• Apple Final Cut Pro Legacy

  Darks aren’t dark in my Quicktime output

  Posted by Scott Cook on December 26, 2009 at 5:02 pm

  Just outputted to Quicktime using Share. It comes out lighter than the “original” in FCP7; the darks are just not as dark as I color corrected them to be.

  Did I do something wrong? Can I get the QT version to faithfully reproduce the original?

  I used the QuickTime H.264 setting. Here is the result: https://www.vimeo.com/8394836 (the judderyness comes from Vimeo; the OT plays smoothly on my Mac)

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  Scott Cook replied 16 years, 4 months ago 2 Members · 2 Replies
• 2 Replies

• 

  David Roth weiss

  December 26, 2009 at 8:14 pm

  Scott,

  While there may be a slight increase in overall gamma, I noticed a lot of inconsistencies in black levels throughout the video. A minor gamma correction in Compressor might provide a quick fix, however, to really answer your question precisely more information is needed…

  1) How did you monitor during color correction?

  2) How did you calibrate your monitor?

  3) Did you use the waveform/vectorscope when setting black levels?

  4) What was camera original?

  5) What were you sequence settings?

  David Roth Weiss
  Director/Editor/Colorist
  David Weiss Productions, Inc.
  Los Angeles

  POST-PRODUCTION WITHOUT THE USUAL INSANITY ™

  A forum host of Creative COW’s Apple Final Cut Pro, Business & Marketing, Indie Film & Documentary, and Film History & Appreciations forums.
• 

  Scott Cook

  December 26, 2009 at 9:05 pm

  David,
  Thanks for viewing it and responding.

  I’ve found part of the solution: changing my QT preference to “Enable Final Cut Studio Color Compatibility” seems to return the general level of the black to what I saw in FCP.

  Now onto your good questions.
  1. Apple 30″ Cinema display
  2. Stock, not calibrated
  3. Yes, but I didn’t always pull the blacks all the way down.
  4. The source is footage from an Sony EX1 shot over the past 10 months at a wide variety of settings, HD formats, exposures, and white balances.
  5. Sequence settings: 1280X720; 16:9; Square; XDCAM EX 720p60 35 Mb/s VBR; Quality=100%; 8bit YUV

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