Forgive the Cinematographer Noobie!

Ryan Patrick O'Hara

Ryan Patrick O'Hara

Veteran
Hey all, I'm trying to make my new demo reel using FCP, and I'm new at editing.

The editing is going well, and my monitor is calibrated... but my AppleProRez export, when opened in QT, is lighter, has less contrast, and less saturation! WTF.

When I open the same file back into FCP it looks good again. WTF.

perhaps this is a deeper conversation about color spaces and playback mediums.... but I can only color time within Color or FCP... so am I supposed to make all my footage a bit darker to compensate before export?

If anyone knows which tip of which iceburg I've truly found myself upon, I would appreciate it! I can't stand looking at my footage with lacking contrast and color. I have a calibrated monitor... but the footage is reproducing two different ways in the same window. If people are going to mainly watch this demo reel on my website as a .mov... Should I go in and compensate for the playback? Or should I leave it as be coming out of FCP?
 
U need to look into the gamma issue with Quicktime or macs. Google it, I'm certain your answer is out there.

I can't remember exactly what it is, but your problem is a fairly common one.
 
Hmmm... so it's a gamma space issue? I have my monitor calibrated to 2.2 so that I'm looking at something that represents more of the PC/Television crowd... But it still looks bad after export... so I guess the issue is that FCP is exporting at gamma 1.8? Seems even worse then that...

The odd thing is that it looks ok when I put it back into FCP. I'm still researching, but anyone who can expedite this learning curve would be much appreciated.
 
Never trust QT Player. It is not true to your footage. Trust your external broadcast production monitor.
 
Ahhh...You are using Quicktime X. That doesn't have this option. Install QT 7 from the Snow Leopard installer... then view the fotoage with QT7...and adjust the preferences there.
 
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