colour grading on FCP?

[Jerry Hofmann]

FCP has a fine set of color correction tools, and I’d think that an FCP system would be the easiest way to take your offline to an online edit. Whatever you’ve done in offline, will translate completely intact in an online session.

Jerry

[Mike J.]

Here will come the flood of postings.

In short… Final Cut is NOT the tool for colorgrading.

With that said, processes for doing exactly the same thing can be done in FCP.

Lately, I’ve done 3 high profile broadcast shows this way. Two film aquired and one video.

Other tools like Final Touch offer some convienence features with their deserve price.

With a creative, effects thinking and well-eyed operator you can achieve the same effects in a FCP timeline. FCP’s technical limit involves 8bit processing of color space vs. 10bit.

Everyone will choose 10 bit on paper but will in reality choose a well-done 8 bit color correction/grading/repair over a standard 10bit because this is a process meant to enhance the narrative of storytelling….

I color corrected a show that was amazingly the worst looking video I’ve ever seen in the professional world thus far…. after much essential and creative work on my part…. Time magazine wrote the show up for it’s quality and value.

So… just saying.

Don’t handle this “lightly” on the creative side if you intend professional results. a.k.a don’t underestimate the value of a skilled artist over a guy with a box of tools.

Mike

[David Roth weiss]

Francoise,

I tend to agree with Mike. I happen to be very partial to tape to tape color correction with DaVinci on all long-form projects and on all important projects. However, if you spend enough time, you can do a reasonable job on FCP.

Do keep in mind that, if there is even a remote possibility that you might later decide to do a color correction on DaVinci or a similar system, save a copy of your timeline without any color adjustments, as any prior color corrections will severely limit available lattitude, which normally increases the introduction of video noise and artifacts.

DRW

[Mark Raudonis]

Check out “Final Touch” by Silicon Color. I attended a demo recently, and it was incredible. This program is designed to do exactly what you’re asking for.

https://www.siliconcolor.com/products/ftsd/ftsd.html

Did I mention it’s only $995.?

Keep in mind, these cheap tools are no substitute for an experienced, talented, and artistic colorist.

Mark

[David Roth weiss]

Mark,

Keep in mind that the $995 price tag for Final Touch can quickly go up to $1500 or more if you don’t have one of the required high-end video cards.

DRW

[Mark Raudonis]

DRW,

You’re right. And while I’m thinking of it… don’t forget the high end NTSC monitor, the neutral white lighting for the room, the grey paint, and of course, the expensive digital decks for ingest and output. This is high end finishing we’re talking about. If you don’t have a steady stream of projects to push through a room, it’s MUCH more cost effective to contract this out.

Mark

[John Foley]

What about Color Finesse from Synthetic Aperature? It has 32 bit color and all and is approximately half the price?

[David Roth weiss]

Mark,

Now we’re talking… This is exactly why I think tape to tape CC with a real expert at the controls of a DaVinci is one of the best bargains in town. It can take “the low budget look” out of a low budget project faster than anything I know.

DRW

[Walter Biscardi]

[Francoise] “Is FCP a good tool for grading? Is it just a matter of finding the right operator, or is it really not designed for this purpose?”

The Color Correction tools in Final Cut Pro are outstanding. I’ve been cutting an HD broadcast series and all coloring is done with the Color Corrector, 3 Way Color Corrector, Broadcast Safe and Levels filter. I get absolutely outstanding results.

If you want to spend extra money, Final Touch would probably be the way to go. But honestly, you’ll be quite surprised by the subtleness of the on-board FCP tools, especially the 3-Way CC.

Walter Biscardi, Jr.
https://www.biscardicreative.com

Now editing “Good Eats” in HD for the Food Network

“I reject your reality and substitute my own!” – Adam Savage, Mythbusters

[Francois Stark]

I’ve bought final touch SD, and an ATI X800 video card on our new G5 2.7DP to run it with.

It’s impractical. All our programs have multiple video layers, and motion effects: speedups, slomotions etc. Getting all that from the FCP timeline to final touch and back is a nightmare.

Then we deliver Beta SP tapes, to be broadcast on a satellite channel using 1.5 mbit/s mpeg 2 compression and ends up looking like the dog’s breakfast.

So here we are, grading inside FCP, on a DV timeline with subtitles added, all being re-compressed back to 5:1 and 4:2:0 colorsampling and no-one will tell the difference – believe it.

Regards
francois