What you see is NOT what you get...right?

[Red Monster]

Hello, folks. I am currently working on a project with the RED camera (build 15), and we are encountering some questions about the metadata. We are shooting in 4K 2:1 at 29.97fps, and we are shooting our talent against a green screen which we are mating up with plates that we shot. The plates were shot in the exact same settings. We are finding that when we import the footage into REDAlert, the footage doesn't look at all like it does in the monitor on set. We have found that the footage is coming into REDAlert with Camera RGB in the Color Space and REC709 in the output lut setting. The problem is that these settings DO NOT at ALL look like the monitors on set. If we change the settings in REDAlert for colorspace to REC709 and the output to REDspace, then the image appears to be closer to what we see on set. Why is this? It's confusing, at best, and disconcerting to our clients and editor at worst. I'm trying to keep the RED camera popular, but this is one of those things that doesn't inspire confidence with producers and clients. Help?

 

[Bing Bailey]

if you want to keep it even more popular get on build 16 asap

 

[Harky Jewett]

Agree. You should be on the latest release build, which is 16, this is the build that wysiwyg really comes into play.

With build 15 I remember that, for us, if the image looked a little too dark on the monitor it was going to show up fine in Red Alert.

But, in any case, Build 16 will give you what you see is what you get.

 

[Red Monster]

Thank you all! I am pushing for our rental house to update the firmware, but they were waiting until it seemed "safe". I will relay this and I am looking forward to working with build 16.

 

[J. Eric Camp]

Also...

You should be in REC709 / REC709 to get a WYSISYG when compared to onset monitoring with a B15 camera.

 

[Jeff Kilgroe]

Build 16 is a lot more stable and capable than Build 15. They definitely need to update now that B16 has been out of beta for a month or so.

However, you probably don't want to upgrade in the middle of your current project, especially if you will be doing a lot of keying and compositing. The noise characteristics in B16 are different for one thing.

 

[Esteban Sosnitsky]

The BUILD 16 is no longer beta, its safe.
It lets you choose what color space or LUT to apply on your SDI output so you can monitor more accurately. Moreover you should calibrate your monitors to see something similar.

 

[JohnLands]

I wont say always I will just say ive never seen what Im getting on the monitors to translate into the proxys. Red doesnt work that way.

 

[Gunleik Groven]

If you're looking @ the camproxies, thwy will look darker.
For RED, generally (and GS work specially) I think you may think long and hard about the implications of RAW.

Shoot
Development
Comp/key
Correct

Sorta

Just my 2c

 

[Alex Carr]

We rely on the Histogram and the False Color That shows different Colors for Each Level of IRE. As Long as all your information lies inside the Histogram, then you can Manipulate that image to nearly anything... Fill the Histogram in RedAlert, add some Saturation, set white Balance...etc...

We have been able to pull detail out of the blacks even when underexposed 2 stops to preserve Highlights. Watch the Histogram, It doesn't lie

 

[Jason Sinclair]

Inspiring confidence in producers is giving them a good end product. Good clear and effective communication (and knowing what is going on) helps you get there.