hd images too dark

[Guest kingkeyan]

I shot some scenes with the sony cinealta f900 and after it was downconverted the director called me and told me the images were too dark, is it a downconversion issue because they put an hd image on vcr? or is the monitor he is watching too dark?

 

my exposure was correct going into camera and everything on the monitor looked fine as well

 

any ideas?

[David Mullen ASC]

I shot some scenes with the sony cinealta f900 and after it was downconverted the director called me and told me the images were too dark, is it a downconversion issue because they put an hd image on vcr? or is the monitor he is watching too dark?

 

my exposure was correct going into camera and everything on the monitor looked fine as well

 

any ideas?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Either your monitor or his monitor is probably incorrect. Downconversions generally don't change brightness, although someone could have monkeyed with the pedestal or something.

 

Sometimes you run into digital downconversions setting black at "0" (as it is in HD) without the 7.5 IRE set-up for NTSC, so sometimes a copy on DVD may look like the blacks are crushed and shadow detail is lost. I've seen a LOT of variations in black levels these days and I'm sure some of it is the whole 7.5 IRE set-up for NTSC issue and whether it is missing or not. I'm not an expert in this area, but I believe that one approach is to work with video black at "0" throughout digital post and then only add the 7.5 IRE set-up at the end of post, which is why it can be missing in dailies on DVD. Just a theory.

[Guest kingkeyan]

thanks for the reply, ill ask the company that did the downconverts and ask them what the deal is, and ill let the director know about the 7.5 IRE setup issue, seems very odd, i was opened up all the way and the monitor image looked great, either way i think the brightness can be pumped up in post if im not mistaken

[Mike Brennan]

thanks for the reply, ill ask the company that did the downconverts and ask them what the deal is, and ill let the director know about the 7.5 IRE setup issue, seems very odd, i was opened up all the way and the monitor image looked great, either way i think the brightness can be pumped up in post if im not mistaken

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

It is possible to screw up the image on the Sony 24inch monitor by not terminating the YpPbPr outputs.

Yes they are not self terminating.

It is also possible to get a bright looking picture by winding the contrast control up.

Finally all HDCAM decks have a complete set of adjustable video controls, like gamma detail ect, for each output.

 

 

 

 

Mike Brennan.