Most Up to Date HQ Workflow for Scarlet-W Legacy Camera

[Matthew Ritenour]

Hi all, I've been out of the RED ecosystem for a while and am wrapping up a project shot a long time ago on the RED One and RED Scarlet-W. So much has changed with RED since then I can't even keep up and I'm just wondering what people are recommending these days for how to get the highest quality out of these older cameras. Initially I'm wondering if I should use the new IPP2 and latest RED Color and RED Gamma or if I should stick to the image capture format?

I'm going to work through a few tests but I just thought I would check here as well.

Thanks for any info!

Cheers,

Matt

[rand thompson]

Matthew,


IPP2 is indeed the latest and greatest image processing workflow for Red Cameras past and present. However, since you just finished this project and you seem to just be testing the waters of IPP2, I would stick to the Legacy workflow for this one last time. Later after you finish the project, you can take the time to better familiarize yourself with the IPP2 Workflow for future projects.

[Mike P.]

Contrary to Rand, I'd go IPP2 and use the same settings/LUTs/adjustments across both cameras (it's what IPP2 was intended for). You'll likely have to adjust the SW down to match the R1mx, but I bet you could drop saturation by 5% and they'd be close (outside of the SW holding more in the highlights).

[Matthew Ritenour]

Awesome, thanks Rand and Mike. I should have specified that I'm wrapping picture lock and now diving into the grade. What I've done so far is take all of the footage from the two cameras in Premiere Master Effects and change all of them to IPP2 and the Output Transform from Rec.709 to REDWideGamutRGB and saved that to the RMD. I figure that way when I bring everything into Davinci Resolve all of the footage is starting out at the same place. Hopefully that works.

[Alex Lubensky]

My go-to .REC709 SDR workflow on Scarlet MX. I record RC4 RG4 in-camera, and in Davinci upon creating the project set those settings (in the lower right corner the sign of settings):



This makes Davinci read ALL RED camera clips with those settings. I've used it to match Helium and Scarlet MX into one project.

While Contrast and highlight-rolloff are a subject of taste (with some high-key projects I also use low contrast and very soft roll-off), the Medium-Medium settings are pretty-close to what you see in-camera using Legacy workflow. Also you can change the contrast and highlight roll-off in the RAW tab of the CC panel, or default to legacy workflow any time on a separate clip. Beware that the smallest instance for individual RAW settings is a CLIP. If you add cuts to it - it will still be rendered as a whole CLIP in the RAW settings.


And also mark all check-boxes below to apply in-camera exposure and WB settings:

[Björn Benckert]

Full res premium in the Camera raw menu is not really needed, there you can pick and choose to get it to a level where you have good playback for your system. Then when exporting you just make sure it set to Full debayer in the advanced output menu.

[Matthew Ritenour]

Thanks so much for those screengrabs Alex that will save me a lot of time from doing each clip independently!

slava ukraini

[rand thompson]

Matthew,

The workflow Alex decribes above is a workflow for grading entirely in the REC709 colorspace. You won't be grading in the REDWIDEGAMUTRGB/LOG3G10 color space which the IPP2 workflow was designed for.


There are two ways to work in the IPP2 RWG/log3G10 workflow.


Example 1- Davinci Resolve Color Managed


This allows Resolve to "Color Manage" the project with the benefits of a mathematical "RED IPP2 Gamut Mapping" for both Output "Tone" and Output "Highlight Roll-Off". You won't have to use IPP2 Transform Luts. However, you will be locked into one TONE and HIGHLIGHT ROLL-OFF for the entirity of the project.





Example 2- Davinci YRGB


With "DAVINCI YRGB", you transform all of your RED .R3D files into a REDWIDEGAMUTRGB/LOG3G10 image at import. You will still need to add an "IPP2 OUTPUT TRANSFORM LUT" at the end of the Node tree to properly transform the image, It won't be done for you as in the "Davinci Resolve Color Managed" workflow above. However, you will be able to choose what "IPP2 OUTPUT TRANSFORM LUT" you want to use with each individual RED .R3D file instead of being locked into one for the entirity of the project like in the "Davinci Resolve Color Managed" workflow. You don't have to use the exact Nodes I labeled below in your workflow. Just a few, but use the last two nodes "CREATIVE Lut" and "IPP2 Transform"in that order.

[rand thompson]

REDWIDEGAMUTRGB/LOG3G10 VS REC709

[Alex Lubensky]

Rand, yes and no. Assuming I was talking exactly about .rec709 (sdr) final grade, not .rec2020 (hdr) - the workflow I've posted is in-fact exactly the same, as an in-camera IPP2 recorded clip with rec709 lut with settings imported from clip in Resolve. There are 4 different ways someone can apply a LUT over a clip in resolve - you can apply it on a node, over a clip (right-click on a clip thumbnail > 3D Lut), in a raw tab, in project settings raw tab (handles the same way as a clip raw tab), and in the color management menu. Which is right for you - is the one right for you. And no, you're not loosing any information this way, it's all there. And yes, the wheels in the color tab will handle as .rec709 wheels, not like LOG wheels this regard. It's a matter of taste, at least to me, and I like to start from a .rec709 image instead of LOG image. Some colorists like to start from scratch. Some like to work with LOG wheels, some like to work with .rec709 wheels. Nothing is wrong here, and you still get the same result, just a different workflow.

Here's a nice example to my words: