Gamma shift from After Effects - PLEASE HELP!

[AnthonyFaust]

Hello everyone,

I am working with 4K RED footage from the RED ONE camera. Here is my workflow. I have Premiere CS4 with the RED plugin that allows me to natively import r3d files and edit them. I brought an r3d file into my Premiere timeline. I exported it as an Uncompressed YUV 4:2:2 movie. I then compared the original r3D file to this Uncompressed file. There was a slight shift in the luminance but I figured that was because it was going from r3D (which is RAW) to Uncompressed.

Next, I brought in the Uncompressed file into After Effects. I did NOTHING to it. I simply put it in a comp, and then exported it back as uncompressed 4:2:2. When I opened up this AE file and compared it to the Uncompressed file that I had exported from Premiere Pro, it looked noticeably brighter. It shifted the gamma, even though I maintained the same size and codec.

There has to be a solution to this problem. What can I do to fix this?

Thanks,
Anthony

 

[John Marchant]

Check the bit depth of your after effects project - depending on your version AFX can introduce a gamma shift if the project bit depth is lower than the footage bit depth.

 

[AnthonyFaust]

Thanks John, but that didn't work. After further tests, I found out that the color shift only happens if I actually view that file in QuickTime. But if I import that AE file back into Premiere, and then export it out, it doesn't shift. It's weird. I think the solution is to just upgrade to CS5 so I can edit the r3D file natively in AE CS5.

Any other ideas you can share, feel free to do so.

Thanks,
Anthony

 

[Barend Onneweer]

The problem is actually Quicktime. Quicktime has a tendency to screw up the gamma of video. Adobe managed to work around this within their apps so you get consistent results when importing and exporting between the Adobe applications.

 

[Vico Martin]

hummmm.. Quicktime for PC?