Color softens RED footage – Why?

[Isaac Bauman]

When I send a timeline of RED footage to Color, it softens the image even though otherwise it appears to reconform properly to the R3D.

I believe I am having the exact same problem voiced in this thread on creative cow two years ago, that went unsolved: http://forums.creativecow.net/thread/223/12964

The difference in the footage looks like this: http://www.cineverapictures.com/Red_Color/

From what I have determined after a full day of testing, the problem occurs regardless of what the FCP sequence settings are, what the color project settings are, or whether the footage in FCP timeline is a transcoded ProRes or a H264 proxy from the camera.

I have used the Send To Color route with the camera proxies, and re-linked using ClipFinder with the ProRes proxies. Both re-link to R3D without a problem, both have the softening issue.

Anyone else have this problem and figure it out?

 

[Uli Plank]

Check my reply over at the Cow.

 

[Jake Bastian]

It'd help to see an example of the same frame sent through RedCineX or some other program you feel doesn't soften the image for comparison. It'd also help to know the crop ratio on the frame (i.e. 1:1).

The main thing you want to ensure with color is that you have your debayer settings set to Full Debayer - if this isn't set properly then what happens is your full frame shots look really sharp, and those you punch in on look soft and require a lot of extra sharpening. It's not because the shots you punch in on are soft, it's because anything less than a full debayer adds perceived sharpness to the full frame, and does a poor job on the cropped in ones making them look different.

If you are doing a Full Debayer and it look soft the other thing to remember is that RED doesn't apply any in camera sharpening so if you feel you want a sharper picture you'll need to go into the FX room and apply sharpness there (a little bit goes a long way).

*I guess I should also mention that you should make sure all of your FCP codecs for RED are up to date as well.

If after all this you are still having problems it may be that your camera has back focus issues that need to be resolved before you shoot anymore (I doubt this is the issue though as you'll notice that kind of softness as you're shooting.) This should resolve your problem though.

 

[Johnny Friday]

Must add sharpening in post. Also some gamma issues with prores conversions.....i've found DPX to be best for WYSIWYG.

 

[Ben Brainerd]

Must add sharpening in post.

Yep. Color has *NO* default sharpening, so it looks softer than any of the other programs that have sharpening on by default.

 

[Evangelos Achillopoulos]

Yep. Color has *NO* default sharpening, so it looks softer than any of the other programs that have sharpening on by default.

I second that, also yes DPX's are for the best for WYSIWYG workflow and I strongly recommend them...