Color Shifting when Exporting ProRes and Bringing it Back In

Hello! So I've noticed this issue with ProRes for a long time across machines and software (premiere and resolve). Right now I have some clips I'm exporting and bringing back into resolve via ProRes. And when I do the ProRes Clips are very contrasty and totally different.

I already have some color grading on some adjustment clips above and it's throwing the whole project off.

You can see the color shift here:

Raw on Timeline
https://imgur.com/AhZcsbj

ProRes on Timeline
https://imgur.com/HTjF6TI

Color Management Settings:
https://imgur.com/qEYpSzj

Now I have to take another drink! Read these:

"Grading for Mixed Delivery: Cinema, Home, and Every Screen in Between" by Cullen Kelly
https://blog.frame.io/2019/10/14/gradin ... -delivery/

and

"How to Deal with Levels: Full vs. Video"
by Dan Swierenga
https://www.thepostprocess.com/2019/09/ ... l-vs-video

and I think both cover the issues and the solutions very well.

Understanding color management is also helpful:

"Color Management for Video Editors"
https://jonnyelwyn.co.uk/film-and-video ... o-editors/

The above articles will explain why things change on different displays, different playback engines, and the importance of calibration and color-managed outputs.

I generally try to export a second or two of SMPTE Bars at the head of the project, and I import the file back into Resolve to check it on scopes to verify all the levels are correct. Using calibrated displays is a must -- without that, you have no idea what you're looking at. We also accept that the basic picture is going to change a little bit on different devices, because that's life.

Is it just the normal Mac OS problems?

Hey guys! Thanks for the replies. Took a look at the articles and they were insightful! But I think I didn't quite explain the situation very clearly.

So I made a quick video explaining/showing what I'm dealing with! I could just be missing something super obvious in the export/color management settings.

https://vimeo.com/811469415/dd88fd609e

Check your Deliver Page settings and make sure you are exporting using video levels, not full levels. Occasionally the Auto setting gets it wrong. ProRes format always expects video levels.
Also I always use Rec709 (scene) for the timeline colourspace.

Screenshot 2023-03-25 at 11.40.19 am.png (52.99 KiB) Viewed 718 times

Check your Deliver Page settings and make sure you are exporting using video levels, not full levels. Occasionally the Auto setting gets it wrong. ProRes format always expects video levels.
Also I always use Rec709 (scene) for the timeline colourspace.

Screenshot 2023-03-25 at 11.40.19 am.png

I was having this issue as well and this was the fix for it. Thank you!

I was having this issue as well and this was the fix for it. Thank you!

Note that the video/full data level issue was one of the first thing covered in the tips I posted above.

Also, if you just export 1 second of SMPTE color bars, you can see level changes in just a couple of seconds in scopes. It's not that hard. If we ever suspect a workflow problem like different levels, that's the first thing we test -- that, plus whether or not we're dealing with a calibrated display.

Yes I see that, I was just confirming it worked. They posted the screenshot which was way easier to instantly identify as the issue. Sometimes I just skim the discussions since not everything posted is useful to my specific issue.