Davinci Resolve Color Matcher with Red MX/Dragon Footage question...

[Jesse Rambis]

Hi everyone, I wanted to see what you all are using for your source gamma for Red MX/Dragon footage in Resolve's Color Match feature. Also, what do you all think of Resolve's Color Match feature?

 

[Marc Wielage]

I think it can be a useful feature, but it's not without some controversy...

http://liftgammagain.com/forum/index.php?threads/resolve´s-color-match-palette.3318/

Under optimum conditions, it can work to a point, but I don't think it's a substitute for a decent colorist, nor do I think it can work in problematic lighting situations, as Gray Marshall notes...

 

[Jesse Rambis]

Hmm, very interesting. Do you think he is getting such off results because he is using auto as the source gamma, or because he has so much bouncing ambient light off of super saturated walls he is getting weird casts on the color checker depending on the angle he holds it?

I was initially asking about the source gamma for Red Footage because I attended a workshop where a DP was showing his workflow when using Resolve in post for coloring. This is just an example, but it was something similar to this -

He would setup the white balance and exposure in camera at 3800k at a t2.8. His key light would be a tad warmer at 3200k, while his fill was more blue at 4200k. Then, instead of shooting the color checker in the key light (which Resolve would then balance that slightly warm key light to pure white, while making that fill light even more blue), he would shoot his color checker separately with its own light source that were the same settings as the camera's (3800k at a t2.8)... It would sort of trick Resolve into balancing it the way he intended it to be. So, I wanted to try this out, but can't seem to find the right source gamma for Red Footage (or maybe I am just doing something wrong).

 

[Marc Wielage]

The scopes and primary corrections in Resolve will get you where you need to go, provided you have the skill and experience needed to know how to adjust them. I always prefer just working with a grayscale chart and believe this is fine, although the (more costly) DSC Labs charts are much more accurate:

http://www.dsclabs.com/

I personally think lighting the chart separately from the scene is fraught with problems, since the lighting really doesn't reflect the scene accurately.

 

[Paul Russell]

I've had some success using the Cineon setting as the source for a RLF file in Resolve's colour checker.

It does seem rather illogical to shoot a colour chart under separate lighting conditions. Kind of defeats the entire purpose of shooting a colour chart at all.

 

[Scott Crawley]

Cineon would seem to be the logical choice. My experience with it (Limited though it is) has been decent to good as well.

It does seem counter intuitive to light the chart separately. I can only figure that the intent there is to correct only for the variables inherent in the camera system, leaving the light to play organically. It could theoretically work if the chart were lit absolutely consistently but that is unlikely to happen. Success would depend in part upon your personal tolerances I guess but you don't have to climb a node tree very far before small flaws in the primary correction become big problems.

I've had some success using the Cineon setting as the source for a RLF file in Resolve's colour checker.

It does seem rather illogical to shoot a colour chart under separate lighting conditions. Kind of defeats the entire purpose of shooting a colour chart at all.

 

[Jesse Rambis]

Thanks for the input Marc, Scott and Paul. I will try using Cineon as the source gamma.

I think the theory of using a separate light shot under the same settings that the camera is set on is an interesting concept. I am going to test it out and see the type of results I get.

 

[Akin A]

I bought an X-Rite ColorChecker Passport and I'm not getting good Dragon colors from any of the Source Gamma and Target Gamma settings in the Color Match configuration.
I think there needs to be a RLF/RG3/RG4 gamma setting in there. Even the Cineon gamma settings don't look very good.

Also, wouldn't it make sense for Resolve's Color Match to automatically set/detect the color temperature, based on the white or gray chips on the X-Rite ColorChecker Passport?

If Color Match won't produce good results, at the very least, it would be useful for Resolve to have a White Balance picker (eyedropper tool) like RCX has, in order to set the white balance by choosing a white/gray chip.

Any updates coming on this in Resolve 12?

 

[Michael Tiemann]

Akin, I also had terrible results with this feature. I sent R3D files to Peter Chamberlain, but never heard anything back (other than that he received them).

 

[Akin A]

Akin, I also had terrible results with this feature. I sent R3D files to Peter Chamberlain, but never heard anything back (other than that he received them).

Damn, the feature had potential. Hope they fix it in v12.
I've been using RCX to sample the white/gray with the WB Picker and taking note of the resulting color temp/tint values so I can set those values in Resolve's Camera Raw tab to fix my color. Tedious but it's a work-around for now.

 

[Marc Wielage]

Damn, the feature had potential. Hope they fix it in v12. I've been using RCX to sample the white/gray with the WB Picker and taking note of the resulting color temp/tint values so I can set those values in Resolve's Camera Raw tab to fix my color. Tedious but it's a work-around for now.

The alternative would be to simply learn how to color correct. It's not that hard to do, and there are lots and lots of tutorials out there. I think I've done 20 Red projects in the last year or so where I just used RedColor3 and RedLogFilm and then winged it. Scopes and accurate monitors are mandatory. I'd love to have color charts, but they continue to be a rarity among most of my clients (at many different levels of the industry).

 

[Paul Sage]

If you want to work in Redlogfilm gamma, the settings that look the best to me (based off of messing around with the settings for a minute) are SLog3 source and SLog3 Target (with Redlogfilm selected as your gamma in the R3D settings). Have not used this tool on any shows yet.