Nikon Z9 ProRes RAW Internal: Yawn
We’ll let you in on a little secret: being able to record RAW internally is all well and good, aside from the fact that XQD and CFexpress Type B cards cost a king's ransom compared to SSD and the Nikon LCD is all but useless for HDR - making an Atomos recorder a vastly superior... Continue Reading →
Mac M1 Owners: Do Not Update to Resolve Studio 17.4!!
A Blackmagic forum member writes: "I use a Mac M1 with HDMI directly connected to LG CX. Using the same settings, 17.3.2 can easily watch HDR. After upgrading to 17.4, the exact same color management settings and other settings were tried, but HDR could not be activated. After downgrading to 17.3.2, without making any changes, it directly shows HDR...... Continue Reading →
Display HDR in DaVinci Resolve Viewer
This post explains how to use the HDR capabilities of an Apple MacBook or iMac built-in display when using DaVinci Resolve and also applies to external HDR capable displays such as the Apple Pro Display XDR, allowing you to preview HDR content directly via the Resolve viewer. The feature is only available on macOS 10.14.6 and above and... Continue Reading →
FSI to Release 5,000 Nit Mastering Monitor This Fall
FSI will be releasing the XM312U this fall - a 5,000 nit mastering monitor with 2,300 individually controlled LED backlight zones and priced at $22,000. It appears that we'll be reaching the dizzying 10,000 nit peak brightness of PQ HDR sooner than most people think. Keep in mind though, that with PQ HDR, anything above 100-200... Continue Reading →
Vimeo Now Supports Dolby Vision!
As reported in DPReview, "Vimeo and Dolby announced that Vimeo is the first to market to allow users to host, share and play iPhone videos shot in Dolby Vision within the Apple ecosystem. Vimeo writes, 'Starting today, millions of Apple device users can now use Vimeo to unlock the same professional-quality video technology embraced by... Continue Reading →
HDR vs. SDR Contrast Ratios
Rory Gordon, Senior Colorist at ArsenalFX Color, during a presentation at a 2019 SMPTE conference entitled "Beyond Better Pixels: How HDR Perceptually and Emotionally Effects [sic] Storytelling", used data gathered from her work as a colorist on over 35 episodes of HDR content to explore the psychological and emotional impact high dynamic range has on... Continue Reading →
Ditching the Video Look
Stuff we're doing differently now from the past: during shooting, avoiding yellow in false color entirely except for specular highlights (aside from the infrequent occasions when we want to purposely blow out highlights); in post, being meticulous about adjusting white balance prior to color correction, even if it's just a few degrees; adjusting yellow, blue,... Continue Reading →
Monster Guide: HDR10 in Resolve Studio 21 (Part III)
Part I: Project settings, Project Render Settings, Generate MaxCLL and MaxFall HDR10 Metadata Part II: RAW Part III: The Grade Color separation achieved using Cullen Kelly's Kodak 2383 PFE LUT and the Color Warper Setting A Speed Limit “If you come to me tomorrow and you say ‘Hey, I’ve got an HDR project I’d love to... Continue Reading →
The Future of HDR
"Technical details aside, the most important thing to understand about HDR is that it doesn’t represent an enhancement as much as the removal of an artificial limitation. In the realm of human vision and physical light, high dynamic range is a default condition, not an added gimmick". - Cullen Kelly In his article entitled 'Three Predictions... Continue Reading →
Grading Tools: Final Cut Pro vs. DaVinci Resolve
In his video Color Grading vs. Color Correction, Cullen Kelly's articulation of the difference between Log and gamma sounds uncannily similar to our experience grading HDR footage in Final Cut Pro vs. DaVinci Resolve. "Images can be encoded in a Log or a gamma state. Gamma encoding was devised for preparing an image for viewing... Continue Reading →
A Reminder: Avoid Log
For HDR projects, steer clear of recording XAVC S-I 4:2:2 internal if at all possible. Art Adams explains: "The Y’CbCr encoding model is popular because it conceals subsampling artifacts vastly better than does RGB encoding. Sadly, while Y’CbCr works well in Rec 709, it doesn’t work very well for HDR. Because the Y’CbCr values are created... Continue Reading →
DaVinci Resolve Studio 17 HDR Grading Breakdown
Node tree Excessive saturation in the shadows can be unflattering to the talent and clothing and objects in the surroundings can be distracting if left untreated. Reducing saturation is often the preferred method for eliminating unwanted color artifacts in the shadows resulting from extreme color corrections. However, you don't want to desaturate colors all the way to... Continue Reading →
Motion Picture Industry Defers HDR Aesthetic – Indefinitely?
"To date, most HDR content has been an emulation of the existing SDR experience. This is a new aesthetic and I'm intrigued when filmmakers will embrace that aesthetic rather than try to just reproduce the existing low-con films onto the HDR format." - Peter Doyle, Supervising Colorist at Technicolor (2016) Little has changed in over... Continue Reading →
The HDR Effect
"One of the things I've noticed over the years with HDR is once the DP sees the look with the added range they think they may have wanted to adjust the framing. The added levels on highlights and added saturation to highlights pulls the eye around in different ways than when we have a small... Continue Reading →
Manual SDR Grade vs. Dolby Vision Derived SDR Version
Can industry professionals distinguish between the 'hand graded' SDR version of a Hollywood film and a Dolby Vision derived SDR version? That's the question Dolby Vision set about to answer when they went on a worldwide tour of nine cities to do an 'SDR Survey'. The cities they visited were Los Angeles, Tokyo, London, New... Continue Reading →
ProRes RAW HQ Grade Reveal
Lighting setup - window light, two reflectors https://youtu.be/sp_msCFEUmI
The Daejeon Chronicles 