5D Mark III Optimal Video Settings

[BaconBets]

For the 5D Mark III, there is no shortage of advice on what values to set Sharpness, Contrast, Saturation and Color Tone for pros who want the most flexible files and dynamic range, to then take the footage and then grade everything in post.

I was wondering for those of you with extensive experience handling 5D III video files, what have you found to be the optimal settings on these values for best out of the camera results for us mere mortals who often lack the time for post?

[thatguy]

I would also greatly appreciate any suggestions for this. 

[Axilrod]

Faithful, +1 Sharpness, -2 Contrast and -2 Saturation.  I think cinestyle works a bit better on the 5D3 than it did on the 2, but if I'm not trying to do alot of grading the previously mentioned settings work great and I've used them for literally hundreds of videos.

[Policar]

I prefer neutral (and possibly visioncolor, check it out) to faithful, which has some weird color quirks, but the above is a fine recommendation. Prolost has a good recommended look, but it looks a bit softer since there's no sharpening.

Really, there's no way to win with the 5d. The footage is always soft and noisy and the tonality is pretty poor. There are ways to make it worse by going too compressed and sharpened (standard) or too soft and flat (cinestyle) in which case you lose DR or tonality, but any decent look (such as the above or prolost flat or visioncolor) can capture all the available dynamic range and resolution, it's kind of just a choice of if you want in-camera sharpening (more halos, less mosquito noise) and a less tweakable look with decent tonality out of camera or you want more adjustability (so you can intercut, but you'll need to do more work in post). For the money the footage is amazing and lighting and composition trump camera system, but you can only put so much lipstick on a pig. Compared with a video-specific system the mark III is weak... So just embrace it for what it is.

Prolost flat is nice, though. Google it. Vision color is not bad if you don't want to grade. Great colors.

[paul13walnut5]

You don't need to grade your footage, but I think any DSLR footage needs a little working on, before and after.

In camera keep the sharpness at 0, if you aren't going to go through colour or davinci then keep it fairly neutral accross the board, keep the iso as low as you can, and consistent accross shots in a sequence.

General rule: you can recover underexposure, difficult to recover lost detail in over exosed shots. 

In your NLE add .5 pixel gaussian blur over all footage (on that track, not on astons etc) magic bullet do modestly priced versions of it's quick grades like looks or mojo, and any decent NLE will let you add vignettes, corner blur, saturation etc.

Keep it simPle in camera, keep it neutral in camera.  Try and get your white balance right manually, or shoot a close preset, use some kind of greyscale referrnce to help shot matching in post.

Dslr footage needs post, you needn't get into flat shooting, luts or high end grading, but in my experience you'll rarely be able to use footage straight out the cam.

[Midphase]

Try the FLAAT profiles, I use FLAAT 10 and like it.

http://www.similaar.com/foto/flaat-picture-styles/index.html

Also, I prefer to shoot in the All-I mode but honestly I think the differences between the two choices are minimal. When Canon releases the clean-HDMI firmware in a few months I'll probably invest in an ATOMOS box and record footage straight into ProRes for even less compression artifacts.

Other than that, I think the best piece of advice is to experiment and try out different settings until you find the one that you like the best.

[cocopop05]

Check this link - http://prolost.com/flat

I can confirm that using Prolost Flat and setting Unsharpen Mast at Amount 120 and Radius 1.1 gives very good results.  I have notices less artifacting with these settings.

[risc32]

So a guy asks for good setting for incam work with no intention of post work and you guys start recommending post work. 

[Axilrod]

So a guy asks for good setting for incam work with no intention of post work and you guys start recommending post work. 

Did you even read any of the responses or just skim over them?  Several people mentioned internal camera settings, there just isn't much too it.  After a few people answered his question some decided to take it a step further and mention a post-workflow (but that's just additional information). 

Camera settings:
1/50 for 24fps, 1/60 shutter for 30fps
Highlight tone priority, auto lighting optimizer, noise reduction off
Use ISO's in multiples of 160

Picture profile (as mentioned in my first post)
Faithful or Neutral
Sharpness +1
Contrast -2 to -4
Saturation -2 to -4

OP never complained about what we told him, why are you?  I mean seriously we give the guy all the information he wants and then some and you're complaining? 

[paul13walnut5]

Dslr footage needs post, you needn't get into flat shooting, luts or high end grading, but in my experience you'll rarely be able to use footage straight out the cam.

Guilty as charged.  I mentioned post.  Hopefully the last line of my message creates the context as to why.  Not being a know it all, or indulging in information overload, just some practical advice.

Your man might want to make do with a video camera if he want's rushes that look just fine right out the camera.  For myself and most others shooting video seriously on DSLRs (and your man must be serious to have asked the initial question) post is an essential part of the process.  And thats without getting into editing.