Great Deal on X-Rite ColorChecker Passport

[Zak Forsman]

I've been keeping an eye out for a deal on one of these. Don't know how long it will last but the coupon code PSWBH15 will take $40 off the $99 price tag at B&H Photo. Davinci Resolve users will find it particularly useful. I'm hoping with enough testing and tweaking, I can come up with a custom LUT that will neutralize the GH4's unique color issues.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/651253-REG/X_Rite_MSCCPP_ColorChecker_Passport.html

How to use it in Davinci Resolve to balance colors. This gives a general idea despite the fact that the guy in the video screws things up a bit (like setting his ProRes footage to sRGB instead of Rec 709). And I think he's comparing an unbalanced tungsten shot to a balanced fluorescent shot. I think if he'd balance both, they'd be close in the end?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=onom8tpiof8 

 

[AaronChicago]

I'd love to see a GH4 correction LUT.

[Damphousse]

Looks like there doing tons of discounts with that code...

http://appleinsider.com/articles/15/08/12/ps-world-deals-600-off-13-macbook-air-300-off-imac-5ks-600-of-macbook-pros-260-off-phanton-2-vision-900-off-mac-pros

 

$600 off a fully-loaded 13" MacBook Air, $300 off a key iMac 5K model, $300-$900 off select Mac Pros, $520-$600 off some MacBook Pros, $40-$45 off WD Passport Drives, 10-30% off photography gear, and more.

[majoraxis]

Thanks Zak - Great price with the coupon - ordered it!

What are people doing for a gray card as the coupon did not work with the version that comes with gray card?

[Inazuma]

Could you guys try out the LUT I made and tell me what you think? It was created by colour matching GH4/GX7 footage to Canon footage of the same scene and colour charts. http://www.eoshd.com/comments/topic/8438-pleasing-neutralising-panasonic-luts/

[Nrubloc]

Yes, thanks for the heads up on the Color Checker.... just ordered as well.

[AaronChicago]

Could you guys try out the LUT I made and tell me what you think? It was created by colour matching GH4/GX7 footage to Canon footage of the same scene and colour charts. http://www.eoshd.com/comments/topic/8438-pleasing-neutralising-panasonic-luts/

Looks good. Here is ungraded Portrait before and after your B LUT.

 

From froggy to fresh.

[Cinegain]

We Europeans really miss out on some good bargains it seems. Like, I saw the A7S going for 1799 or something. Olympus lenses with huge discounts. Geez louise.

[The Chris]

Looks like there doing tons of discounts with that code...

http://appleinsider.com/articles/15/08/12/ps-world-deals-600-off-13-macbook-air-300-off-imac-5ks-600-of-macbook-pros-260-off-phanton-2-vision-900-off-mac-pros

 

$600 off a fully-loaded 13" MacBook Air, $300 off a key iMac 5K model, $300-$900 off select Mac Pros, $520-$600 off some MacBook Pros, $40-$45 off WD Passport Drives, 10-30% off photography gear, and more.

Damn. This is gonna set my credit card on fire. Been waiting for a Macbook Air sale. 

[Xavier Plagaro Mussard]

Can someone point me to a good tutorial of how to create a LUT from X-Rite ColorChecker Passport?? I am on Mac

[sgreszcz]

We Europeans really miss out on some good bargains it seems. Like, I saw the A7S going for 1799 or something. Olympus lenses with huge discounts. Geez louise.

Visited my family in Canada and picked up a E-M5 II for $899 CDN from the Camera Store Calgary.  That is about £450!  The bad news is that the LCD stopped working after a couple of days.  The good news is the Olympus repair contractor shop was 30 minutes from my mom's and they repaired it by the next day.

I picked up DSCs oneshot to try as I was visiting Canada, and their office is there: http://store.smpte.org/product_p/dlab-smpte-pos.htm

They had a batch with a very small defect on the grey card side, so I got a discount.  I want to try it to see if I can match my LX100 to my new E-M5 II, and it seems to be easier with a vectorscope than the Macbeth Chart on the X-Rite Passport (which I also own).

http://wolfcrow.com/blog/how-to-use-the-dsc-labs-oneshot-x-rite-colorchecker-or-datacolor-spydercheckr-with-davinci-resolve-to-match-color/

http://www.provideocoalition.com/what-good-is-a-macbeth-colorchecker-chart

http://www.provideocoalition.com/cameras_rough_guide_to_color_grading_with_the_new_dsc_labs_oneshot

Really new to this, but will be something interesting to learn.

[Zak Forsman]

Received my color checker a while go, but just got a chance to audition it. and well, I wish I'd sprung for one of these sooner. Now I get the skintones I prefer from the GH4's Natural profile and can quickly balance the image before grading it. I'm thinking I should just permanently mount the color chart to the slate during production.

Here's a sample. Uncorrected frame followed by the instantly balanced version using the color checker grid. I did no other adjustments.

GH4, SLR Magic 25mm @T/2.8, Kowa Bell & Howell, Rectilux 3FF-W, Hoya ProND 4.

ISO 200, Natural, Contrat 0, Sharpness -5, NR -5, Saturation -2, Tint 0.

 

[enny]

My fear is that non-technical users will want to hit the button and just blindly accept what it gives them. This will be a particular problem for assistant editors and others who weren't on the set and have no idea what was shot that day. If they blindly "trust the button," things could go south very quickly.

Don't forget that Resolve has had the "Auto Color" button for many years, and I don't know of anybody using that, either. This is just a more sophisticated version of Auto Color with a fixed reference. "Make this chart look like the reference, and it'll be perfect." It's a good theory, but I see a lot of danger here.

 

By Marc Wielage over at lift gama gain

[Damphousse]

My fear is that non-technical users will want to hit the button and just blindly accept what it gives them. This will be a particular problem for assistant editors and others who weren't on the set and have no idea what was shot that day. If they blindly "trust the button," things could go south very quickly.

Don't forget that Resolve has had the "Auto Color" button for many years, and I don't know of anybody using that, either. This is just a more sophisticated version of Auto Color with a fixed reference. "Make this chart look like the reference, and it'll be perfect." It's a good theory, but I see a lot of danger here.

 

By Marc Wielage over at lift gama gain

You're contradicting yourself.  You acknowledge the "Auto Color" function has been out for awhile and it is not optimal.  You also claim you don't know anyone using it.  So it seems to me in your experience people won't use something that doesn't work well.  What am I missing here?

I use the "Auto color" function.  When it works I just move on with my grading.  If it doesn't I just hit undo and adjust the color manually.  I don't lose anything.  In all honesty though i don't use "Auto color" properly.  I don't have a white balancing card in the frame.  I was actually waiting to get the X-rite package and have an all in one solution.  DSLR custom white balance works better than "Auto Color" for some reason so with a DSLR you can actually be okay in a lot of situation even if you are sloppy.

Really there is no "theory" here or people "blindly trusting."  Most of us are grading our stuff ourselves.  We have eyes, a decent memory, and know what we want.  If any of this automated stuff doesn't give us the result we want we just hit undo and default to manual.  I mean if you press the shutter button on a camera and the auto focus locks on the wrong thing do you just "trust the button" even though you are staring at a blurry picture?