Does FCP misinterpret the colors of my footage?
by Marc Brak
on
Dec 18, 2008 at 12:14:14 pm
Very, very strange problem: FCP seems to misinterpret the colors of my footage! I import it, export it again (uncompressed), and voila: the colors are off. The problem seems to be not in the exporting, it happens on the timeline!
It's XDCAM EX footage edited on an XDCAM EX timeline, and the results are always the same wether I export uncompressed 8 bit, 10 bit, animation codec, photo Jpeg or XDCAM EX codec: contrast is a little up, everything is a little warmer, a little more yellow.
(I've also tried importing into a 10 bit-uncompressed sequence: same problem).
I have done NOTHING to change the colors, no filters or anything, just straight cuts.
I'm exporting using Export > Quicktime Conversion. I'm pretty sure the problem is not in the conversion though:
a) because i have the same problem with any codec i've tried so far, but
b) mainly because i can simply SEE it - BEFORE exporting! Any footage i place on the timeline looks different from the original even before i export it: it's there in my monitor, i can see it! A guy in a red coat in the original footage, on my monitor will be wearing an orange-ish coat! And when i export it: indeed, orange-ish coat. If i import that again, it would show up on my timeline as an even more brightly orange coat, and so on and so on.
Has ANYBODY ever heard of this problem? What am I missing here!?
Re: Does FCP misinterpret the colors of my footage? by Marc Brak on Dec 18, 2008 at 2:36:07 pm
I am using a JVC 15" CRT monitor, so it's a downconverted signal from my decklink to my SD crt monitor.
This downconversion might account for a slight color shift in viewing, but it does not explain why the colors of the video files itself change!
If i view a clip on the timeline on my monitor, and then i export it uncompressed, import that new clip back into FCP, and place it on the same timeline, my monitor shows a HUGE change in color from the original clip!
So, as i'm watching both on the same screen, it can't be a monitor issue...
