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Contrast and color saturation way too heavy when viewing the movie in FCP:
When I view the clips on the same Mac they look neutral (outside of FCP). But when I drag them into FCP (6.06) it looks like my film already has been “color graded” (sort of). It seems to have too much color saturation and too much contrast (the blacks are pretty solid). When I export the film it looks like it did in the beginning (neutral and low contrast). How may I adjust the preview contrast and saturation in FCP to show it more neutral (or like the clips are suppose to be)?
I still have much to learn ….. 🙂
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6 Replies
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You cannot, if you want to know what the video actually looks like you have to use an external monitor (not a computer monitor) via a external video card or box (not a graphic card).
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But I tell ya, my computer pretty much looks the same as either my SD or HD monitors. True, things like high saturation can be handled by the LCDs but not my SD tube monitor. I think if one is noticing such a big difference they have one or the other setup wrong. With your computer monitor, it’s simply about running through the calibration tool in system prefs.
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Thanks. This seems to be a major flaw in Final Cut! The clips looks neutral when played from finder (hitting the space bar), but totally different in Final Cut Pro. So will something like a MATROX MXO2 MINI solve this? Or do you have to be a professor of color even after buying this for setting it it up? I cant believe there are not any settings in FCP to adjust gamma or color saturation?
I still have much to learn ….. 🙂
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[Simen Myrberget] ” This seems to be a major flaw in Final Cut! The clips looks neutral when played from finder (hitting the space bar), but totally different in Final Cut Pro”
What you see in the viewer is played with a 1.8 gamma, while what you see in the Canvas is played with a 2.2 gamma. This is not any flaw. Is like that since the beginning of FC and until FC 7.[Simen Myrberget] “So will something like a MATROX MXO2 MINI solve this? Or do you have to be a professor of color even after buying this for setting it it up? “
The Matrox won’t fix nothing, but will let you monitoring in any external pro monitor. And that’s the only way to go about Gamma, color, Contrast or whatever.[Simen Myrberget] ” I cant believe there are not any settings in FCP to adjust gamma or color saturation?”
You have a bunch of filters and a wonderful VideoScope.
What else you want?
Simen, a calibrated external monitor is the only real reference you have.
rafael -
Thanks! Yes I am aware of the possibilites to adjust color and contrast within FCP of the CLIP/Video itself, but why on earth is there no setting to adjust the gamma for the application itself (FCP)? And why is there a mismatch of gamma in the first place? Why could they not just have the same gamma for the finder QT and FCP?
Anyway I understand I have to buy a another box to fix this. But would a calibrated monitor like Eizo SX2761 which is mostly for Photoshop working (stills) be good enough in a combo with for example MATROX MXO2 MINI?
I still have much to learn ….. 🙂
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Hi Simen,
The issue of the gamma is historical and comes from the beginning of Mac.
Apple chose a 1.8 Gamma for their screens while PC had 2.2, the same than TV screens.
However the FC canvas is set to 2.2 gamma, to fake the look that video will have in a TV set or a PC screen. This is the reason you will see the picture different in the canvas, viewer and in QT Player.
In QT Player you can set “FC Color Compatibility” and videos will look like in e FC Canvas.
Supposedly this have been addressed with Snow Leopard where the display default gamma now is set to 2.2.[Simen Myrberget] ” But would a calibrated monitor like Eizo SX2761 which is mostly for Photoshop working (stills) be good enough in a combo with for example MATROX MXO2 MINI?”
I don’t dare to advise you about this. Monitors for graphics have many difference with video monitors. I don’t think this is the most appropriated for video color grading.
The reason of having a calibrated monitor, is just about being confident that you have done your work properly. If its looks bad in any other monitor but was OK in yours, you know that you can blame the other monitor.
rafael
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