Senior Colorist Endorses Rubbish Tutorial

Frank Glencairn fancies himself a senior colorist, so it’s baffling why he would recommend a YouTube tutorial filled with blunders that any experienced colorist ought to be able to spot at a glance.

EXPOSURE

(1) The YouTuber recommends zebras and waveforms for exposure, but bewilderingly overlooks false color, one of the most useful exposure tools for HDR.

SCENE-REFERRED GRADING

(2) Rather than setting Rec.2020 as the timeline color space, it’s preferable to use the hero camera’s log color space (e.g. S-Log3/S-Gamut3. Cine for Sony, REDWideGamutRGB/Log3G10 for RED). If you’ve got a timeline with multiple cameras, ACES is a popular choice.

NO DISPLAY REC.2020 COMPLIANT

(3) For the output color space, instead of Rec.2020, colorists ought to be using Rec.2020 (P3-D65 Limited), as no display can show all of Rec.2020.

MaxFALL & MaxCLL METADATA

(4) Before exporting, on the Color page, you’ve first got to go to the color tab > HDR10+ and analyze all shots if you intend to embed static metadata.

PRESERVE MORE COLOR INFORMATION

(5) For higher quality, on the Deliver page, you should be using Main 4:2:2 10, not Main 10.

LUTS

(6) The YouTuber warns against LUTs, saying that most are for SDR and that they don’t work well in HDR; but there are actually a number of HDR compatible LUTs and plugins – some are even free – several of which can impart a nice look to HDR footage.