The HVX200 provides several levels of zebras, markers, and spot metering. Zebras are hatched lines that show up where areas of the image are getting blown out (above pure white), which is an aid to lighting a scene.
The HVX provides seven gamma settings, including SD GAMMA, for matching footage that is to be intercut with footage shot on a DV camera, and HD GAMMA for intercutting with HDV footage. Of course CINE GAMMA is the setting of greatest interest for movie making under most conditions. CINE GAMMA provides a range of brightness and contrast that imitates film. And I normally shoot in Cinema mode to mimic film.
Video color is normally consistent: every color is equal. Film, on the other hand, has more subtle color differentiation in the mid-tones. The HVX provides CINELIKE-D and CINELIKE-V color settings that expand the mid-tones and give the image a richer coloring that is more like film. There are several other color settings that provide color compatibility with SD and HD video.
The HVX also has several other settings that influence the appearance of the image, including Master Pedestal, Auto Iris, Color Phase, Color Temperature, Color Level, and Detail enhancements. These settings, along with the Gamma and Color settings, can be saved in a “scene” file to an SD memory card (a flash memory card used in some digital still cameras). There are six scene settings that can be immediately activated using a dial on the back of the camera. And you can store and load four files, each containing another six scene files, to the SD memory card. That’s a total of 24 scene settings.
The thing that’s so great about scene files is that the gamma, color, and detail processing occur on the “raw” 1440x1080 4:4:4 color image before it is compressed. The quality of the in-camera coloring is immediate and superior to anything you can do in 4:2:2 or 4:1:1 color in post. I use in-camera coloring with scene files to simulate film color grading and film chemical processing. The different looks the HVX can produce is absolutely amazing. Following are some examples of in-camera coloring. These images are un-retouched. They were colored in the camera using scene file settings and then reduced in size. There was no color correction or manipulation in post.
