VaricamLT: Ugly shadows in FCPX

A

Alex Roz

Active member
I usually color correct in Resolve. I decided to try in FCPX but the result is ugly. There is some banding/solarization in the shadows. Did I miss some settings somewhere?

FCPX.jpg
 
Alex Derrick said:
Hey Alex, What happens if you open that same clip in Resolve ?
Click to expand...

It looks better in Resolve. I tried everything I thought of in FCPX: disabling the Lut, different codecs, different kinds of CC tools, all sort of curves, HDR timeline. Initially I wanted to shoot in prores raw but with that kind of result it’s totally useless.

Here is another example (FCPX on the left, Resolve on the right):

https://www.dropbox.com/s/5gaavekzg1zfr85/Test.png?dl=0
 
Last edited:
In general, I think you'll find in many instances - for whatever reason - that NLEs sometimes have minor differences in how they are reading/processing footage.

If there's an answer, I imagine a change needs to come from Resolve as FCPX is pretty straightforward with its settings, and you seemed to already try changing pretty much everything there is.

What are the specs of the footage/clip you're testing?
 
NorBro said:
In general, I think you'll find in many instances - for whatever reason - that NLEs sometimes have minor differences in how they are reading/processing footage.

If there's an answer, I imagine a change needs to come from Resolve as FCPX is pretty straightforward with its settings, and you seemed to already try changing pretty much everything there is.

What are the specs of the footage/clip you're testing?
Click to expand...

Yes I don't think there is anything which can be done in FCPX to fix that. The settings are very limited indeed.

I tested Prores Raw / CDNG / AVC intra 422.
 
Last edited:
It's tough to see from your stills...maybe a video comparison would help if interested.
 
OK, my bad. The footage, exported from FCPX, looks fine when opened in Resolve. The difference comes from the viewers.
 
Let's see a screen grab of your scopes before any LUT's or grading has been applied. Also, ISO, shutter angle, and a footcandle reading would be helpful.
 
Alex Roz said:
OK, my bad. The footage, exported from FCPX, looks fine when opened in Resolve. The difference comes from the viewers.
Click to expand...

I do know that Premiere defaults to rec709 in the GUI viewer... and, I would assume FCPX does so similarly, especially given the limited amount of controls it provides as you described above. There is also a likelihood that FCPX GUI viewer is affected by the ICC profile of your computer monitor(s) color management system.

In Resolve, you should be able to select a custom standard/color space, etc. to monitor your input/output (I've only done this when using ACES, though). Maybe the default is that it auto selects based on the type of footage you import into it (whereas maybe FCPX doesn't)?

Regardless, if you are not outputing to a production monitor, the only way to see what is really going on is to export (from FCPX and Resolve) and then compare in the same player (e.g. QT viewer, VLC, etc.).
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top