color calibration

I

INCProductions

Active member
Does somebody have some advice on the best way to color calibrate two different cameras? For example, making a 5D MKII look the same as an EX3 look the same as a RED Epic? Obviously matching things like white balance is as simple as holding up a white/grey chart in front of all the cameras and getting a reading. But is there a good system to go about making the colors reproduce similarly? I have a DSC CamAlign color chart.

Thank you
 
I would imagine my ideal way would be to have both cameras close together, facing a chip chart and gray scale... both having their most accurate feed to two 17" calibrated Panasonic monitors. I would then use those to judge and tweak the settings. Not the best method, but I'd think that would be better than comparing the two LCD's. Ideally I could look at waveform information and maybe even some vectorscope, although that is getting into a technical realm I am not THAT good at. There are many video technicians from the analogue days of video who can read a vector scope like a book. I can't. I can read it enough to see the jist of things.

My preference would be both cameras doing HD-SDI through BNC, which would be like getting a RedMX to match an F3 (in camera) or an Epic to match an HPX-170 or EX3, since I believe they all have HD-SDI-out.


Using different monitors, video-outs and other variables make matching the cameras less accurate. The more variables you keep the same, the better chances you have.
 
Can you place the cameras side by side with a chip chart as mentioned above and feed the highest quality data possible into your video editing software and use the chip chart to create profiles for both cameras that can be applied to relevant footage?

This way, not only are the cameras matched, you also know that the absolute colour is correct too.
 
TERRA Operative said:
Can you place the cameras side by side with a chip chart as mentioned above and feed the highest quality data possible into your video editing software and use the chip chart to create profiles for both cameras that can be applied to relevant footage?

This way, not only are the cameras matched, you also know that the absolute colour is correct too.
Click to expand...

Ideally this is what I'd like to do, however I don't think the 7D has any software that gives you an accurate reading to calibrate to. The RED of course doe. Does anyone have some good software for the 7D that can do this? The camera comes with the Canon PictureStyle Editor, but that is A: Only for RAW photos, and B: Doesn't give a lot of information when creating styles (Vectorscopes, etc).
 
" The camera comes with the Canon PictureStyle Editor, but that is A: Only for RAW photos"

No, you have it backwards. Pictures styles only affect JPEG and video. They have no affect on RAW. RAW is the image straight from the sensor.
 
You are never going to be able to color match these cameras until post. Best way to get in the ballpark with dissimular cameras is to balance them internally individually then shoot gray scale and color charts to match in post. However, every time you change locations and lighting, your color balance is going to change too.
You can't match unless you have simular cameras that allow ccu controls for setup. Take it from an old broadcast camera guy....
 
gonzo_entertainment said:
" The camera comes with the Canon PictureStyle Editor, but that is A: Only for RAW photos"

No, you have it backwards. Pictures styles only affect JPEG and video. They have no affect on RAW. RAW is the image straight from the sensor.
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You are incorrect. I know what RAW is, but the picture styles affect the RAW image as well. For starters, you can not upload JPEGs to PictureStyle (only CR2). You can also not upload videos to it. Also, if you are to take pictures in RAW with different Styles, you will notice they will indeed look different when shot. Also, the whole idea for using RAW images in PictureSTyle to begin with is so you can get an accurate, uncompressed alteration to your "Picture Style".
 
DadinWestchester said:
You are never going to be able to color match these cameras until post. Best way to get in the ballpark with dissimular cameras is to balance them internally individually then shoot gray scale and color charts to match in post. However, every time you change locations and lighting, your color balance is going to change too.
You can't match unless you have simular cameras that allow ccu controls for setup. Take it from an old broadcast camera guy....
Click to expand...

By balance internally, I assume you mean just flatten out the colors on the 7D correct? I realize this process needs to be done in post, but the Scarlet is obviously very open, whereas the 7D is not. If I were to use the CineStyle Style on the 7D (the one from technicolor) to flatten out all the colors, should this be a good option to go about doing this? That way I can try and use a colorchart to make colors accurate (by eye), grey (or white) chart to align both cameras white balance equally, and then just try to knock this stuff out in Color or Davinci? By the way, I see you're from Westchester, I used to live there myself. Miss it a lot.
 
INCProductions said:
By balance internally, I assume you mean just flatten out the colors on the 7D correct? I realize this process needs to be done in post, but the Scarlet is obviously very open, whereas the 7D is not. If I were to use the CineStyle Style on the 7D (the one from technicolor) to flatten out all the colors, should this be a good option to go about doing this? That way I can try and use a colorchart to make colors accurate (by eye), grey (or white) chart to align both cameras white balance equally, and then just try to knock this stuff out in Color or Davinci? By the way, I see you're from Westchester, I used to live there myself. Miss it a lot.
Click to expand...

Over the years since the BTS material has been available on DVD and now Blurays, I have noticed more frequently there will be a color chart used at the same time the sync is marked, etc. I believe this is to allow
better color correction especially for heavy CGI productions, but may now be used for any production.

Perhaps this has always been used, but to me it seems more obvious now.

TV broadcasts have always used colorbars to sync up and 'calibrate' the processing chain. For a 'live' broadcast... switching between cameras and having color shifts would be disastrous. Even less than live TV, the need for 'speedy' delivery would be problematic for mixing program material if the cameras were 'way out of whack. But then one had equipment that would indicate clearly that the camera was producing the correct signals, given the test chart.

Film has always 'suffered' from the delay factor, and has relied on the film stock and processing being 'consistent' to produce the desired results.

My operating rules for capture is to get as much unbiased data as I can, given the camera I'm using. Since I use the GH-1, that means getting as 'flat' an image, and as color 'neutral' as possible. Since it is a 'low end' camera, there are not a whole lot of controls that could be applied to make the data capture 'match' another brand of camera... Although one would hope there is consistency in the Panasonic manufacturing process for one camera to the next...

Since my 'for pay' photography work was for stills, the issue of color calibration only really came to the fore when the Wife and I switched over to digital, and began to perform digital processing, via Photoshop, on images. In that regard, 'neutral' capture meant white balance selection for the given lighting conditions, and then manipulation in post for specific 'color matches' or desired color casts.

From what I've seen/read/heard, that pretty much is how many movie films are shot.

That being said, occasionally one will hear of a DoP selecting Tungsten film, shooting without filters in daylight for that 'blue' cast look... But I think that is a rare occasion even for DoP's who do that sort of major shift for effect.
 
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