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Nikon D5100 DSLR video brightness craziness
Hey there.
I’ve been filming some review videos with my Nikon D5100 lately and while it’s not the best for shooting video, it’s not bad!The problem is:
– I prep the video with good gamma and focal length and all that on the camera.
– I plug it into an HDMI port and look on a monitor/TV – all good!
– I take the video file (.MOV) from the SD card and put it on my PCNow it gets weird.
– The THUMBNAIL of the video looks just fine, no issues.
– If the player takes a few moments to begin playback, the displayed image looks perfect.
– When playback begins in VLC, Media Player Classic, Photo App, etc – it looks HORRIBLY washed out and bright.
– I plug the video into Sony Vegas and the [PREVIEW] of it looks exactly how I shot it!
– After rendering as any number of files, the image comes out washed out and bright, AGAIN.
I have no clue what to do about this problem other than to blindly adjust and render, adjust and re-render, spending hours and hours of trial and error rendering the video to figure out the appropriate adjustment to contrast and brightness, that makes the Preview video look incredibly dark and flat.
I’ve played with every setting imaginable inside Sony Vegas and I have read about the “studio RGB” issue, but nowhere have I ever seen it as bad/sharp as I do here.
After adjusting my camera gamma down to INCREDIBLY DARK, I can get video that looks like the correct brightness, but then the Preview in Vegas looks SO DARK it’s difficult to edit/adjust.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Camera: Nikon D5100
Program: Sony Vegas Pro. 14
Monitors: Varied (tested 3 brands, 5 sizes)
Output Files: Varied( tested .MOV, AVI, MP4 at 720, 1080, 4k – 8bit color, 32 bit color – etc) -
6 Replies
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Hi Jb,
If I understand you correctly,
Click on the Fx icon above the Preview Window, this will set an Fx project wide. Select the ‘Levels’ Fx. You should have a few presets including the ‘Default’. Select the ‘Studio RGB to Computer RGB’ and notice the change in the Preview Window. Now select the ‘Computer RGB to Studio RGB’ and notice the change in the Preview monitor. Finally select the ‘Default’ again and notice the difference.
Render out a short 2-3 second clip using each of those Levels to compare on your computer players and TV’s.
Of course you also can compare the other Levels presets of brightness and gammas. There should be a Levels preset which will match better in your player and TV devices.
BTW: for this test is is best if you turn off all other brightness and color adjustments you may have made. This test is just to compare the original to the results. Once you get the Levels preset you like to duplicate the original in your play devices, then you can make to that whatever color correction or grading you want for your project.
You most likely will never get a perfect match between what you see your original as to what you see in your render between the computer players and your TV’s from what you see in the Vegas Preview, but you should be able to close enough for taste.
Best Regards……George
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Hi JB
You may also want to look at your file, prior to any FX added to it, with the Waveform. It will tell you if your original file has some hot spots. Then, with the help of that same waveform, you can easily adjust accordingly. Some players are notorious in mucking up the images. If you are within the specs on the waveform then everything should be honky dory.
Here’s a good read if you want to brush up on using the tools: https://www.moviestudiozen.com/free-tutorials/sony-vegas-pro/526-colour-correction-tools-sony-vegas-pro
It’s a good read but well worth it. your end results will just be even better.
Cheers !
PC Win 10 Pro 64-bit 16gb Intel® Core™i7-2600k Quad Core 3.40GHz
Cameras: Canon XF305 + Canon XH-A1
Blackmagic HyperDeck Studio Mini
Vegas Pro 16, User since Vegas 3.0\’\’When the cutting stops, the editing begins…\’\’
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I thank you for the reply, but that doesn’t actually alleviate the problem or inform me why it’s being so damn dumb.
I tried rendering short clips (10 seconds) of video in every presetting there is until I found a combination that was /okay/. But it makes tweaking contrast, brightness, gamma, saturation, and white balance a game of trial and error for (in today’s case) 4 solid hours.One thing of note which may help describe my issue, when taking it from my camera and not touching it AT ALL, it is blown out and bright white. Rendering doesn’t change that fact, despite Sony Vegas PREVIEWING it perfectly fine.
Take a look at this thumbnail image of a RAW video file (.mov) that i’ve not touched.
Here is the same file opened in VLC media player (all other players do the exact same thing), again – untouched.
Here is the same file, again untouched, simply opened in Sony Vegas.
I don’t know what aspect of the file is being /completely screwed/ in video players, but rendering perfectly fine in Sony Vegas.
Thank you so much for your help, though. I do appreciate it!
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hey, so question.
i started messing with this (and it helped a lot, thank you!) but… While using the Histogram, it actually does not go over 189 regardless of brightness. It doesn’t go under 17 no matter the adjustments either.Is that normal?
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sorry, this was just an update error – it fixed when I exited out and tried again. Thanks!
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Did you follow George’s original suggestions?
Applying Levels FX Computer RGB to Studio RGB may well fix your problem. I suspect your players, or pc graphics for videos, is set to limited (16-235) range with the result they are blowing out highlights and blocking shadows. If you search various forums you will find that rendering as Studio RGB is usually recommended.
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