capture footage still dark
by Michael Ducey
on
Dec 31, 2007 at 2:22:16 pm
Reformatting the hard drive solved the problem of clip length. But the image in the capture window during capture is still much darker than the image in the camcorder window. (Footage was shot with my videographer's Panasonic DV.... I am using my Canon Vistura to deliver the footge to Premier Pro.)
Suggestions?
Re: capture footage still dark by mike velte on Dec 31, 2007 at 5:33:20 pm
Capturing via firewire is simple data transfer...no changes are made. Both your displays have plenty of adjustments and the chances they display the same are remote...that is why we use external monitors and Premiere's waveform monitor.
clarification? by Michael Ducey on Dec 31, 2007 at 8:38:56 pm
I guess I didn't understand the import of your comment, Mike.
My objective is for the captured clips to have the same luminance as the image on the source tape. Right now, this does not appear to be the case. The source tape looks quite bright, but the captured clips come through as dark and "murky".
Re: clarification? by Harm Millaard on Dec 31, 2007 at 10:38:53 pm
Your capture has the same luminance, since, as Mike explained, capture is just a transfer of data, nothing is done with the image. If it looks different on your monitor, adjust your monitor and/or the display on your camera.
brightness in monitor by Michael Ducey on Jan 1, 2008 at 1:54:08 pm
OK, I can adjust the brightness in the Program View by using the Levels effect on the clip in the time-line. But the Source View is still dark.
And I still don't understand why this is only happening with the clips I have captured to the external hard drive, and this darkness effect does not appear in the clips I have captured to my internal drives (of which I have a mere 135G). In those clips the luminance on all my Premier Pro monitors is the same as the luminance on the camcorder screen.
Re: brightness in monitor by mike velte on Jan 1, 2008 at 3:22:58 pm
Without any reference to what is correct, adjusting levels could create an overly bright images with blown highlights in the final DVD or web video. This is why we use external monitors and Premiere's wave form monitor. These take the guess work out of the loop.
The most basic step might be to view a gray scale chart at 100% in Photoshop or your image editor. Then try to calibrate your PC monitor using the Menu buttons (brightness and contrast) on the front of the monitor. Most inexpensive LCD's crush the shadows from about 40 on down at their factory settings. I can email you a chart (velteATcoxDOTnet).
The next step would be to learn about Premiere's waveform monitor and how to read luminance values when you want to make levels changes.
finally, there is nothing your camera or Windows or Premiere can do to change anything about video that is being captured via OHCI firewire.
Re: brightness in monitor by Steven Bland on Mar 23, 2008 at 10:34:09 pm
Michael,
If you are still seeing what was described . . .
For me the Capture Monitor was the only video monitor being affected by nVidia Control Panel settings. Using their html interface under Video & Television select Adjust video color settings. I had to move the Gamma from far left to center AND check "apply these settings to all video technologies"
If your problem is similar, but you are not using nVidia, maybe look for something similar. I was amazed to find that it was impacting the capture monitor . . . and no other.
