Technicolor’s Free CineStyle Image Profile for Canon DSLRs at FreshDV

Technicolor’s Free CineStyle Image Profile for Canon DSLRs

8 Comments Published by Matthew Jeppsen April 29th, 2011 in Cameras, News, Software

Vincent Laforet has a blog post up announcing the new CineStyle image profile for Canon DSLRs, compliments of Technicolor. He is very complimentary of the color profile, saying:

You’ll notice a SIGNIFICANT difference in the shadow detail.
This picture will work with all Canon HDDSLRs – BUT it was clearly aimed at perfecting the 5D MKII specifically.

And from the quick before/after example he’s posted, I have to agree. Shadow detail is improved, and contrast is very low. It’s a nice, flat image look from the 5D MKII. There’s a good comparison test up on this blog that shows how the new picture profile compares with the popular Superflat profile…and the results are that the Technicolor profile handles overexposure a little more gracefully. Good to know.

You can snag a copy of the new color profile here. If you don’t have your EOS disc handy, here’s how to grab a copy of the EOS Utility. Finally, let us know what you think in the comments.

UPDATE: Here’s a short image profile test compliments of NeedCreative:

8 Responses to “Technicolor’s Free CineStyle Image Profile for Canon DSLRs”

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1 Nels Chick Apr 29th, 2011 at 10:05 pm

Part of me is excited, and another part of me is afraid. I used one of those super flat profiles early on, and the H.264 compression destroyed the detail I thought I was saving. I trust that Technicolor and Canon have found a nice balance to keep as much detail as possible. I guess I’ll just have to try it and find out.

As always, thanks for the update!
2 Matthew Jeppsen Apr 29th, 2011 at 10:08 pm

That’s a very good point, and something that I’m also wary of…DSLRs are not imminently gradable in general, and as such I tend to try to get my look very close in-camera and not rely on color grading in post. It will be interesting to see if those compression issues crop up in this new profile…

-MJ
3 Nels Chick Apr 29th, 2011 at 11:53 pm

If it’s not too far off topic, what are your feelings about sharpening in camera?
4 Matthew Jeppsen Apr 30th, 2011 at 3:52 pm

I haven’t done any extensive testing on in-camera sharpening, but I turn it all the way down in the interests of minimizing moire. Anecdotally, I’ve seen a difference in that artifact. And as a stills photographer, I do all my sharpening in post, so I carry that same principle to the video side as well.

-Matt
5 Ajit Apr 30th, 2011 at 10:16 pm

Pretty awesome! To shoot people of different skin color, this is especially nice.
6 Pablo Korona May 2nd, 2011 at 6:37 pm

I popped this into my camera, and i’ve got to say i’m impressed. On a few small impromptu shots it really helped with flattening out the image, not too much, but just the right amount. This being said though, I find a denoising filter is an necessary compliment to any flat picture profile.
7 Jan Becker May 4th, 2011 at 3:27 pm

I love it! Just downloaded it an tested it right away:

http://www.vimeo.com/23283550
8 jaze May 17th, 2011 at 2:23 am

i installed this profile and now everytime i crush my blacks with color corrector i get tons of noise,banding and posterization. i have used all the settings as described in the technicolor website. 0 -4 -2 0 disabled highlight tone priority, it’s a shame because i can see improvement on the dynamic range but when i grade it’s just not clean.