An entire day's shooting looks totally blown out and overexposed after importing into FCPX... however there is no LUT that has been applied, so I'm not sure what to do...?? I've tried a variety of different LUTs but the footage is SO altered that I can't come close to the original.
Original on the right, after import into FCPX on the left.
iMac Pro
I found out that overriding the color space is actually not the way to do it. I just bought a LUT that converts from this HDR color space (you were right about it being HDR) from HLG to 709... The camera was set for 10 bit 4K 23.98P Rec. 2020. So I need to add a camera LUT, which I found from a website by a guy named Lemming who has all kinds of camera luts on his website: https://www.leeminglutpro.com
I found out that overriding the color space is actually not the way to do it. I just bought a LUT that converts from this HDR color space (you were right about it being HDR) from HLG to 709... The camera was set for 10 bit 4K 23.98P Rec. 2020. So I need to add a camera LUT, which I found from a website by a guy named Lemming who has all kinds of camera luts on his website: https://www.leeminglutpro.com
The image looks fine on import in the browser, identical to the QuickTime player. Are you not seeing that as well? It only looks bad of course when placed in a Rec 709 project. HDR Tools works correctly on it if set to the correct HLG to Rec 709. The media is HLG as you've said. The color is a little flat with the effect and needs to be adjusted. As you're working in a long term project that's all Rec 709 you want to stay in that. If you just have a few clips you can easily use the effect and a little color correction to fix the problem of the wide gamut file. If there's a lot of media I suggest converting it externally
The codec is XAVC btw.
The image on the right is from playing the clip in the finder in Quicktime. The image on the left is after importing into Final Cut Pro. This was shot in Cambodia on a Sony A7Sii... it's 3840X2160 pixels and AVC coding with Linear PCM... I don't know what happened, but FCPX misinterpreted the color space somehow, so I manually set it to Rec. 709 and now it looks like it should.
I'm converting all the HDR clips to 709 in Compressor, and converting to 422HQ as well... they are importing into FCPX perfectly, and then the LUT actually works, unlike with some of the XAVC shots. Thanks for your help.
OK, I disabled the automatic color space by overriding it, and manually set it for Rec. 709 and that solved the problem... weird.
Try applying the HDR Tools effect and changing to Rec 709. You’ll probably have to grade them as well. Matching the clips may be impossible.
I wonder if this may have to do with the library being set to SDR and not HDR.
You could test in a separate library so as to not ruin anything.
Select the library, and in the Inspector click Modify:
Could you actually give exact information about the media? Complete specifications would be helpful. It looks like it might be HDR. The image on the left is from FCP you said. What’s the image on the right from?
I used the Color Space Override to change the color space of the clips, but some of them didn't change. The weird ones are: Rec. 2020 HLG (9-18-9) while the others that look normal are: HD (1-1-1).... I used the Override to change them to Rec. 709, but some of them didn't change....
Would it be possible for you to upload one of the clips where it could be downloaded, Dropbox or WeTransfer?
This it totally a bug in FCPX. The footage plays back fine in Quicktime. It imports fine into Premiere Pro. I looks fine in Compressor. It looks like crap in FCPX and the LUT that should make it perfect makes it worse. The footage imports fine into Premiere and the LUT tweaks it slightly for better light and dark balance. The only thing where it doesn't work is Final Cut. And I can't update to Big Sur because I have a documentary with 7 years of footage that I'm not about to experiment with upgrading the OS so I can add a LUT in Compressor... grrrr
If you are using an external monitor you may have to enable Tone Mapping.
Al
Correction... he used a diff camera that day, the Sony A7Rii, not the A7Sii.... perhaps that explains why the misinterpretation of the color space.
Thanks for the suggestion, but HDR Tools didn't help. What I don't understand is why some of the clips from the Sony A7R2 were changed by the Color Space Override, and some weren't... same camera, same color space: Rec.2020 HLG (9-18-9). Here's a clip diplayed on the left by Quicktime from the finder, and the one on the right after import into FCPX and now showing in the ispector that the color space is Rec. 709, which it's clearly not... I wonder if there's some other utility that can change color space on video files. I couldn't find one on the net...
That might work to get these stubborn clips to change, but the rest of this rather large project, a doc shot over a period of two years in Cambodia... it's all SDR. According to the company that makes the LUTs (Paul Leeming) if you want to finish rec.. 709 the project should be set to Rec. 709 (SDR).
[Link Edited by Moderator]
FCPX radically changing color of Sony video on import...
