- Posts: 9
- Joined: Tue May 18, 2021 1:07 am
- Real Name: Christopher Malcolm
I will throw my hands up in the air and admit that I am no computer wiz. I am a photographer and cinematographer. I've shifted away from Premiere to do my color timing in Resolve because of all the control it gives you in the grade. But, for the life of me, I can't seem to get the colors I see in Resolve to stay that way once they are uploaded to Vimeo or viewed across platforms.
Here's the background on what I'm currently doing and what I've tried so far over the course of the last four months of thinking I found the answer only to be proven wrong.
Footage shot originally with the Canon C200 in Canon Raw Lite (in most cases). Canon Cinema Gamut. C-Log which in the C200 is C-Log 2 if I'm not mistaken.
I bring it into Resolve and use DaVinci YRGB Color Managed, DaVinci Wide Gamut, and leave the default Output Color Space as Rec 709 Gamma 2.4.
I have read several articles about color spaces/gamma, and as far as I understand 2.6 is for movie theatre, 2.4 is more for TV, and 2.2 is more for office computers and brighter viewing environments. So, at least as far as I understand it so far, those different levels have certain different brightness level standards they aim for. While everything will end up online at some point, my work could end up a lot of places from TV to Movie screens, to something else I'm not even aware of yet. So, my goal is to establish a workflow that covers multiple potential outlets with a consistent image across platforms.
I understand that the colors on the iMac 27 inch I am working with are not always correct. So, on previous suggestions, I went out and spent a lot of money (for me) on an external monitor, an Eizo CG279X. I did the calibration setup for that and it is set to calibrate itself every week. I currently have it set to Rec 709 Gamma 2.4 to match the settings in Resolve.
I then use DaVinci to color grade my footage and get it just right. I usually spit out at least two versions. One version is ProRes 422 using Same As Project for my color tag and gamma tag.
Having found Dan's excellent infographic from The Post Process, I then export a second version in H264 where I specify Color Space Tag as Rec 709 and Gamma Tag at Rec 709-A. If I understand correctly, 709-A is supposed to keep things consistent online (I probably have that wrong). Everything else is left the same.
If I export those two, the ProRes 422 using Same As Project will playback in QuickTime exactly how I saw it on my monitor during editing. But the second file with the Rec 709-A tag will play back significantly brighter as if I had shot the whole things one or two stops over what I did. The black levels are up and overall contrast feels less. (I've attached two photos for reference. The darker one is correct). If I try exporting H264 using Same As Project for Gamma and Color Space (instead of changing to 709-A), the QuickTime version looks good of my computer, but will then have the same brightness and contrast shift when uploaded to Vimeo/YouTube.
If I try to post either the lighter or the darker version to Vimeo, the video plays back through Vimeo as the bright low contrast version and it's driving me crazy.
I spent about an hour on the phone with DaVinci trying to get help without luck. At this point, I'm at a loss, because I've been reading the various posts suggested online for a while and can't seem to get a consistent workflow where what I see in Resolve (on the external calibrated monitor) is what I will get if posting Vimeo, sending a file directly to someone to playback in Quicktime, or anywhere else. Since purchasing the calibrated monitor, the colors do seem more accurate. But this exposure boost & lower contrast that seems to happen whenever I take it out of Resolve and put it online is my current Mount Everest.
I realize I'm not the first person to ask a similar question on here. Believe me, I've read all the previous threads just to try and get this far. But, I keep trying to find a simple set of steps to make sure everything matches across platforms and I'm coming up short, leading me to think that somewhere I must be setting something wrong, but I just can't tell you what it is.
Any help at all would be greatly appreciated.
Here's the background on what I'm currently doing and what I've tried so far over the course of the last four months of thinking I found the answer only to be proven wrong.
Footage shot originally with the Canon C200 in Canon Raw Lite (in most cases). Canon Cinema Gamut. C-Log which in the C200 is C-Log 2 if I'm not mistaken.
I bring it into Resolve and use DaVinci YRGB Color Managed, DaVinci Wide Gamut, and leave the default Output Color Space as Rec 709 Gamma 2.4.
I have read several articles about color spaces/gamma, and as far as I understand 2.6 is for movie theatre, 2.4 is more for TV, and 2.2 is more for office computers and brighter viewing environments. So, at least as far as I understand it so far, those different levels have certain different brightness level standards they aim for. While everything will end up online at some point, my work could end up a lot of places from TV to Movie screens, to something else I'm not even aware of yet. So, my goal is to establish a workflow that covers multiple potential outlets with a consistent image across platforms.
I understand that the colors on the iMac 27 inch I am working with are not always correct. So, on previous suggestions, I went out and spent a lot of money (for me) on an external monitor, an Eizo CG279X. I did the calibration setup for that and it is set to calibrate itself every week. I currently have it set to Rec 709 Gamma 2.4 to match the settings in Resolve.
I then use DaVinci to color grade my footage and get it just right. I usually spit out at least two versions. One version is ProRes 422 using Same As Project for my color tag and gamma tag.
Having found Dan's excellent infographic from The Post Process, I then export a second version in H264 where I specify Color Space Tag as Rec 709 and Gamma Tag at Rec 709-A. If I understand correctly, 709-A is supposed to keep things consistent online (I probably have that wrong). Everything else is left the same.
If I export those two, the ProRes 422 using Same As Project will playback in QuickTime exactly how I saw it on my monitor during editing. But the second file with the Rec 709-A tag will play back significantly brighter as if I had shot the whole things one or two stops over what I did. The black levels are up and overall contrast feels less. (I've attached two photos for reference. The darker one is correct). If I try exporting H264 using Same As Project for Gamma and Color Space (instead of changing to 709-A), the QuickTime version looks good of my computer, but will then have the same brightness and contrast shift when uploaded to Vimeo/YouTube.
If I try to post either the lighter or the darker version to Vimeo, the video plays back through Vimeo as the bright low contrast version and it's driving me crazy.
I spent about an hour on the phone with DaVinci trying to get help without luck. At this point, I'm at a loss, because I've been reading the various posts suggested online for a while and can't seem to get a consistent workflow where what I see in Resolve (on the external calibrated monitor) is what I will get if posting Vimeo, sending a file directly to someone to playback in Quicktime, or anywhere else. Since purchasing the calibrated monitor, the colors do seem more accurate. But this exposure boost & lower contrast that seems to happen whenever I take it out of Resolve and put it online is my current Mount Everest.
I realize I'm not the first person to ask a similar question on here. Believe me, I've read all the previous threads just to try and get this far. But, I keep trying to find a simple set of steps to make sure everything matches across platforms and I'm coming up short, leading me to think that somewhere I must be setting something wrong, but I just can't tell you what it is.
Any help at all would be greatly appreciated.
- Attachments
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- Color setup in Resolve
- Screen Shot 2021-06-19 at 12.32.16 PM.png (281.49 KiB) Viewed 3752 times
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- This is the brightened version which will play in Vimeo and/or using Rec 709-A tags
- Screen Shot 2021-06-19 at 12.23.11 PM.png (481.78 KiB) Viewed 3752 times
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- This is what I want it to look like
- Screen Shot 2021-06-19 at 12.22.42 PM.png (442.62 KiB) Viewed 3752 times