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Luminance issue with Canon DSLR footage in Premiere Pro
I’m new to Premiere Pro and was wondering if someone could clarify something for me — I’m using Premiere CC and in the timeline I’m mixing footage shot on a Canon c100 that was recorded in Pro Res on an Atomos recorder and footage shot on a Canon 5D Mark II. I need to deliver the final segment for broadcast TV in the U.S.
I’m wondering how Premiere Pro handles luminance range and what I need to do to ensure that everything ingests properly at the TV station. Here are my specific questions:
Am I right to assume that I can use the 5D footage in Premiere without transcoding and mix it with the c100 Pro Res footage?
On export, will I need to use the Levels effect in PP and set the black and white output to 16 – 235 while leaving the black and white input at 0 – 255?
If I set it to 16-235 on output, will I lose dynamic range or will the image be washed out when the TV station ingests the footage or will everything be as it should?
Any other suggestions or advice on how to work with this footage in Premiere would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you,
Michael -
3 Replies
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No, you don’t need to transcode the source material to edit in Premiere Pro.
The Levels settings should work as outlined, but might not be appropriate depending on the footage. Use the YC Scope and RGB Parade to check the luminance and color distributions; adjust as necessary to keep luminance within requirements. There is a green vertical line on the right side of the YC Scope that shows the full range on each frame.
Also use the Vectorscope to check saturation levels; Use secondary color correction in the 3-Way Color Corrector effect to mask and adjust oversaturated areas.
If you are editing in 8-bpc color, the Broadcast Color filter could be applied in addition to or instead of the other effects.
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Thanks Ivan. That’s helpful.
And I read an article today from the Wolf Crow site — https://wolfcrow.com/blog/what-is-full-swing-studio-swing-and-how-to-work-with-video-levels-in-adobe-premiere-pro-part-two/
The article made it sound as if the Premiere Pro timeline works in studio swing (16 – 235 luminance range). What I took away from it was that I could work with native files in the Premiere Pro timeline and the final exported master would be in a 16 – 235 luminance range that was broadcast ready, no need to apply a Levels effect with black output set to 16 and white output set to 235.
What are your thoughts on this?
Thank you,
Michael -
While the article states that Premiere Pro is 8- or 10-bpc studio swing, I don’t think that’s an accurate statement. It is my understanding that the application can render and encode in either RGB or Y’CbCr (YUV) at up to 32-bpc depending on the source footage, depth settings, effects applied, and codec.
In addition, you might choose to apply effects that change the color and/or luminance distributions. Referencing the scopes will help you stay within acceptable guidelines.
In the current HDTV era broadcasters might accept MPEG-2, H.264, ProRes, DNxHD, or other formats. It is important to understand and conform with each broadcaster’s specific delivery requirements. It might not be appropriate to apply the Levels effect, but you should not assume the source footage is broadcast-ready. Work from the broadcasters’ delivery specs and manage your color and luminance levels accordingly.
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