FCP 6 -gamma/contrast changes when transitions starts over use overlays

[Josh Bass]

Hi. I've done something stupid and I don't know what.

I'm having an issue, as you may have guessed from the title, in FCP6 where my gamma/contrast will change when it's not supposed to under a few conditions.

One is when I use a transition. Can be anything, dissolve, slide, etc. between two video clips. The video will lighten considerably as soon as the transition kicks in, and immediately go back to being "correct" when it's over.

Same with overlays. This project I'm working on has a lot of titles I made in motion and exported as animation codec movies with an alpha channel. The key looks fine, except for how it lightens the video underneath it (and yes, the alpha is set correctly--it's the same gamma issue as above).

Anyway, I know this has something to do with how I set FCP's gamma, but I'm lost and don't know how to get everything, in the words of Rob Thomas/Matchbox 20, "back to good".

(did he just quote. . .? Yes, he did).

Can you help me? Not even sure if the lightened footage is "correct" or if the darker footage is correct. thanks.

PS this is footage from a 5DM2, converted to prores 422 for editing using the flat gamma setting in 5D2RGB.

[Josh Bass]

Anyone? Anyone?

Look, if you figure it out before anyone on the other 27 forums I've posted on, I will send you the other half of this doughnut I got week ago when I was sick. I think that fuzzy green stuff will scrape right off, and that thing that's moving inside--pretty sure it's supposed to be there.

[Dave Farrants]

I'd suggest you try converting 2 clips in MPEGSTREAMCLIP and then trying those with a transition to see if you get the same problem - might help to narrow it down? 5DtoRGB gives me very 'bright' clips, Mpegstreamclip is my conversion software of choice for editing in FCP/S.

[Josh Bass]

Ok, first, I should say the issue has morphed a little.

I seem to have licked the transition issue, though the graphics thing remains, and a new thing: when I color correct and then render, the renders are lighter by about 8% on the waveform, like the gamma's been lifted.

I did try the Mpeg Streamclip suggestion. Yes, there is a difference. No, it's not perfect. Applying color correction and then rendering, I see that on a shot where I have a dude against a pure white limbo background, the blacks and mids appear the same but the white background skyrockets past 100 after the render.

Also, the Mpsc-generated clips take a lot longer to render in FCP for some reason, even though they're also prores422 (not HQ).

But going this far back would almost be like starting the project over. . .I'd have to transcode every clip I used then re-color correct since the settings for the material from 5D2RGB wouldn't look the same on the MPSC stuff.

If that's what it will take, I think it's more worth it to figure out color correction settings to compensate for the gamma lift and apply those, as silly as that may seem on its face.

PS, 5D2RGB is supposed to be the best for converting DSLR stuff (lots of web sources back this up and the web never lies :-)), which is why I used it. Those "bright" clips you mentioned are probably with the flat (1.8) gamma setting, which is what's recommended for material you're going to color correct. Supposed to preserve the most detail, give you the most to work with, etc. Kind of like applying cinestyle picture profile in camera. Even if I'm wrong, I'm still going to stick with it for this project since it's in its final stages. Next time I may go MPSC.

[Dave Farrants]

Well I can't re-create your problem here. Imported a 5toRGB clip applied transition - no problem. In your user Prefs, under the Editing tab there's a setting for imported stills/RGB video, even messing with this I still can't re-create your problem - sorry. Normal 'fix' for any unknown problems is to delete FCP prefs.

[Josh Bass]

Have you tried applying a color correction filter to it, then rendering, and seeing if the render looks different than the unrendered footage as it appears on the canvas? That's my new thing. The transition thing may have been 'cause of the particular transitions I was using.

thanks.

[Dave Farrants]

Tried that - all looks fine here but I am on FCP7. Do you notice the problem on exported sequence or on a connected video monitor not just the canvas?

[Daniel Epstein]

Hey Josh,
I found I might have similar issues when using clips with slightly different pixel amounts from the sequence settings. Ie 23.98 clips from After effects not 23.976. It may be something like that . Good luck

[Josh Bass]

Interesting about the fps issue. . .everything should be 23.98 across the board, that's what the menu on the 5D said, that's what the "item properties" for those clips say, that's what sequence settings say.


I still have FCP6, so can't try it in 7. Perhaps this is it, though. . .6 is too old and crotchety to deal with newfangled DSLR footage.

Yes, it shows up on external monitors and exported clips.