Some tips...

[Jannard]

Calibrate your monitor... you are now a Professional. This is mandatory.

Download the "Compatibility Update for Quicktime 7.2" from Apple.
Under Prefs, check the appropriate box.

Check your CF card reader for compatibility with REDCODE files BEFORE you shoot something important.

Upload and install the latest RED Alert!, QT node and RED ONE Firmware. Check for new packages daily.

Jim

[Fergus Meiklejohn]

Apple's Software Update only says the Quicktime compatability update improves compatability with ilife! lol .. We're in a Pro world now..:whistling:
Seriously though folks.. Are you all calibrating your monitors to 1.8?? I had a good look at the Apple systems set up to demonstrate Color at IBC and noticed that the image on the Apple Display was almost identical to the image on their little JVC monitors with HD-SDI inputs. The apple displays were calibrated just as they come out of the factory: "HD Display", which is 1.8 I suppose.

[Ken K]

Download the "Compatibility Update for Quicktime 7.2" from Apple.
Under Prefs, check the appropriate box.


This one?
http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/compatibilityupdateforquicktime72.html

I assume the checkbox is "Enable Final Cut Studio color compatibility"? I noticed that checkbox was there before the update though. Just want to make sure I grabbed the right update, as this one on Apple's site refers to iLife compatibility.

[Jannard]

Sorry... that isn't the right update (although it won't hurt anything). If you have FCP2, there is a new box to check in QT prefs. That's what I was thinking about and got lost at 2am.

Jimk

[Billy Summers]

Is anyone planning on using a "spider" to calibrate mac monitors?
Like still photographers do

[S. Um]

There's been a lot of good tips lately, especially since the camera's release. But they're in many different threads. Maybe the mods can collect them and put them in one sticky. Brook?

[Justin Kirchhoff]

Hey Jim, is there anyway that in the future when new cameras are shipped out, that we can post these updates and tips as Sticky's? I think it would be helpful to most RED users and owners so we don't have to go scrolling through pages of posts.

Thanks!

[donatello b]

any chance of having all RED tips ( i think this is the 3rd posted by JJ)
saved and easy to find ??

[Johnny Friday]

How about just coming over and calibrating my monitor and a private seminar on how to use the black box and set me up with a business plan?

ha ha ha....well I guess i'm not paying enough. But i'll pitch in some beer and tacos...again!:biggrin:

[Jannard]

How about just coming over and calibrating my monitor and a private seminar on how to use the black box and set me up with a business plan?

ha ha ha....well I guess i'm not paying enough. But i'll pitch in some beer and tacos...again!:biggrin:

No hay problema!

Jim.

[Emanuel A.]

I didn't know you're a latin speaker too!

[Brook Willard]

There's been a lot of good tips lately, especially since the camera's release. But they're in many different threads. Maybe the mods can collect them and put them in one sticky. Brook?

Work, work work... it's all I do... :bleh:

When I have a little time to sit down, I'll see about collecting some posts. Until then, if you go to Jim's profile, there's a button that will let you find all of his posts or all of his threads. That'll do for now, I hope.

[S. Um]

Work, work work... it's all I do... :bleh:

When I have a little time to sit down, I'll see about collecting some posts. Until then, if you go to Jim's profile, there's a button that will let you find all of his posts or all of his threads. That'll do for now, I hope.

Hey Brook,

We definitely appreciate the work that you do. No hurry on this. But I want to point out that the tips are not just from Jim, but from many of the early owners, too.

[Steve Sherrick]

I calibrate my monitors with a spider, but only one of them is an Apple Display. In my video suite, I am currently using a BM Decklink Extreme>HD Link>LCD for HD viewing/color correction. I plan on eventually getting an LCD with HD-SDI that has accurate color and black to do better correcting with.

Right now I'm in the budget color correction mode.

Steve



Is anyone planning on using a "spider" to calibrate mac monitors?
Like still photographers do

[Gavin Greenwalt]

Seriously though folks.. Are you all calibrating your monitors to 1.8??

Nope. 2.2 of course. Just like 95% of everybody else.

[Chris Kenny]

FCP assumes your display is 1.8. I think Color does as well. And QuickTime Player also will after using Jim's fix. 1.8 seems to be what you want to calibrate to for video work on the Mac these days.

I used to do DTP, so I already had a Spyder 2 kicking around, and I've used it to calibrate all my displays. Though I've noticed with Apple's displays, the included color profiles are so good there's often no visible difference. (With non-Apple displays, like the popular Dell models, vendor profiles, if any, often aren't nearly as good, so they should definitely be calibrated.)

[P Andersson]

There's been a lot of good tips lately, especially since the camera's release. But they're in many different threads. Maybe the mods can collect them and put them in one sticky. Brook?

http://www.reduser.net/forum/showthread.php?p=83312#post83312

[Thomas Koch]

Anyone know how to calibrate an LCD? Are there settings for HD Broadcast specs or something RED compatible in the Syder things or those LCD calibration tools? If so, which one do I get?

Shoot coming up with RED in October, need to figure out the workflow now.

[Stacey Spears]

The meaured gamma of a Sony BVM is in the 2.4 to 2.5 range. This is the industry standard. The BMV Ds also use SMPTE C phosphor, which means all HD content is SMPTE C vs. 709 color gamut.

[Lucas Wilson]

Anyone know how to calibrate an LCD?

Yes...

1) Put a good probe on it.
2) Run compatible software and generate a gamma LUT that can accurately match black and white.
3) Realize that no LCD (except for ECinema's new ones) can really do true black.
4) Go beg for a high-end color-accurate CRT.

Seriously though...

High-end LCDs like ECinema and Cine-Tal do a good job and can give very good results. But even somebody like Martin Euredjian from ECinema will be honest about LCD vs. CRT. On a consumer LCD, you have to recalibrate every day and make sure you stay tightly on-axis for any critical viewing. But for serious color work that needs to be done within typical studio or network tolerances, a CRT or high-end Projector is still far and away the best reference. Go to any post house with a fulltime professional colorist and see how many are using LCDs for grading reference.

Lucas
------
ASSIMILATE, Inc.
LA, CA, USA

[Steve Sherrick]

I ended up going the CRT route after all. Couldn't afford the high end LCDs, so it seemed to make sense to get a precisely calibrated CRT.

Steve

[GlennChan]

The meaured gamma of a Sony BVM is in the 2.4 to 2.5 range. This is the industry standard.
1- Hmm I've seen some figures measuring Sony CRTs to be 2.35. Though there is a really wide range of figures.

Thor Olson's "Behind gamma's disguise" goes into that. It's likely better if you don't simplify things down into a single number, since the measured response of a CRT doesn't follow a nice power curve.

2- IMO the more important issue is that Rec. 601 and Rec. 709 don't really specify what the transfer function of a monitor should be. (Where transfer function is a fancy way of saying how the input values map to light coming out of the monitor.) This has been ok since broadcast-grade CRTs have transfer functions similar to each other (determined by the physics of a CRT AFAIK) / the Sony BVM is considered the gold standard.

Now that companies are coming out with LCD monitors, I believe there is some confusion as to what a LCD's transfer function should be. There is a eCinemasys powerpoint around where they think 2.2 is the standard (and is what their LCD does) whereas they measure a Sony BVM to have a gamma of about 2.35. It may not be a good thing that their interpretation differs.

Ideally some standards body should set a standard as to what transfer function an ideal LCD should have. And some system for dealing with varying black levels.


The BMV Ds also use SMPTE C phosphor, which means all HD content is SMPTE C vs. 709 color gamut.
Technically Rec. 709 calls for Rec. 709 colors / primaries, not SMPTE C. The Sony LCDs can switch to show different primaries I think... e.g. it's like they had SMPTE C phosphors when showing SD (NTSC countries except Japan), EBU phosphors when showing SD (PAL countries), and Rec. 709 phosphors when showing HD.

3- CRTs have some limitations to them. They don't do full 1920x1080 resolution well. They flare... bright scenes will raise black level and decrease color saturation. They tend to drift in calibration. The phosphors wear out. They are also prone to light reflecting off the face of the monitor... if you have ambient lighting, a LCD can have better black levels than a CRT.

Also, most consumers are viewing HD on LCDs more than CRT, it makes sense to monitor for what most people see and (to some degree) the lowest common denominator.

On the other hand, LCDs have their share of problems (e.g. any panel that isn't 1920x1080/1200 of course won't do full HD resolution). They have gotten a lot better recently though.

Then again it's a bit of a moot point as it will be hard to get good CRTs and most viewers are moving to LCD. Though for SD there may still be a lot of people watching on interlaced TV sets... SD broadcast monitors like Sony PVMs are still good.

[Steve Sherrick]

Glenn I have followed your posts here and elsewhere on this issue and it seems like the only way to really do this right is to have multiple reference monitors. I suppose not a big deal for larger suites that have the budget, but it does make it an intriguing problem for smaller suites that are working in HD and SD and don't have the funds to have multiple reference monitors. For me, it will be Black Magic HDSDI>HD Link > LCD for HD and Sony PVM 14M4U for SD and checking HD downconversion. This should give me some idea of what I'm doing when color correcting, but I'm sure it's not the ideal setup.

Steve

[Michele Gavazzeni]

According to FCP2 user manual

FCP & QT Movies

Final Cut Pro assumes that QuickTime movies for codecs that support the YUV color spaceare are created with a gamma of 2.2.

When you output the sequence to video, or render it as a QuickTime movie, the gamma of the output is identical to that of the original.

However, during playback on your computer's monitor, Final Cut Pro automatically lowers the gamma of a sequence playing in the Canvas to 1.8 for display purposes.

This is to approximate the way it will look when displayed on a broadcast monitor.
This onscreen compensation does not change the actual gamma of the clips in your sequence.

FCP & RGB files

Final Cut Pro assumes that all RGB image files are created with a gamma of 1.8.
When RGB image files are imported into Final Cut Pro and edited into a sequence set to 8- or 10-bit YUV rendering, the gamma is automatically boosted to 2.2 in an attempt to match the other video files in your project.

During playback on your computer's monitor, Final Cut Pro lowers the gamma of the sequence playing in the Canvas to 1.8 for display purposes, but the still image clips in your sequence are still boosted when the sequence is output to video or rendered as a QuickTime movie.

[David Battistella]

Check your CF card reader for compatibility with REDCODE files BEFORE you shoot something important.

Jim

Is there a list of RED recomended card readers?

What brand was the one giving one user some trouble?

David

[Stacey Spears]

Technically Rec. 709 calls for Rec. 709 colors / primaries, not SMPTE C.

Technically yes, practically, no. :) Shops like MPI, Sony (CTHV), Universal, EFilm, Fotokem, etc... all use the BVM for HD. Most HD content today has been color corrected against SMPTE C primaires. I would also argue that none of these shops are using LCDs to color grade. Sony has a pro LCD, but it is not ready yet per Don Eklund, at Sony. (CTHV)

At least one consumer DLP allows you to switch between SMPTE C, 709 and EBU primaries. I know EFilm also uses a lot of DCinema (Christie 2ks) displays and Nicholas would program a lot of custom LUTs depending on the application.

The eCinemasys mentions ~2.39 - 2.45 for the gamma of the BVM. http://www.ecinemasys.com/technotes/files/AN009%20-%20Display%20Technology.pdf

Standard calibration for a BVM is 25fl and D65. While they can easily hit D65, they can't produce 25fl w/o clipping. They tend to clip around 20fl. Perhaps I should say bloom instead of clip since it is a CRT.

At any rate, if you don't have a BMV to color grade on, you want to find a display that emulates it.


Final Cut Pro assumes that all RGB image files are created with a gamma of 1.8. When RGB image files are imported into Final Cut Pro and edited into a sequence set to 8- or 10-bit YUV rendering, the gamma is automatically boosted to 2.2 in an attempt to match the other video files in your project.


That is a bad assumption on their part. Is there a mode/option in FCP that does not make any adjustments to gamma? Or a file format I can bring into and out of that is safe?

[GlennChan]

The eCinemasys mentions ~2.39 - 2.45 for the gamma of the BVM. http://www.ecinemasys.com/technotes/...Technology.pdf
Ah, my mistake. I might also have mis-read their interpretation of gamma.

[Michele Gavazzeni]

Is there a mode/option in FCP that does not make any adjustments to gamma?
No...



Or a file format I can bring into and out of that is safe?
.mov
also when you export a composition from shake to be used in FCP is a better idea to export as .mov instead of using an image sequence.