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Gamma Setting on the 1200A???
A bit of drama going on for a Varicam project. Footage was shot way too dark (they put a net over the lens). Now the DP is saying that the edited master (pre color-correction) is not what he saw on the monitor during the shoot. It should be noted this is a film DP with no HD video experience prior to this. Anyway, he’s blaming the post workflow for the problems with the footage.
Someone supposedly told him there’s a gamma setting on the 1200A that we didn’t set right. Upon searching the PDF manual, the word “gamma” does not appear in it once. Neither does “luma” or “chroma” or anything like that. Even if there was such a setting, I’m sure it applies to component analog only. I captured it via Firewire into FCP, and my pretty strong understanding of how the I/O process works says that it is impossible for the color to be altered during native output and capture. That would involve the VTR decompressing, altering the color information, and then recompressing it – all in realtime and for no appeareant purpose other than to confuse editors. I’m pretty confident it doesn’t do that.
Also, every other project’s Varicam tapes look great using this workflow.
I know I’m right, but I wanted some confirmation. Is there really some sort of gamma setting on this deck?
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5 Replies
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Sean;
The 1200a has no provision to alter the Gamma of the tape’s contents. That confusion may have arisen by a recent press release on our new 1400 deck. This VTR does have a Gamma mode, this function is the equivalent of using the Gamma Box to boost the low to mid tone contrast on Film Rec shot material. The 1400 ships soon.
What I suspect may have really happended is that the DP set the camera in FILM REC mode, AND used one of our 9, 17 or 26″ LCD monitors. Those monitors have a FILM REC LUT option that provide a “preview” of the shot with an added Gamma boost. Thus, the on-set monitoring would have had a higher contrast and have appeared “normal”, in FCP however, without this gamma boost, it will look flat.
Hope it helps clear up the confusion.
Cheers!
Steve Mahrer (Panasonic Broadcast)
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A net over the lens would not make the footage look dark unless it was underexposed.
First question to ask the “film” DP is did they have a qualified DIT on set who calibrated the reference HD monitors?
Did the DP shoot in film rec mode if so what were the specific settings?
Assuming they shot in film rec mode you need to do color correction to the footage to “restore” the footage to what the DP may have been viewing on a monitor which has “film rec” gamma settings on it.
If you do not do color correction to footage shot in film rec mode it will look dark. Tell the DP un color corrected film rec footage is like a one light xfer which has no color correction applied.
I highly recommended never to release non color corrected film rec footage back out to clients or the DP as the confusion will create chaos.
Did the camera department provide you with any verbal or written notes regarding the specific camera setup mode for the shoot?
Most of the time problems which you describe are a result of a severe lack of communication between the field crew and post production.
In such a case you need to make it your responsibility to seek out and find the information you need.
Good luck,
Tony Salgado
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Thanks for the info. Yes, the intention was always to do a color correction on a Da vinci, and from initial tests at the online facility, I guess everything looks great from what I hear.
As far as not releasing non-color-corrected footage to the clients, that would be nice if CC was fast and free :). Unfortunately if a client wants to make changes to the edits, you’ve wasted money color-correcting something that wasn’t given approval. Anyway, my studio paid for the production so we’re actually the client in this case.
Sean
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Sean,
The simple color correction I was referrring to is a down and dirty one light which can easily be accomplished in FCP by using the three way color corrector.
Until you have a final cut there is no need to do the final full blown secondary color correction but a simple gamma correction is easily and quickly accomplished.
You can even save the CC settings as a favorite and globally apply the change to several clips or the entire timeline if needed.
Tony Salgado
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Thanks Tony!
Sean
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