A and B RED Mx different green color!

[Lomo Gears]

I would like to ask if someone had the same problem:

we have 2 x RED Mx cameras and green colour on a color chart looks different.
Even on the same white board we can see the difference.
Would appreciate if someone could share their experience.

Thanks

 

[David Battistella]

First,


-Reset both camera's to factory defaults.
-reinstall the same firmware on both camera's
-do a black shading on both camera's
-reshoot the charts
-look at the files in RCX and be sure that the METADATA is the same for both camera's

If you have not done all of the above, do so, then report back.

-Are the lenses the same?


David

 

[Lomo Gears]

David,

Camera A has build 30.7.0,
Camera B has build 30.6.0.

The only problem is that camera B is rented and I am not allowed to do any upgrades. I would rather try to do older version upgrade (30.6.0) to our camera, but I can not find older firmware versions on the internet.
Do you think it could solve our problem by installing the same firmware versions to both cameras?
I tried to re-install 30.7.0 to camera A, so all settings were reset to factory defaults.
Nothing has changed. Problem still exists.

Lomo Gears

 

[Lomo Gears]

We did black shading on both cameras. Lenses are the same. Problem still exists..

 

[Marcus Struzina]

Is the problem still visible in exports from Redcine X, ie if you shoot on each camera using identical settings and export from redcine X using identical settings are the colours still different?

 

[jimhare]

I shoot up to 6 Reds at a time and have certainly noticed differences between bodies. Never worried about it since it's shooting RAW and I always move everything around in post.

 

[David Battistella]

Can you try to copy a look profile from one camera to another?

David

 

[Lomo Gears]

Thank you all for your replies. David, we will definitely try to copy look profile. I will post our results. Marcus we will try to export and will let you know about the result too.

Jim, what about firmware versions and your camera settings in REDCine-X? Were they identical? It would be funny if cameras, firmware versions and settings in REDCIne-X were identical and you still had to do color adjustments to make picture look the same.
I am not worried about this problem too much, as it is RAW, but we are in the middle of the commercial shooting now and I have to explain to agency (which has nothing to do with technical camera things) why there's a different picture on both cameras.

 

[Philipp Straehl]

I don't have own experiences, but my guess is that they are slightly different cameras when they have different firmware. Should be easy to explain to the agency. There are other cameras where different firmware or firmware hacks make significant changes, that's something even non-tech people may have heard of.

 

[David Battistella]

Thank you all for your replies. David, we will definitely try to copy look profile. I will post our results. Marcus we will try to export and will let you know about the result too.

Jim, what about firmware versions and your camera settings in REDCine-X? Were they identical? It would be funny if cameras, firmware versions and settings in REDCIne-X were identical and you still had to do color adjustments to make picture look the same.
I am not worried about this problem too much, as it is RAW, but we are in the middle of the commercial shooting now and I have to explain to agency (which has nothing to do with technical camera things) why there's a different picture on both cameras.

If this is the case then try this.

Shoot the charts on the two camera's
Load the charts in RCX.
Pick one camera and match the other to it with the RCX controls.
EXPORT a Camera look file for the 2nd camera.
Load the look in the second camera.
They should be matched now.

David

 

[jimhare]

Also, to be scientific you should use the same lens on both cameras. It doesn't seem odd to me that the sensors on two cameras won't perceive an image exactly the same way.

I still maintain the whole idea of RAW is you capture all the information and create the look in post.

I never expected files to look the same between cameras since nothing is being baked in.

Did Red ever say they should look exactly the same?

 

[David Battistella]

Jim,

TO be fair. I do not think it is unreasonable to have two camera's look exact or very much the same.

We can give RED a lot of slack, but I doubt that they would want every camera coming off the line have different color tendencies.

IN this case we are dealing with different builds and different bodies.

Very often it's just the case that the metadata has been changed on one of teh camera's

I have done many multiple camera shoots with RED ONE's and we were careful to use matching glass. Some lenses do not intercut well and have a color cast. I had this happen in one case where the three camera's were matched but the lens on one of the camera's was a different brnad and had a very warm color cast. This is to be expected.

As a general rule, I fully expect all R1 sensors to "see" the same way.

David

Also, to be scientific you should use the same lens on both cameras. It doesn't seem odd to me that the sensors on two cameras won't perceive an image exactly the same way.

I still maintain the whole idea of RAW is you capture all the information and create the look in post.

I never expected files to look the same between cameras since nothing is being baked in.

Did Red ever say they should look exactly the same?

 

[jimhare]

Hi David,

Absolutely agree with everything you're saying. So in your tests do all Red bodies match each other when on the same build and metadata? That would be great!

 

[Cail Young]

In our experience you need close serial numbers if you want cameras to match. Even on the same lens.

Otherwise, either load a look file or deal with it in post.