Color fading

[Jeremiah Thompson]

I'm shooting outdoors and have noticed that my blues and greens seem to be a tad drab. Wondering if anyone has any recommendations?

[Chris Hurd]

First, try the "Disjecta" custom preset from Steven Dempsey. This file is downloadable here:

http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?t=66776

Second, experiment with your own custom preset image setup. The quickest and easiest results will come from dialing up the Master Green and Master Blue (GGN and BGN respectively in the custom preset setup menu). An adjustment value of +2 to +4 should be all you need, but of course the final settings are completely up to you and your own particular tastes.

[Jeremiah Thompson]

Chris, thanks so much for your suggestion. The change is very dramatic. In fact, the colors are now so vivid that some scenes are looking a little like they have been digitally manipulated. If I shoot a pretty blue sky then it becomes so blue using the disjecta setting that it looks fake. I will try the other settings on custom preset library but I was wondering if you had any recommendations to tone down the disject setting? It works awesome when the colors dont show up as overkill. One last question, if I simply recorded in the standard setting then could I edit afterwards to mimic the scene as it would have been recorded using the disjecta preset? Sorry to be asking so many questions but because I have recorded all my stuff in the 24F setting then I haven't been able to edit myself yet because Final Cut Studio hasn't updated their software to work with the 24F. Thanks again!

Kind regards,

Jeremiah Thompson

[Chris Hurd]

Hi Jeremiah,

I'll let the author of the Disjecta preset, Steven Dempsey, speak for himself about the best way to adjust it. Meanwhile you might try some of the other presets in our online library. Two more were added just recently which are specifically designed for outdoor shooting. Of course you can always shoot in the default "no preset" stock image, and adjust it later in post production. I have a friend who likes to oversaturate everything when he shoots, and then tone it down later to taste when editing. If you go that route, try bumping up the individual R, G and B master gain (RGN, GGN and BGN) as well as the over color gain (CGN) and try correcting that in post. It's a longer process of course. No matter what you do, the key is to spend as much time as possible experimenting with the camera and the custom preset controls. In fact I hope you write your own preset and share it with us as Steven and others have done. Hope this helps,

[Barlow Elton]

Jeremiah,

Do a search of "Michael Galvan" and you should be able to find a post which describes a workflow for you to edit 24F in FCP. It involves capturing footage from tape via a separate capture utility program and transcoding footage to another codec like DVCProHD, but you'd be surprised how well 24F original material holds up in other HD codecs.

[Chris Hurd]

Barlow, are you referring to this thread?

http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?t=66524

Michael asked the question and Nate Weaver posted the workflow.

Of course, I could be pointing to the wrong discussion here, and not the one you had in mind.

[Barlow Elton]

I thought I could find it, but here's the simple breakdown:

--Capture HDV 24F with DVHSCap or HDVxDV. Do a search on the web for either. DVHSCap is actually part of the developer tools that are optionally installed in Mac OSX 10.4 (the captured .m2t files will read as 29.97 clips technically, but the true 24p is there)

--Import clips into MPEG Streamclip. (drop m2t file into main Streamclip window) http://www.squared5.com/

--Take m2t clip and mark an in and out point. Or just leave it as is to export the entire clip.
--Go to "File/Export to QuickTime"
--Choose 1920x1080 frame size and either PhotoJPEG @ 75% quality (anything higher isn't noticeably better and makes a MUCH larger file)
or alternately choose DVCProHD 1080i 60 @ 100% quality (it's just the codec container--clip will be true 24p)
--For frame rate, type in 23.976. If you shot non-drop frame 30fps timecode, type in 24.(you need the latest MPEG Streamclip v 1.7 for the frame rate option)
--deselect Interlaced Scaling and Reinterlace Chroma for progressive 24P output
--Choose a location for the clip
--Click "make movie"

That's it! You can bring the clip into FCP with the appropriate project and sequence settings.

This is the easiest way to do true 24P intermediate codec editing on the Mac at the current time.

Chris, you should consider making this info a sticky for anyone trying to figure out a low cost way to get 24F HDV into FCP without hassles. This will likely be obsolete when Apple finally intergrates 24F support within FCP, but for now this is what works.

[Chris Hurd]

Thanks Barlow, I added a link to your post above from our "Tips & Tricks" sticky.

[Jonas Nystrom]

Where can I Find DVHSCap? I have Googled it, but it just came up with everything and nothing....

[Jonas Nystrom]

"Choose 1920x1080 frame size and either PhotoJPEG @ 75% quality (anything higher isn't noticeably better and makes a MUCH larger file)
or alternately choose DVCProHD 1080i 60 @ 100% quality"

What I can see when testing, I think Apple Motion JPEG A is a little bit sharper and more vivid if compared with DVCProHD. Which one do you prefer?

[Michael Fischler]

Originally Posted by Barlow Elton

I thought I could find it, but here's the simple breakdown:

--Capture HDV 24F with DVHSCap or HDVxDV. Do a search on the web for either. DVHSCap is actually part of the developer tools that are optionally installed in Mac OSX 10.4 (the captured .m2t files will read as 29.97 clips technically, but the true 24p is there)

--Import clips into MPEG Streamclip. (drop m2t file into main Streamclip window) http://www.squared5.com/

--Take m2t clip and mark an in and out point. Or just leave it as is to export the entire clip.
--Go to "File/Export to QuickTime"
--Choose 1920x1080 frame size and either PhotoJPEG @ 75% quality (anything higher isn't noticeably better and makes a MUCH larger file)
or alternately choose DVCProHD 1080i 60 @ 100% quality (it's just the codec container--clip will be true 24p)
--For frame rate, type in 23.976. If you shot non-drop frame 30fps timecode, type in 24.(you need the latest MPEG Streamclip v 1.7 for the frame rate option)
--deselect Interlaced Scaling and Reinterlace Chroma for progressive 24P output
--Choose a location for the clip
--Click "make movie"

That's it! You can bring the clip into FCP with the appropriate project and sequence settings.

This is the easiest way to do true 24P intermediate codec editing on the Mac at the current time.

Chris, you should consider making this info a sticky for anyone trying to figure out a low cost way to get 24F HDV into FCP without hassles. This will likely be obsolete when Apple finally intergrates 24F support within FCP, but for now this is what works.

Hey Barlow - will this work for 30f as well?