Luminance

[David Feese]

Hey Rafael!!
Thanks for input!! Will check out this gamma adjustment of H.264 output. Seems like the general consensus is also to set up an external monitor as a reference point as well.

[Rafael Amador]

Hi David,
An external monitor is the only way to be sure that you have done well your job and that, if its look bad somewhere else, is not your fault.
But even with an external monitor you can not avoid those gamma issues when working for the web. I’ve see that the video players is another factor: when I upload my H264 to the COW, they look lighter, even if there is no re-compression, just the same h264 displayed by QT or by Flash Player.
The gamma 1.02 correct this difference.
rafael

http://www.nagavideo.com

[David Roth weiss]

[Andrew Kimery] “Long story short part 2, FCP always applies a gamma ‘correction’ in the Viewer and Canvas windows regardless of how you have your monitor calibrated. That is one of a few reasons why you never trust what you see inside FCP and have to use an external monitor. “

Short story, if you setup your computer monitors to closely match your broadcast or reference monitor, as Gary also mentioned, you’ll be amazed at how close the canvas actually matches reality.

Am I suggesting that it can be used for accurate color grading? Heck no, but, it sure is nice to know that you can see something that’s awfully close.

For those who don’t own a reference monitor, they simply need to borrow one that’s setup properly in order to reference their computer monitors to a monitor with known color values, otherwise they are simply guessing, because there is no baseline to reference them to.

David Roth Weiss
Director/Editor/Colorist
David Weiss Productions, Inc.
Los Angeles

POST-PRODUCTION WITHOUT THE USUAL INSANITY ™

A forum host of Creative COW’s Apple Final Cut Pro, Business & Marketing, Indie Film & Documentary, and Film History & Appreciations forums.

[David Feese]

Hey Guy!!

Yeah, I just experimented with the slight gamma correction that you suggested, and that seems to make all of the difference in the world. The adjustment looks good enough, at least on my primary monitor, to compensate for what apparently is a common bug within FCP according to another forum I found on Apple.

Seems the next step would be to hook up an external monitor to double check things.

Appreciate your input!!

[David Feese]

Thanks David!!

Got it!!