EXRs - does it give me everything?

[SimonBjork]

With the newly added option to export Open EXRs out of RedCineX, a new workflow opens up. But, I don't understand everything at the moment. Since the EXRs are 16 bit Float (or 32 bits), and the RED is 12 bit, does this give me every single piece of information when I export out of RedCineX for example? As I load up one of the linear EXRs in Nuke or AE, I get a very dark image - as it's linar gamma. I can then use exposure controls within those programs to bring it back into "correct" range". Do I use all of the information from the R3D or am I missing some information by doing this? If this works, I wouldn't have to worry about gamma curves and clipping and so on, I wouldn't even have to do anything with the controls in RedcineX. I would just need to export the EXR and then load a custom viewer LUT in my compositing application (whish works in Float), and then I would have all the information throught the post workflow. It can't be that easy, can it?

 

[Alexander Ibrahim]

It can be that easy.

Open EXR is a great format, and it can contain all the available information from RED camera raw, provided you set you export settings properly.

16 bit float should be enough to store all available RED data. 32 bit float is definitely enough.

Depending on your workflow, they can be great. I often use OpenEXR for non-trivial compositing.

Just make sure you have thought through your workflow before you get cracking.

 

[SimonBjork]

Thank you for your reply. How do you deal with the fact that the image is coming out very dark. I know it's dark in linear, but even when compensating for that in the compositing app, the image is very dark. Do you adjust the image exposure in Redcine, or do you use an exposure control in your compositing application? What else do you adjust when exporting Open EXRs from RedcineX?

 

[Alexander Ibrahim]

Thank you for your reply. How do you deal with the fact that the image is coming out very dark. I know it's dark in linear, but even when compensating for that in the compositing app, the image is very dark. Do you adjust the image exposure in Redcine, or do you use an exposure control in your compositing application? What else do you adjust when exporting Open EXRs from RedcineX?

Yes you adjust it in Redcine before exporting.

I'd have to see exactly what you are doing to give you better advice.

What I usually do is export a log image as DPX or OpenEXR, then in Shake I'll use log2lin to view it while working, or for video output.

 

[SimonBjork]

But does RedcineX allow white values above 1.0? I thoguht that if I adjusted exposure to get a nice linear light image in RedcineX, I would loose a lot of hightlight detail? If I do the exposure adjustment in my compositing application, I can get boost exposure above 1.0, and then bring it back if I want to. I got the impression that you don't want to adjust anything in RedcineX if you're exporting EXRs...