the colour temperature of
the preset white. Preset: Usually
the 3200K setting for tungsten
lighting
(indoors), 4400K for
Fluorescent lighting, 5600K for
daylight (outdoors). Offset to be
applied to the A, B or ATW white
balance adjustment.
HD Detail
Improve the creativity and make
the image look crisp and also
strengthen the feeling image
fineness. The correction of details
affects the textures, allowing
creation of a gritty feel or clarity.
You can easily create the picture
like in your imagination and
“erase” the deficiencies of
complex images for video sensor
Adjusting the details to be
applied to the picture in HD
Mode. This function allows the
control of hard or soft edges of
subject of shooting. Detail Level:
Changes
apparent
image
sharpness by artificially boosting
contrast around edges and coarse
image details by adding a black or
white edge. It does not increase
(like landscape with water and wind, resolution,
only
apparent
fields of wheat, skin textures…) .
sharpness.
Detail Frequency: Alters thickness
of the applied Detail sharpening
edges. Positive value is thinner
than negative value. High positive
values can lead to flicker edges.
SD Detail
Adjusting the details to be Same as HD detail but in SD mode
applied to the picture in SD Mode
Skin Tone Detail
Better reproduction and accurate Adjusting the details to be
correction of human skin tone applied to the areas of a specific
reduces the time for preparing to colour phase of skin.
shoot, decreasing the postproduction budget and improving
the quality of the picture.
Aperture
Better reproduction of textures
and subtle details. This function
increase visibility of the fine
details making them looks
sharper. Useful in macro
shooting.
Knee
By the activation of manual Knee
correction, the quality of the
picture will be better, with more
details in the white areas, with
fluid contrast and without
overexplosed,
“white-burnt”
parts of image. (on the beach, on
The aperture correction is a
processing to improve resolution
by adding high frequency signals
to the video signal, which
corrects the degeneration due to
the
high-frequency
characteristics. High values will
make noise more apparent
without any effect on contrast.
Knee correction is a function
necessary to keep the images
within the signal level provided as
standard and influences contrast
in areas with high brightness.
Knee
compresses
image
highlights to improve dynamic
sunny days, in snowy landscape)
range beyond the 5 to 6 stops of
This function shows backgrounds a conventional gamma.
By
during shooting in backlight changing the position of the Knee
conditions (like in interviews or sunset Point (brightness), the angle of
landscape situations).
the Knee Slope (the amount of
compression) and Knee Aperture
(saturation or colour level) the
contrast in the high-brightness
area can be modified to the best
effect.
White Clip
The white clip set on 100% allows
the matching of white level of
camcorder with the norms of
level of white for direct
transmission in ENG application.
You adapt the setting in peace of
mind, without stress and
complete safe to be online with
correct video.
The white clip function specifies
the level of white to adapt better
to the output signal or to internal
recording.
The
factory
adjustment is based on 105% - to
balance better the dynamic
range, for direct application (SDI
output) you need to change on
100% and for standard recording
you can choice between 105 and
109 %
Gamma*
By
adjusting
the
gamma
compensation level and selecting
the gamma curve you can get a
visually more pleasing image,
more natural. Also easily match
the pictures from different
camcorders or on successive
shooting days for homogeneous
result and reduce the time during
the colorimetric correction. The
video with gamma curves can be
changed by the editor or colorist
who can pull out the tonal range
that best suits the production.
The compressed gamma curves
are given different names on
different
products
–
“Cinegamma”, “Hyper Gamma”
and “Standard”.
The gamma curve is a setting to
flexibly handle contrast and give
a specific 'look' to an image. The
Hyper Gammas are identical to
high-end CineAlta camcorders.
As gamma affects gain image may
be brighter/darker and noisier or
less noisy
Black
Verification - Good black level
allows filming to begin without
the stress of worrying about the
quality of black in your picture.
This setting reduces the time of
post-production correction.
Adjust the master black level
which serves as the video
reference with a professional
monitor. When value in +
position, the dark areas of the
image becomes brighter, and
contrast is reduced. Conversely,
in – position, these areas become
darker, and contrast is increased.
This is adjusted to suit the user's
personal preference
Black Gamma
You can improve the creativity,
easily get cinematic effects and
reduce the budget and the time
of adjustment during postproduction.
By changing the
gamma curve shape, you can
make the shading or contrast
stronger
or
weaker.
This
adjustment can radically change
the “atmosphere” of a scene.
Adjust the level of black gamma
function that emphasizes only the
dark areas of the picture to clear
the tones or on the contrary de emphasizes it to reduce the
noise.
Low Key SAT
This setting allows adjustment in
dark scenes. To give the special
look for your film easily you can
reduce the colour in low-light
environment and get a better
picture with reduced noise.
Adjust the level of the low key
saturation to heighten the
colours only in the dark areas of
the picture or pale them to
reduce the noise.
* Available gamma curves from “Select” in “Gamma” on PMW-200
(STD: Standard gamma, HD: Hyper gamma)
STD1: A gamma table equivalent to an SD camcorder.
STD2: A gamma table with ×4.5 gain.
STD3: A gamma table with ×3.5 gain.
STD4: A gamma table equivalent to the SMPTE-240M standard.
STD5: A gamma table equivalent to the ITU-R709 standard.
STD6: A gamma table with ×5.0 gain.
HG1: A gamma table for turning 325% D-range input into 100% output.
HG2: A gamma table for turning 460% D-range input into 100% output.
HG3: A gamma table for turning 325% D-range input into 109% output.
HG4: A gamma table for turning 460% D-range input into 109% output.
You can find more information on these web sites:
General information about Picture profile:
http://www.xdcam-user.com/picture-profile-guide/
NEX-FS100
http://philipbloom.net/2012/03/07/picture-profiles-on-the-sony-nex-fs100/
PMW-EX3
http://www.video-fx.com/XDcamprofiles.html
More about Gamma and Hyper gamma curves
http://www.xdcam-user.com/camera-setup/gamma-cinegamma-and-hypergamma/
http://marvelsfilm.wordpress.com/2010/05/14/how-to-perform-on-set-in-camera-hyper-gammaadjustment-with-hd-cameras/
http://www.xdcam-user.com/2011/01/understanding-gamma-cinegamma-hypergamma-and-s-log/
http://www.alisterchapman.com/more-on-s-log-and-gamma-curves/
Video about Gamma
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s-9aaK2gefg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ez9tOS11meU
Video about Matrix correction
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0gerb8QjfeA
This document based on feedback from Sony ICE community. Special thanks to Alister Chapman,
Forest Finbow, Philip Bloom and all professional DOP who share information about working with
Sony professional products.
December 2012
Product specialist XDCAM
Anna Doublet