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Tony Manard
Mon, 2008-12-01 12:00
Making your cameras match is both art and science. Chances are that somewhere this very moment an engineer has been called into the control room five minutes before a live broadcast because the director noticed that one of the cameras just doesn't quite look like the other ones. Perhaps it is simply an issue of black level or iris. Maybe somebody has been fiddling with the knobs, and the gamma settings have been changed. Regardless, the person responsible for painting or shading the cameras has to respond quickly.
Camera shading is the task of making multiple cameras match, providing a picture that is pleasing to the viewer. Camera shading situations range from the highly controlled environment of the broadcast studio to the sometimes less-than-ideal remote broadcast. Other variables that conspire to make our jobs more interesting are time constraints and the availability of test equipment. Even though modern cameras have made vast improvements over earlier models, they have also introduced a host of additional features and settings. For our purposes, we will look at what it takes to match cameras and shade them for a pleasant picture with a minimum of test equipment and in a timely manner. Beyond extensive setups that are typically performed when new cameras are commissioned and left alone, there are a few parameters that should be checked and adjusted to fit the given lighting situation. The focus here is to get up and running quickly.
A reference monitor
There must be one monitor that the cameras are referenced on. In an ideal situation, the color, brightness and contrast values of all the monitors in a facility are calibrated to produce exact and consistent picture reproduction. In reality, this is rarely the case.
The engineering reference monitor has traditionally been a high-quality CRT in the 13in to 21in range, although LCD monitors are starting to make significant inroads. By choosing one monitor as the reference and calibrating it to a known good set of color bars, you can save yourself a lot of second guessing as you look at the picture on different monitors.
Manufacturers use different terms, such as phase or hue, chroma or saturation, but these are the handles you will adjust to get the top and bottom bars as close to one another as possible. The chroma or saturation controls the outer bars, and the phase or tint controls the inner bars. Adjust the contrast for even steps of luminance change between the alternating gray bars at the top of the screen. In the case of monitors without the blue-only function, you may look at the monitor through a blue filter or gel. Check out SMPTE Engineering Guideline EG 1-1990 for a more thorough explanation of the color bar signal.
Waveform/vectorscope
Using the same color bars from the CCU, check the calibration of your waveform monitor and vectorscope. Set the waveform monitor to one or two horizontal lines with the line select turned off. The second white bar at the bottom of the screen should show at 100 percent video with the picture lineup group showing up at 3.5 IRE, 7.5 IRE and 11.5 IRE, respectively. (See Figure 2.) On the vectorscope, the dots should land within each of the color boxes.
of white, such as a billboard or canvas, and balance all of the cameras to that. The key is consistency so that each camera reproduces the same scene with the same colors, even if it is not 100 percent accurate to what the eye sees.
If the auto black and white procedures complete satisfactorily, look at the output signal on your vectorscope. The dot should be at the center of the circle for each camera because the white card or chip chart contains no chroma information. If you only have a waveform monitor, this can be checked by using the luminance filter. Because there is no chroma information, the waveform should look the same with the chroma turned on or off. If you still have chroma information or the dot does not paint to the center, then you may have to switch to a manual white balance and use the CCU's red and blue color adjustments to paint out any chroma. Most CCUs allow for color adjustment for both black and white, so check this again with the iris almost completely closed. Using the 11-step grayscale chip chart, you can check the gamma crossing. Because the camera CCDs are not subject to the same limitations of our eyes and display devices, gamma correction must be applied to the image. The 11 steps of the chart are logarithmic, but become linear when gamma correction is applied. This is to ensure linear color reproduction through the range of luminance values. The signal represents a stepped X on the waveform monitor. The steps should be linear with the crossing taking place in the middle of the X. (See Figure 3.)
Back focus
Although back focus adjustments are not necessarily considered camera shading, they are critical to getting clear pictures. A back focus check should be performed anytime the cameras are moved, a lens is changed or removed, or whenever it is suspect. A back focus chart comes with most broadcast lenses, but can be performed with common objects on location. Focus on an object that will show details (like a sign with lettering) at the farthest point of the lens zoom. Pull the zoom back; the focus should remain constant throughout the travel of the zoom. If it does not, loosen the screw at the ring closest to where the lens mounts to the camera body (often this is the ring with the macro), and adjust this ring for focus. Zoom back in to the original object, focus again, and then zoom out again. Perform this procedure until focus remains consistent through the zoom travel. Back focus should be performed with the iris all the way open, for minimum depth of field. In bright light
create a look that is appropriate for the production. When time allows, don't be afraid to explore the camera's settings to see what is there. Many modern cameras include presets that mimic different looks and film emulsions, affording a custom look with a minimum amount of guesswork. Be sure to save a standard setup that you can recall if things get too far out of whack. The possibilities are almost limitless. Tony Manard, CBTE, is a broadcast engineer based in Memphis, TN. Source URL: http://broadcastengineering.com/video-t-amp-m/camera-shading-basics