Custom Presets: the personal touch

One of the key areas of control that Canon filmmakers, using the XL or XH series of professional camcorders, can have when shooting is Custom Presets. In this article we examine what Custom Presets are, why you would use them, plus we take at look at the key properties of Custom Presets and offer a variety of Custom Preset downloads that you can easily access and use with your Canon camcorders.

Custom Presets are image customisation settings that are available on Canon’s XL and XH series of professional camcorders. These customisable image controls allow you to give your video footage the exact look and feel that you want. The Canon camcorders offer 23 customisable parameters that are easy to save and exchange between cameras as Custom Preset files.

Why use Custom Presets?

One of the main reasons to use Custom Presets is to give you customisation of picture control when you’re shooting movies. You can utilise Custom Presets to give your camcorders the exact look that you need for the purpose of your shoot – from complex colour manipulation to shadow detail. In effect you are personalising the type of picture you’re shooting. It is also possible to make per scene sequence or a pre-lit location a Custom Preset and store it, so that the image continuity is guaranteed.

Bart Verdult has produced a number of downloadable Custom Presets for CPN that illustrate some of the possibilities that you can achieve with these settings. Verdult is an independent producer, director, filmmaker, editor, and writer. He has worked as a consultant for a variety of production companies and independent filmmakers around the world and is currently an Apple Certified Trainer in video editing packages. You can view and download 10 of his Custom Preset examples - including skin, saturate, film noir, EOS lens and more - on page 3 of this article.

One of the benefits of Custom Presets is that when you shoot on tape using HDV Custom Presets this can be used as a professional way to set your colour correctly. Basically, you do the colour correction before shooting and not afterwards.

Examples of Custom Presets

Each Custom Preset consists of 23 image variables/properties. Up to nine sets can be stored in the camera, plus an additional 20 sets can be saved to an SD/SDHC memory card and easily transferred to other Canon XL and XH camcorders.

Among the variety of Custom Presets available via the XL and XH series camcorders are presets that allow you to adjust colour settings, exposure, sharpness, CINE settings to give a film-like quality to TV footage, the levels of colour saturation, white balance and colour tints amongst others.

* Please click here to view 23 short clips that show you Custom Preset properties.

* Filmmaker Bart Verdult has specially prepared 10 Custom Preset examples for Canon filmmakers that you can click through to from here to download.

What each of the 23 Custom Preset properties do...

B-G Matrix

Adjusts the colour tint without affecting R (red). Adjustment is possible in the -50 to +50 range, adjusted to suit the user’s personal preference.

B-R Matrix

Adjusts the colour tint without affecting G (green). Adjustment is possible in the -50 to +50 range, adjusted to suit the user’s personal preference.

Black

Adjusts the dynamic range in the black area of the image. STRETCH, MIDDLE and PRESS are selectable. When STRETCH is set, the dynamic range in the black areas is expanded, emphasising contrast in the dark area, so that the greyscale for black can be expressed. When PRESS is set, the dynamic range in the black areas is narrowed - the darkness is enhanced or deepened - so the greyscale for black is reduced. This is adjusted to suit the user’s personal preference.

Blue Gain

This is for adjusting the white balance (WB) of the images. When the cursor is moved in the (+) direction, WB shifts toward blue; when moved in the (-) direction, it shifts toward yellow. The colouring is adjusted to suit the user’s personal preference in a range of -9 to +9. Green Gain is like Blue Gain, but WB shifts from green toward magenta, and Red Gain shifts WB from red towards cyan.

Colour Gain

Adjusts the colour saturation of images. When the cursor is moved in the (+) direction, the amount of colouring is increased; when moved in the (-) direction, it is reduced. Adjustment is possible in the -50 to +50 range, adjusted to suit the user’s personal preference.

Colour Matrix

This adjusts the colour during shooting. The available settings are NORMAL, CINE1 and CINE2. The NORMAL setting is a matrix based on the assumption that images will be viewed on a TV monitor. If CINE1 is selected, the resulting quality and greyscale resemble those of a movie film. This is a matrix for creating images on TV that appear like movies. The CINE2 setting is a matrix that is for images being transferred to film for viewing.

Colour Phase

Colour phase is for adjusting the colour phase of the images. When the cursor is moved in the (+) direction, the images become redder; when moved in the (-) direction, they become greener. Adjustment is possible in the -9 to +9 range.

Coring

Adjusts the subtle noise components on the screen. The higher the level selected the less noticeable the noise. But detail can become too softened at higher levels.

G-B Matrix

Adjusts the colour tint without affecting R (red). Adjustment is possible in the -50 to +50 range, adjusted to suit the user’s personal preference.

G-R Matrix

Adjusts the colour tint without affecting B (blue). Adjustment is possible in the -50 to +50 range, adjusted to suit the user’s personal preference.

Gamma

Within the Gamma Custom Preset properties there are three settings for Canon filmmakers - NORMAL, CINE1 and CINE2. The NORMAL setting is used when images are to be viewed on a TV monitor. If CINE1 is selected, the resulting quality and greyscale resemble those of a movie film. The CINE2 setting is a gamma adjustment for images that are intended to be transferred to film. The Gamma curve can be refined by setting one of the Gamma settings, then using the other image adjustments to fine-tune the exact look that is required for your footage.

Green Gain

This is for adjusting the white balance (WB) of the images. When the cursor is moved in the (+) direction, WB shifts toward green; when moved in the (-) direction, it shifts toward magenta. The colouring is adjusted to suit the user’s personal preference in a range of -9 to +9. Red Gain is like Green Gain, but WB shifts from red toward cyan, and Blue Gain shifts WB from blue towards yellow.

H Detail

This adjusts the centre frequency of the Horizontal detail. The centre frequency in the horizontal direction can be set to HIGH (high range), MIDDLE (middle range), and LOW (low range).

H/V Balance

This is for adjusting the horizontal/vertical percentage of detail correction in the -9 to +9 range, user adjustable to suit personal preferences.

Knee

This adjusts the dynamic range (knee point) at the high-brightness end (highlight area), to limit overexposure when high-brightness subjects are shot. Settings are AUTO, HIGH, MIDDLE, and LOW. When HIGH is set, overexposure tends to occur more readily, but the scenes can be shot ‘high-key’. When LOW is set, the extent of the overexposure can be limited.

Master pedestal

This adjusts the bottom portion of the Gamma curve without affecting the white portion of the Gamma curve. When the cursor is moved in the (+) direction, the dark areas of the image become brighter, and the contrast is reduced. Conversely, when it is moved in the (-) direction, these areas become darker, and the contrast is increased. This is user-adjustable to suit the user’s personal preference. Adjustment is possible in the -9 to +9 range.

Noise Reduction 1

This function is for activating noise reduction that cycle through the fields. The variable range of the noise reduction level can be selected. The available settings are OFF, HIGH, MIDDLE, and LOW. In settings other than OFF, noise reduction level changes according to the gain, and the variable range becomes progressively larger as the setting is changed from LOW to MIDDLE to HIGH. Although the S/N ratio is improved, 'afterimages' may appear in some cases. This is adjusted to suit the user’s personal preference. When picture noise is already low due to the gain settings, the noise reduction may not be noticeable.

Noise Reduction 2

This function uses an Epsilon filter that activates noise reduction in field units. The available settings are OFF, HIGH, MIDDLE, and LOW. By switching from LOW to HIGH, the entire screen appears with a smooth and soft presentation. This results in an effect similar to that of applying the skin detail function over the whole picture. Unlike with the NR1 setting, a trailing afterimage will not appear.

R-B Matrix

Adjusts the colour tint without affecting G (green). Adjustment is possible in the -50 to +50 range, adjusted to suit the user’s personal preference.

R-G Matrix

This adjusts the colour tint without affecting B (blue). Adjustment is possible in the -50 to +50 range, adjusted to suit the user’s personal preference.

Red Gain

This is for adjusting the white balance (WB) of the images. When the cursor is moved in the (+) direction, WB shifts toward red; when moved in the (-) direction, it shifts toward cyan. The colouring is adjusted to suit the user’s personal preference in a range of -9 to +9. Green Gain is like Red Gain, but WB shifts from green toward magenta, and Blue Gain shifts WB from blue towards yellow.

Set-up level

For adjusting the overall Gamma curve up or down. When the cursor is moved in the (+) direction, the shadow areas become brighter; conversely, when it is moved in the (-) direction, the screen darkens. Adjustment is possible in the -9 to +9 range. Depending on the value set for the master pedestal, the set-up level may not be able to take a negative value. In this case, adjusting the set-up value within a certain value range will have no effect.

Sharpness

Adjusts the sharpness of images. When the cursor is moved in the (+) direction, the images become sharper; when moved in the (-) direction, they become more blurred. This is adjusted to suit the user’s personal preference in a -9 to +9 range.

* Filmmaker Bart Verdult has specially prepared 10 Custom Preset examples for Canon filmmakers that you can click through to from here to download.

How to transfer the Custom Presets downloads to your camcorder

• Download the 10 Custom Presets from CPN.
• Place an empty SD card in the camera and copy a Custom Preset to ensure that it's formatted.
• Use your USB SD card reader to link the card into your computer.
• Copy the Custom Presets to the SD card.
• Place the SD card in the camcorder and follow the instructions in the Custom Preset Tutorial film (click the window, above left, to view the film) to load the Custom Presets from the card into your camcorder.