The AJ-HPX2000 and the AJ-HPX3000 are cameras that have a similar menu structure to the entire line of Panasonic 2/3" broadcast HD cameras, such as the VariCam and the HDX900. These cameras have a user definable matrix; color correction tables; gamma, knee and black stretch functions; pedestal; and individual channel gain. These elements can be used to create "looks," which are a part of the total scene file for these cameras.
A look changes the way the camera sees tones and color, but a scene file can change everything about the way a camera performs.
Each of these scene files contains only one look, and each file can be stored in the camera or read from a card in the camera. If stored in the camera, up to four may be stored at any one time. If written to a card, eight may be stored at any one time.
To change a look, you must change the scene file's parameters for tone and color. Panasonic has done that for you by creating many different scene files for each of these cameras.
For proper use of the following scene files, your camera must be white-balanced to the "A" channel.
Many of the files below have color spaces that are not "legal" by NTSC standards. This is because the colors are oversaturated. Because HD has no such "legal" limits, these colors can be captured by the camera but will be clipped in an NTSC transmission. However, they are useful when used in HD display or in a filmout. Nevertheless, it must be understood that oversaturation produces a diminished sense of form in the oversaturated colors that tends to emphasize a graphic or 2D effect on the image, consistent with the flattening of the three-dimensional form. Lighting choices on the set and variation from "normal" exposure further enhances these effects.
The files Digineg, Vivid and Timid are all the same color balance and look the same on a vectorscope when displayed at the same gain with which they were created. However they look different when displayed at a gain of 2.01, which is the same gain at which Digineg and all the other files were created. The difference in these three files is saturation, which was implemented in the matrix, leaving the chroma menu set flat at the 0 detent, thus maintaining the full range of chroma adjustment.
All of these files are primarily color files, although knee, numerically adjusted gamma, cinelike3, gain, master pedestal and detail have all been used to contribute to the looks.
Tweaking the look to your needs is recommended. Shutter angle and frame rate make a significant difference in certain looks. Overall chroma adjustment in the knee menu is desirable. Gamma is integral to many looks but not so much to others. Trial and error will produce many interesting variations.
Concerning the screen grabs: Some of the frame grabs of the two models appear similar because the subjects do not include the full range of colors and were selected just to show the effect on skin tones, because, to a great degree, humans are the subject of most shots. To help illustrate the differences in the "looks," the DSC chart and vectorscope screen grabs are included, as well.