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Color Bars and FCP
I digitized color bars that were generated by a Sony Z1, using Kona 8-bit NTSC uncompressed. I fed those color bars to my broadcast monitor, adjusted the monitor. I edited merrily away; everything looks great on my 19″ Sony NTSC monitor.
Then I got the idea of using the FCP video scopes. The (camera-generated) color bars were a little off on the FCP waveform monitor and vectorscope. Using the Brightness Filter at plus-5 got them closer, but of course my monitor’s blacks were now grays.
Which do I trust? The color bars from the camera, or the FCP scopes?
I’m a little concerned that if I now use FCP’s internal bars for laying to tape, things will not be great. I guess I could just use my camera’s color bars.
I know there are more sophisticated tools out there, like external scopes and color-correction software, but I have to just do the best I can with the tools I have. Suggestions, please?
— Bob C
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10 Replies
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Use FCP’s bars to setup your monitor.
The bars recorded on camera masters have little to do with the video shot… Color correct the footage looking at FCP’s scopes, and using the external monitor to eyeball it. Then use FCP’s bars on your master.
Jerry
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I think perhaps the actual confusion here is that he’s bumping up the blacks in FCP to make them look right on the scopes in FCP. All blacks in FCP should be at zero, not 7.5. They should be bumped up to 7.5 when output as analog. Your deck or card should be set to do this. As well, the deck or card should be set to strip setup from any analog sources. Unfortunately, the cheaper line of DVCam decks neither bump up nor strip blacks (like the DSR-11).
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[Jerry Hofmann] “The bars recorded on camera masters have little to do with the video shot.”
I was feeding the color bars “live” from the camera, too. And there is quite a difference between those levels and the FCP-generated bars. So what good are color bars from the camera at all?
Thanks Jerry for the advice. It was very very timely. (iow, it SAVEDMYA**)
— Bob
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[Bret Williams] “They should be bumped up to 7.5 when output as analog. Your deck or card should be set to do this.”
Wow. Several issues, from input to print-to-tape. I will be outputting through a Kona LHe card to a Beta UVW 1800. How to check for this? — Look at the finished tape in FCP Capture? I will of course use FCP-generated color bars when I print-to-tape.
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Camera color bars…ignore them. I have never used them as reference when capturing as they never seem to match what is shot in the slightest. I think they are only there so that the camera guy can shoot 30 seconds of pre roll.
Balance your monitor to the FCP color bars, as that is the reference that you will be using when you output.
Shane
Littlefrog Post
http://www.lfhd.net -
Open your Kona control panel and check to see if your setup is at 0 or 7.5. If you are set to analog, it should be 7.5.
Jeremy
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Thanks again everybody. This is just terrifically helpful. It just struck me again that if this forum were a subscription service, and you had to price it fairly according to how valuable it is… I hope Ron L. isn’t reading this!
— BC
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Color bars from field tapes are useful only if the camera op had the neccesary tools in the field to do his own color set-up for every shot (that tool would be a calibrated color monitor and a camera with excellent color/chip registration). And how often does that happen anymore?
System Info – G5/Dual 2 – 10.4.8 – QT v7.1.3 – 8GB ram – Radeon 9800Pro – External SATA Raid – Decklink Extreme – Wacom 6×8
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Indeed.
I’ve seen some amateur stuff coming from the local film festivals.
Bars at the head (of course) with tone at 0 instead of -20 (YIKES!!!)
and lots of footage with blown out whites and crushed blacks.
But those ever important Bars are there! 🙂
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I think the only use for them would be to make a dub of the camera master itself so you don’t introduce any new levels… course in many cases this is also moot if the dub is all digital I suppose… but again they’ve little if anything to do with the levels actually shot.
Jerry
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