Final Cut Pro 10.6.5 output dull after mixing from three cameras - can I correct this?

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Level 1

4 points

Final Cut Pro 10.6.5 output dull after mixing from three cameras - can I correct this?

Dear Community, I love taking video on holiday and equally love using Final Cut Pro to put my holiday story together. While I can get alone fine with Final Cut, I am really a holiday snapper and certainly no expert. But I try. I've just finished an 85 minute 4K video only to find the output is darker than usual. This is not normal behaviour. I've only experienced this before when mixing HDR and non-HDR clips and I specifically avoided shooting any HDR content on this trip. Can you kindly explain if I have been doing anything incorrectly?

Cameras

Unusually for me, for this holiday I have source clips taken on three cameras. As I'd noticed in the past the HDR footage on my iPhone 13 doesn't mix well with other footage, even after using HDR tools, I set the iPhone to use regular (non HDR) capture.

iPhone 13 camera. Records MOV files, 4K at 30fps phone setting, HDR video (high efficiency) is unchecked, auto 30 & 60 fps, format is 'most compatible', video capture Apple ProRes is unchecked. The properties of the clips it takes are 3840x2160 25p Rec. 709, MOV, H.264, MPEG-4 AAC. I should have set it to 25fps instead of 30fps I guess, but it seems to have recored that way anyway.
Sony 4K handycam (yes, I'm the last known person using a handycam and it's still great). MP4 files produced are 3840x2160 25p. Codecs AVC Coding, Linear PCM
Sony 4K action cam files are MP4, 3840x2160 25p Rec. 709, AVC Coding, Liner PCM

Final Cut project properties

Rec 709, 3840*2160 25p, Rendering ProRes 422, Codec standard - Rec. 709

The first file I placed on the timeline was from the Handycam as most footage comes from this camera.

Shared file properties

.m4v, Apple 4K devices selected and shared directly within Final Cut. i.e. I am not using Compressor this time.

MacBook Pro

Ventura 13.2.1

2.8GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i7

The problem

On my MacBook Pro (Intel), all the footage is bright and clear.
When I playback my video on my television, either streaming from a NAS or playing directly from a connected USB stick, the entire footage appears to lack brightness and titles that are white on my MacBook within Final Cut appear to be slightly grey. I met this before when I mixed iPhone HDR footage with my Handycam footage and that's where I learned about HDR tools. Prior to holiday I turned off HDR on my iPhone to avoid this mixing problem. Yet the symptoms resemble mixing HDR.
When I playback my movie on my MacBook, either in the TV app or with QuickTime. I get the same dull picture and slightly grey text in titles.

All advice will be very much appreciated, thank you.

MacBook Pro (2017 – 2020)

Posted on Mar 12, 2023 3:07 PM

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Answer 1

Mar 13, 2023 5:10 AM in response to VideoyK

The library is SDR.

All this together suggests to me that your mistake was done when exporting:

Choose a different option, like HEVC 10-bit, if you want that, but not this "HLG"...

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Answer 2

VideoyK Author

Level 1

4 points

Mar 13, 2023 5:27 AM in response to VideoyK

Our posts crossed. You are right on target. I had missed the settings tab when sharing. It was indeed on HLG from a previous project that was using 100% HDR clips from my iPhone. Thank you for your suggestion. I am trying the new share now. Many thanks!

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Answer 3

Mar 13, 2023 2:18 AM in response to VideoyK

In addition to the solid advice by terryb, is it possible that your library and your project may be set to HDR?

Select the library, and open the Inspector. What do you see.

With the project open, press Command-J to open the Project Inspector. Is it HDR?

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Answer 4

terryb

Level 4

3,548 points

Mar 12, 2023 5:43 PM in response to VideoyK

Please share a screen shot of the output movie opened in QT Player, plus a shot of the Window > Show Movie Inspector window (or press Command-i) with the sections twirled open like so:

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Answer 5

VideoyK Author

Level 1

4 points

Mar 13, 2023 5:02 AM in response to VideoyK

The Final Cut inspector report for the library

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Answer 6

VideoyK Author

Level 1

4 points

Mar 13, 2023 4:49 AM in response to Luis Sequeira1

Thank you both, especially for your clear guidance.

Here are two screen shot of the opening video scene. One is of QuickTime on Mac playing a scene after the opening titles. The other is the same scene playing inside Final Cut on my Mac. The difference is clear and really does remind me of mixing HDR with non HDR, even though I set out to avoid that.

Here is the QuickTime inspector report of the output m4v file.

The inspector reports for Final Cut library and project are in the next post (as trying to add another image here causes a hang).

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Answer 7

VideoyK Author

Level 1

4 points

Mar 13, 2023 5:23 AM in response to Luis Sequeira1

Thank you Luis. May I ask for more of your advice? Sorry to ask but I've not had such problems with past projects and my phone is definitely set to 'not HDR'. My Sony FDR-AX33 HandyCam is too old to have HDR and I just checked the manual to confirm this. My Sony FDRX3000R action cam also is not HDR. Therefore I'm hoping none of the clips are HDR.

Is it the library or the project that sets it as HDR? In other words, do I need to create a new project or a new library to make it non-HDR when I paste the old timeline into it?
What is it, apart from the colours, that tells you it is HDR please? I thought Rec. 709 was the correct setting.

I'm returning to Final Cut to export the video again. I don't see any option to select HDR or not HDR in the share so I think it must be down to project or library properties. Where do I set this please?

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Answer 8

Mar 13, 2023 4:57 AM in response to VideoyK

The video is HDR, as suspected...

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Final Cut Pro 10.6.5 output dull after mixing from three cameras - can I correct this?

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