Grading Red one Footage in Imac, Calibrating

[Francisco Bech]

Hello, I know this sounds terrible, but right now its my only choice. I am editing a teaser with with footage hot with a Red one at 4K. I have premiere CS6 in an Imac. I hace calibrate the screen using Spyder pro 3, which is a calibration tool to work with photograps, is there a better way to calibrate the screen to grade the red footage?

on the other hand, would it be possible to rent and plug a calibrated monitor into the Imac and get the video signal out? this in an Imac from 2007, the only conections are USB, and firewire 400 and 800

Cheers

 

[Marc Wielage]

I don't believe this is ideal for color-correction, no. My advice would be to color-time it in Resolve using a Blackmagic video card, and get a calibrated external video monitor that can reproduce at least Rec709 correctly.

 

[Francisco Bech]

The thing I dont have acess to those tools at the present moment, The only thing I could do would be to rent an external monitor, but I dont know if there is a way to plug that to the Imac,

 

[Steve Sherrick]

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/857191-REG/AJA_T_TAP_T_TAP.html
http://www.shopfsi.com/FSI-21-5-Inch-HD-Broadcast-Monitor-p/lm-2140w.htm

If Resolve is to be used. You'll have to check compatibility with Resolve. I know Ultrastudio 3D is compatible.
http://www.blackmagicdesign.com/products/ultrastudiosdi/
http://www.blackmagicdesign.com/products/ultrastudio/

Basically, you need to add an HD-SDI to your chain. If just working in Premiere and After Effects, any of the tools mentioned above will probably work. You'll need a monitor that can work in REC709. FSI is one of the best values in the business to get a decent monitor to make color decisions on.

But, many people do grade off computer monitors, especially if they are doing primarily web based work, so I can't say the HD-SDI REC709 way is the only way. It just makes life a lot easier.

 

[Francisco Bech]

Thanks, I am grading using red cine x and magib bullet to add some grain, is this enough for teaser? it would be absolutely worthit to go into resolve?

 

[Francisco Bech]

I dont have thunderbolt in my imac, its from 2006, I only have USB and Firewire connections, is there any device I can use to guet the video out?

 

[David Rasberry]

If your Imac is calibrated for SRGB, you are fine. SRGB and REC709 are the same color space and gamut. There is a slight difference in display gamma standard, 2.2 for SRGB vs 2.4 REC709, some macs use 1.8 gamma. Grey scale values above 235 or below 16 for 8-bit are reserved for broadcast peak overshoot/undershoot in REC709. As long as you use scopes to keep your values within legal limits, this is a workable solution.
Check the available video card LUTs for your Imac, our 2010 model has a wide range of color space choices and emulations to pick from, including REC709. Don't know if the older ones are as extended or not.
I grade using an SRGB computer monitor and use a calibrated consumer grade 10 bit LCD TV for final image checks. The differences between the two are minor if both are properly calibrated.
Obviously this is not the ideal solution for high end color critical work, but given the variation that will occur across the range of consumer displays and environments that will be typical of any audience it is practical for many projects.

 

[Bryce W.]

David, I'm using an imac and 2 of the color profiles are srgb and wide-gamut rgb. I have 2 questions:

1. Is it wise to click on the srgb profile and use it, or should you somehow calibrate further to make sure that it is srgb?
2. If an imac is only capable of srgb, is the computer guessing what a wide-gamut rgb would look like?