Re: Color for Film Out + Monitoring?

Color for fimouts. The real reason we all want to learn color. Some thoughts on the subject. Luts are important, and understanding LIN and LOG. But First - you must use Color with a monitor that can be calibrated. This is the first and most important step. It doesn't matter what software or hardware you are using if you can not calibrate the monitor you are viewing. So firewire MXO is no good. To calibrate your monitor you need a probe or a spectroradiometer or someone who has and can use one. You need to be able to verify that the colors coming off your monitor are correct - whites are white, blacks are black, primaries and secondaries are correct and that they are the right intensity or foot lambert. To do this you need to read the signal comming off the monitor with a professional probe. This is where an external scope is helpful, it will tell you if the signal you are sending the monitor is accurate. You can also create your own images in after effects or shake, using the eye dropper to confirm there accuracy, then the scope to make sure they are comming out of your computer correctly then a probe to make sure the monitor is playing it back correctly. Having fun yet? Now all of the monitors you will be viewing on are Linear, and the film out will be in LOG space so you will need to create a LUT to create a viewing environment that would reflect what you would see in your film out. This is especially the case when working with DPX LOG files or a 444 RGB LOG video. However if you are working in the digital world and everything is Linear you can get away with working with no LUT because most of the Labs have the ability to do quality LIN to LOG conversions and may be better then the LUT you are creating. Most Labs will do test filmouts of a couple of minutes for cheap and this will allow you to test your workflow before doing the full film out.