The AG-HPX300 is a camera that has a similar menu structure to the AG-HPX170, HVX200A and the AG-HPX500 cameras in that each of these cameras has a scene file dial allowing the operator to chose one of 6 scene files, also referred to as “looks”. All of these 6 files are packaged together into one file that can be written to the camera’s memory or to an SD card as a TXT file. Four of these TXT files (for a total of 24 looks) can be written to the SD at one time.
A look will change the way the camera sees tones and color, but a scene file can change everything about the way a camera performs. When changing a look, especially if given to you by someone else, be aware of the possibility of getting a “Trojan Horse”, a gift with something unexpected inside the scene file.
To change a look, you must change the scene file’s parameters for tone and color. Panasonic ships these cameras with 6 factory default scene files. To change the scene files in your HPX300 to use a new custom scene file that you have downloaded from the Panasonic web site, follow these steps.
1. Insert an SD card into the SD slot in your camera. Press menu. Navigate to Card functions and format the card.
2. Now, you must save the current scene files that are in the camera to the SD card in order to create a folder that will be used to receive the new scene files. CARD FUNCTIONS>SCENE FILE>YES>FILE SELECT>WRITE
3. Remove the SD card and insert it in your computer using a card reader (or the SD slot in your PC).
4. Click on and open the SD card’s icon to see its contents. You will see a folder named PRIVATE. Navigate down through the layers of folders until you get to the last folder, P2SD, and you will see that it’s contents contain one or more files labeled SCENE1.TXT, SCENE2.TXT and so on, but be aware that no more than four will function on a card.
5. Drag these files to the trash.
6. Using up to four of the files supplied by Panasonic, replace their names with the same names as the files that went to the trash. All files at this level must be named accordingly or they will not be seen and read by the camera. No names can be duplicated. That is there can only be one SCENE1.TXT etc.
7. Now, drag these files to the folder that formerly held the other .TXT files and eject the card from the computer
8. Insert the SD card in the camera.
9. Press MENU and navigate to 8. CARD FUNCTIONS>SCENE FILE.
10. The four names of the scene files will appear in a list form. You must choose one of these to load into your camera. Once you have done that, you may select a “look” from the six scene files/looks that are contained within by dialing the scene file selector wheel on the exterior of your camera.
Each of the looks for the HPX300 starts with a file that has a frame of 24fps in position one. The other five files are identical except for a change in frame rate. They are:
1. 24 fps
2. 12 fps
3. 18 fps
4. 30 fps
5. 48 fps
6. 60 fps
