topic Re: vixia/legria hf g40 - wide dr spec? in Professional Video

vixia/legria hf g40 - wide dr spec?

hweb — Thu, 23 Feb 2017 15:51:09 GMT

hi,

I'm experimenting with the Wide DR Look on my HF G40 (Legria/European Version). I found a description about Wide DR for the C300 under https://learn.usa.canon.com/app/pdfs/c300_markii/QuickStart_CanonLogs_10_12_FINAL.pdf. I did not find anything comparable about Wide DR for the HF G40 - and my impression is, it's different from the chart in the C300 document. My feeling was that with Wide DR I have less contrast in the darker area. (I can correct this, no issue ..)

Is there any kind of documentation of this feature available? Postprocessing suggestions or anything? There is not much inside the User Manual.

thanks

hweb

Re: vixia/legria hf g40 - wide dr spec?

VideoGeek — Fri, 24 Feb 2017 20:55:37 GMT

I'm not sure any this will help but still may be worth a read:

"A new “Looks” setting has been added for easy access to creative imaging effects such as Highlight Priority Gamma and Wide Dynamic Range Gamma." & "Drawing from technologies employed in Canon’s Cinema EOS System of professional digital cinematography products, the camcorder’s new Wide DR Gamma mode achieves a dynamic range that has been expanded to 600 percent compared to the 300 percent on the predecessor Canon VIXIA HF G30 model."

Source: https://www.usa.canon.com/internet/portal/us/home/about/newsroom/press-releases/press-release-details/2016/20160105-camcorder-vixia/20160105-camcorder-vixia

I see plenty of references to it but few details.

All of the above you probably already know. I'll post if I find anything else.

Re: vixia/legria hf g40 - wide dr spec?

hweb — Sat, 25 Feb 2017 15:42:45 GMT

Yes, this is the feature I referenced. It's fine, I did some first tests and it works. It's the first time that I see such a feature in a consumer camera, I never saw this in Sony or Panasonic cameras of the same price range.

When I take still shots with my DSLR against the sun or any other light source I can work with the raw image to get more dynamic range out of the camera - around 2 stops in both directions. Raw video on the other hand is something that you only get with professional cameras and that's not available here. A good compromise as far as I learnt are profiles with Log Curves that provide a more flat footage but that contains more details in the shadows and lights. The only disadvantage is you'd have to correct this footage in post, usually with socalled "LUTs". This is exactly what I tried with my Wide DR test footage, just manually without any support.

In the C300 document that I mentioned they describe both for the C300 - "Wide DR" and Log. They give you the exact curve. But here there is not further documentation at all. Canon gives you a really interesting feature without any more documentation.

Re: vixia/legria hf g40 - wide dr spec?

hweb — Wed, 08 Mar 2017 18:41:07 GMT

I forwarded this to Canon Support Europe. The answer was:

Wide DR in Vixia/Legria HF G40 is most likely different from Wide DR in cameras of the EOS Cinema Series
There is no additional support by Canon (LUT's or anything) available
There is no further documentation of Canon about Wide DR / HF G40 published

Ok, I'll have to accept. Somehow it's nevertheless surprising. The HF G40 is a camera in the same price range (or even more expensive) as some 4 k cameras like Sony's FDR-AX53. Nevertheless they don't promote such unique features ...