Blackmagic Forum

The automatic color checker tool has been broken for years. But it is still a common point of confusion for many new users.

Dwaine, is there a ticket open for this in your system, or should I request one?


These are the threads I found easily, talked about a lot on the Sub-reddit too

viewtopic.php?f=21&t=148764&hilit=+checker
"As you can see, the values are way off!"

viewtopic.php?f=21&t=148895&hilit=+checker
"Using the Color Checker node after the CST. Brings Cyan to where I would expect it, but everything else is all over the place"

viewtopic.php?f=21&t=152383&hilit=+checker
"use the automatic color matching tool in Resolve and get a result that looks ok "

viewtopic.php?f=21&t=172183&hilit=hdr+chart
" However, I'm getting some unexpected results - my footage has a greenish/yellowish cast after the color chart matching."


viewtopic.php?f=21&t=221863&p=1149019#p1149019
"No matter what color profile I have used I am getting very drastic results when using the color match. The percentage off ranges from 15% to 50% and when I select the match button it turns the picture completely brown, black, red, etc."



If others have examples, please add as well.

Get CineMatch (www.cinematch.com). Seriously. Or do it by scopes and eyes.

Uli Plank wrote:Get CineMatch (http://www.cinematch.com). Seriously. Or do it by scopes and eyes.

I do it with scopes now.

I bought $300 tool that has this functionality, i would rather not buy another.

https://www.reddit.com/r/davinciresolve ... eld_these/

Another discussion on Reddit about how this feature appears to be completely broken. Did it ever work?

ZRGARDNE wrote:The automatic color checker tool has been broken for years. But it is still a common point of confusion for many new users.

Very unpopular opinion from me (and I apologize for not being helpful):

Well tell students and new users to NOT use the automatic tools. You can get further just by learning to color correct manually. There are a thousand tutorials out there that will tell you how to do it all manually just with a calibrated display and scopes. Ideally, you'd have a chart (like one of the Calibrite or DSC charts), and you'd basically turn the knobs until it looks "reasonable."

Ripple Training, FXPHD, and MixingLight all have fantastic basic tutorials on how to start, and they're all BMD-certified Resolve trainers. Darren Mostyn and Cullen Kelly on YouTube are also very good.

The problem with the automatic tool is that it's going to flounder trying to normalize a Log-encoded signal, a shot that has exposure problems, or a shot that has color temperature problems. MixingLight did a whole series, 3 or 4 tutorals, showing when the automatic chart controls worked well, and why they sometimes did not work well (if at all). Under perfect conditions, it can work some of the time.

The automatic controls will try to find something that should be "white" in the frame, and something that should be "black" in the frame, and then make a value judgement on everything else... and sometimes that's a trainwreck. Patrick Inhofer of MixingLight found that if you do a custom contrast curve first, and then try the automatic controls, it actually works a lot better. But I would argue you can do a better job by hand if you practice.

I know this does not solve the problem of the automatic control being broken. But maybe it'll give you an alternate approach that will get the job done.

And one day there'll be an AI doing it for you. Dado Valentic (and others) are working on it.
Sarcastic remark:
One day AI will even wipe your behind. Or kill you.