6 Responses

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1. Maze

   A huge part of this problem for me is that Final Cut assumes you are working in a 1.8 gamma and boosts the display gamma of the Viewer and Canvas to 2.2 in order to approximate a broadcast monitor. This was causing a lot of grief for me since I was calibrating my displays to 2.2 already; so it was boosting it well past 2.2. That’s what the QuickTime Final Cut Compatibility preference does, boost it to 2.2 gamma…

   And yes, you’re right. It has been a lot of trial and error for me. I re-calibrated our Final Cut workstation to 1.8 last week and things have been looking better when output to DVD so far.

   December 22, 20089:43 am
2. Adam and Rae

   Thanks for the response and for posting your article. Like you, I have my computers set to 2.2 gamma. The thing is, I prefer the look of the film at the boosted gamma in Final Cut. Wouldn’t setting my monitor to 1.8 and running Final Cut make the resulting DVD look washed out still? Looks like I’ll create a custom display profile using the 1.8 gamma and see what happens.

   December 22, 20089:49 am
3. Maze

   Yes, your video will look lighter and have less contrast. But, I have found it looks closer to what was being displayed on our capture devices – and ultimately has been leading to a more natural tonal range and easier color grading.

   In my opinion, you still have to make a judgment call when you output to DVD. I think you will have an easier time getting there this way, though…

   December 22, 200810:27 am
4. Adam

   So, I calibrated my monitors to 1.8 and I see what Final Cut has been doing to “adjust” the gamma in the canvas view. I find myself enjoying the look of the film at the darker 2.2+ gamma, so what I’m doing now is applying a 1.3 Gamma Correction filter (along with a boost in red midtones) to Compressor when it makes the MPEG-2 for DVD Studio Pro. This is the closest that I can get to make the DVD look acceptable.

   When I get around to doing the transfer to HDCAM, I’m sure we’ll have even more fun. Thanks for the help, Maze.

   December 23, 20089:20 am
5. Adam and Rae

   We ended up purchasing a Matrox MXO scan conversion device. The MXO turns out 23-inch Apple Cinema Display into an accurate HD broadcast monitor. To get the look we want, we are going through each clip in each scene and applying gamma correction where necessary. Once we get things looking right on the MXO-ADC combination, we’ll work to get the right conversion to DVD.

   January 17, 20094:55 pm

Continuing the Discussion

1. Autumn Gem - The Qiu Jin Project » Blog Archive » Final Cut Tips for Documentary Filmmakers

   [...] touched on this in an earlier post, but you should set your Mac’s display to 1.8 gamma when using Final Cut. FCP adds gamma to [...]

   January 17, 200910:01 pm