Test cards and camera settings

[Alan Roberts]

I have two things to announce:

BBC camera settings for HD are at http://www.bbc.co.uk/rd/pubs/whp/whp034.shtml, and include details of the tests and measurements where needed to justify my comments. They are widely used in the BBC and a lot of other places as well. They're free, but copyright marked in the documents.

Broadcast Project Research in Teddington (www.bpr.org.uk) are printing hard copies of some of my test cards for camera use. So far, only a "starburst" focus chart and a "lens test" chart comprising a set of zone plates (at any resolution from SD to 4k digital cinema) for lens/camera/channel analysis. There are others in the pipeline. BPR also make a range of nifty gadgets for video production.

[infocus]

Is there a comparable set of settings for SD cameras, Alan?

[Alan Roberts]

Sorry, not for SD cameras. The tests I do are mostly for the BBC, and their interest is primarily in HD these days.

[Alan Roberts]

I'll add a third thing that I do for money, training. I provide the technical content for training courses. So far, these have been run by BBC and Ravensbourne College, some uder the Skillset banner. I train newcomers to HDTV in the ways of getting the best from cameras, and getting them to understand the limitations of video production in HDTV. I also provide a problem-solving service to productions.

[simond83]

Hi Alan,

Do you know if there is a proper TIFF image of the BBC Test Card 61P??

Many thanks, Simon

[Alan Roberts]

As far as I'm aware, there are no full resolution images of any of the BBC test cards, the copyright for all of them belongs with Esser in Germany.