Procedure for on-set checking of HD Monitor?

[Jamie Kennerley]

I think I may be asked to do a quick set-up of a Panasonic monitor ( BT-LH1700W HD/SD ) on set in the morning. The assistant on the job went through it quickly with me once, but until I do it myself in anger I won't remember how to do it.

 

It's a by-eye set-up, using the colour/blue bars to set the levels (matching certain bars in diferent parts of the screen).

 

Does anyone have a document that explains how to do this - what I'm looking for etc - or a link to a web site please?

 

Thanks,

 

Jamie

[John Ealer]

Simply put:

 

In the same environment you plan on viewing the monitor - i.e. inside / outside / with hoodman, etc.

 

1. Send SMPTE bars from the camera.

2. Turn on "blue only" function on the monitor.

3. Adjust chroma and phase until the there's no difference in brightness between any sections of the blue bars.

4. Turn off "blue only."

5. On the bottom right of the screen there are three black bars called a "pluge." Adjust brightness until you can just make out the right-most bar. The other two should be indistinguishable from the adjacent black areas.

6. Adjust contrast to eye, until the white block at the bottom left looks "white" and the white bar on the upper left looks slightly less bright than the white block.

7. There's a waveform function on the monitor you can use to double check your exposure, etc.

 

J

[Jamie Kennerley]

Thank you John. That all rings a bell to me now!

 

Regards,

 

Jamie

[Adrian Sierkowski]

Also, if your monitor doesn't have a blue only button, though I think most do, you can do this calibration with a Wratten 47 filer over your eye (i'm 90% sure it's a 47)

[John Ealer]

Also, with the BT-LH1700, as with most Panasonic monitors, there's a gamma setting. For most situations you want it set to NORMAL and not FILM. The FILM mode is usually used when shooting with the Varicam in FILM REC mode.

[Michael Nash]

Another thing to watch out for with the BT-LH1700W is the BACKLIGHT setting. In "normal" shooting conditions you'll want the backlight level at a reasonable brightness so that whites appear crisp and contrast appears normal. But in low-light conditions (like night exteriors) too much backlight can fool you into thinking you have more exposure in the deep shadows than you really do. In those situations I've found it's necessary to turn the backlight down until blacks look nice and solid (not milky), double checking against color bars to make sure everything else is still looking correct.