Mixing lenses and correcting in post

[Gary Jones]

The subtle and not so subtle color casts that lenses give to an image, how hard is it to color correct these differences out in post?

I am mainly thinking about Angenieux and Fujinon.

Can it be done with a simple one light in either Redcine-X or Resolve, or will the way the light falls on skin tones involve more intricate secondary correction on a case-by-case basis?

Just trying to make an informed purchasing decision and if I could spend a week or so coming up with a quick and easy workflow for mixing two different manufacturers then I would be prepared to mix, but if it involves secondaries and per shot changes then perhaps not.

Don't get me wrong, I plan on having a complete post workflow (through Reolve) that would give me the ability to do any necessary changes, but would prefer to be able to apply a quick LUT or color correct node that Fujiafies some Angy footage, or vice versa.

Thanks.

 

[Jeffrey T. Morgan]

The short answer is that it will certainly be a shot by shot thing and you will be lucky to completely avoid secondaries.



If the lenses start off not matching, then you will see REAL differences if one lens also has shift at different exposures.

I would look at the Dec 10th lens test footage for awhile. There are some lens sets that shift within their own line (not many, but a few) and I am going to avoid those like the plague because of all the extra color work it will mean. But soon you can download the R3Ds from that test and see what you are really in store for by just grabbing some random shots from different cameras and making them match.

http://www.reduser.net/forum/showthread.php?67463-DEC-10-LENS-SHOOTOUT

My personal opinion is that mixing a lens in is fine for a very unique shot, like a once a day or for one scene thing. Otherwise don't do it.

But that is just me.

What lenses were you specifically looking at?

 

[Gary Jones]

Angenieux Optimo DP 16-42mm T2.8 & Fujinon 24-180mm T2.6 (but this is still very much up in the air).

I want the range of the Fuji coupled with the wideness and lightness of the Angy.

They are both good quality, modern lenses that I wouldn't of thought would shift much between exposures.

Like I say, I was hoping a single LUT could be applied to all the Angy footage to make it look similar enough to the Fujinon for 95%+ of shots.

And I paid close attention to the Lens shootout. I honestly think that the difference between the shots are very subtle from a colour perspective (for the average viewer, not a professional perhaps). If you weren't seeing them side by side, but as part of a story, by the time you have motivated lighting, different framing, and colour correction in post, I wonder how much anyone would notice the difference. Certainly not enough to drag you out of a good story.

But I am a relative novice and I am happy to admit that my upcoming equipment purchase is more like a mid-life-crisis Ferrari buying than out of any urgent need or knowledge. I have five narrative shorts I want to make (two feature ideas I am fleshing out but lack the funds right now), and some live performances to film (which is why I want the extra range the Fujinon gives me - I have found 70/80mm is not enough for the type of shots I want).

Thanks for taking the time to post Jeffrey.