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Phantom Flex 4K workflow
One of my clients loves to shoot in Hi-Speed on Phantom camera’s. Up to now, I used software from Vision Research to convert the Cine files into DNG image sequences that can be imported into After Effects while maintaining the full resolution and bit depth. This is a pain because I work on a Mac and this software is Wndows only, but at least it used to get the job done.
Recently they switched to the new Flex 4K camera. Now my workflow is broken, because for some reason I get the strangest results when importing the DNG’s. Purple shadows when skin tones are neutral, green highlights etc.
When I open the Cine files in DaVinci Resolve and export them to EXR sequences the results are a little better, but still not perfect. Importing the files into Speedgrade and render as EXR gives me a completely different result (yellow all over), but still strange colorshifts happen in shadows and highlights. Premiere also seems to be able to read the files directly, but here everything is extremely dark.So what are your suggestions for a good workflow using Flex 4K files in After Effects. I know about Glue Tools, but that sets me back another $500 and since I don’t do Phantom jobs on a regular basis I was hoping for a solution that works with my existing toolset.
Any pointers?
tnx
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3 Replies
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I just downloaded the latest GlueTools (demo version). Whatever I try in the settings, I notice two things. First the color artefacts are still present and second, when I import a cine file straight into After Effects it states the file is ‘millions of colors’. According to Vision Research the cine files should be 12bit, so what’s going wrong here?
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I was recently shooting with a Phantom HD Gold. We came across a very similar issue. It was a problem with the camera settings and how it was shot, rather than the ingest process. I’m not sure if you’re experiencing the same thing or not, i can’t be sure. Vision Research are extremely helpful and are usually extremely fast to respond via e-mail.
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Thanks for your reply. Kind of busy here so I missed your answer in the first place…
I just installed Assimilate Scratch (free 30 day trial version) and imported the cine files there. Here the results are quite OK. Again entirely different from Resolve and Speedgrade but the best so far.
The blue shadows must have been a wrong setting during the shoot, I just did another job shot on the same camera without the colorshifts in the shadows.
I am afraid Scratch is a keeper… Expensive, but my colorist is much happier now 😉Thanks,
A
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