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  • Hey all, just changed over the backend after 15 years I figured time to give it a bit of an update, its probably gonna be a bit weird for most of you and i am sure there is a few bugs to work out but it should kinda work the same as before... hopefully :)

Traffic lights

S

Steve Phillipps

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I think the exposure setting systems on the Epic work really well. I've been keeping an eye on the noise and clip bars and most especially the traffic lights and find it really easy to work with.
Shot some stuff a few weeks back and exposed so that the traffic lights were not lit, so as I understand it nothing is clipped. When looking back at the rushes the bright white areas seemed pretty burnt out to me with not detail. I didn't have the time or the expertise to play with the settings in Redcine X to see if I could pull out detail in the highlights so just wanted to check that I do have this right - as long as the traffic lights are not lit there's nothing clipped and lost and the highlights can be recovered in post?
Steve
 
Hi Steve,

This is my understanding too and has been my experience in practice. You should be able to pull detail out of those areas - assuming there's detail to be had.

You can verify this really quickly in RCX just by loading your clip and lowering the Lift value. It's nothing fancy, just pulls all channels down equally and will reveal any detail in the brighter areas.

You can address this more selectively in RCX or Speedgrade/Resolve/Color/ later.

I recommend checking what you have shot so far though, just to be certain. You may decide to adjust your exposure/lighting based on what you find - for other reasons.

Good luck!
Mondo
 
This can all be fixed in final color correction. If the traffic lights themselves are blown-out, just pull a highlight key and add color as a correction it. This is done all the time.

I look on RedCine X Pro as a processing tool, not as a final color-correction tool. It's a means to an end, not The End.
 
I think he meant the Traffic Lights in the EPIC GUI. The ones that let you know you're clipping RBG channels
 
I think the traffic lights light up when a certain number of pixels burn white. like for example, if a tiny dot of highlight on a reflective surface is "clipping" but its only 20 pixels total, the traffic light wont go on. But if there is 50 small white highlights and the total number of pixels burning white are over (im totally guessing) 1500 pixels, then you get a stop light come on.
 
IIRC it's one percent of the pixels, but that may be old info – I'm RED since it all began…

BTW, if only one or two channels get on, you can still pull back detail (without color, though) with DRX.
 
All the traffic lights were off in my shots, that was my main priority, always keeping them off means there is always detail in all highlights on the RAW as they are not clipped - as I understand it. I then try to get as close to just keeping them off to ensure that the noise bar remains clear too, and with the great DR of the camera this is possible in most situations.
When looking at the rushes on some shots its hard to believe that some of the white still retain detail as they're pretty bright - be good to know that they are definitely still OK, and if not it would just mean erring a bit more on the side of caution when shooting to make sure the highlight levels were well below clipping.
Steve
 
Steve Phillipps said:
Both on the Mac and via HDMI into big Plasma TV.
Steve
Click to expand...

Mac Screens are FAR from calibrated, even if you "calibrate them" same probably goes for the Plasma. the details may be there. What happens when you pull the ISO way down, to like 320, does detail appear? if it does, your screen may be artificially clipping the image, if not, then you may actually br losing detial. I rely WAY more on the "Exposure" Tool, that shows clipping Top and Bottom in RED and Purple.
 
That's what I'm wondering though, I thought the traffic lights were absolute - no lights, no clipping. If that's not the case I'll know to take other steps during shooting. If it is the case, it's great, really easy to work with!
Steve
 
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