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Exported QTIme movies are darker
I shot footage for a trailer with a Canon 5D and used 5D to RGB to convert files to Pro Res 422 HQ files. I imported those files into FCP 7 into separate sequences and edited them, color corrected and exported them as Pro Res 422 HQ using Quicktime Conversion. I imported those QTImes into a timeline for a final assembly of the different scenes. The exported color corrected scenes look darker than the ones in the first timeline, something is changing it in the export. Any suggestions? Thanks in advance.
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5 Replies
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[John Bouton] “color corrected”
How? Did you grade using the VIEWER and PROGRAM monitor built in FCP…the editing interface? That isn’t color accurate, sorry to say. Not designed to be. It’s brighter than normal.
[John Bouton] “exported them as Pro Res 422 HQ using Quicktime Conversion”
Don’t do that. That adds a layer of compression. If you export as a Quicktime Movie…that’s lossless.
[John Bouton] “I imported those QTImes into a timeline for a final assembly of the different scenes.”
Why are you doing this? Why not just copy and paste the clips from one sequence to the final assembly? Why are you exporting (adding compression when you do), importing, assembling, and then exporting again (possibly adding another layer of compression if you are doing CONVERSION again)?
[John Bouton] “The exported color corrected scenes look darker than the ones in the first timeline, something is changing it in the export.”
Yes…you are adding a layer of compression, or two. But that typically doesn’t make the images change this drastically. Are you judging this quality in Quicktime? That too isn’t the best player for judging quality. SOrry to say, it’s one of the worst places to do that. VLC player does a better job.
Shane
Little Frog Post
Read my blog, Little Frog in High Def -
are you seeing this in FCP?
does the image revert to normal when you play it?
that’s a common enough bug in FCP.i’m not exactly sure what causes it, but i recently found a fix:
set the canvas background to white, then back to black again.
(third small dropdown menu at the top of the canvas)nick
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Thank you Nick. I saw on an Apple forum that my problem is exporting it with QuickTime conversion. Doing it as a straight QuickTime movie seems to eliminate most of the darkness. As a precaution, I still did your switching back-and-forth of the canvas just to be safe. Thank you again.
John -
Very good points, Shane. I will do as you suggested. What would be the best place to do the color correction? I have been using the canvas in Final Cut Pro.
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” Doing it as a straight QuickTime movie seems to eliminate most of the darkness.”
good.
i meant to say “everything Shane says is correct”
i was just adding some extra info.nick
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