3 way Color correction FCPX - eye dropper - whites/mid/black color picker -

There are no eyedropper for that in FCP. You just have the scopes.

Let me add my vote to Rob's for adding back the FCP7 functionality of an eye-dropper sampler to the color correction module so you can balance to a gray card or color card.

I also agree with Rob. Put the 3 way CC back.

PS - Not sure if you've seen this but it might be worth checking:

http://www.rippletraining.com/using-the-rt-color-balance-effect-in-final-cut-pro -x.html

Long time lurker, first time poster...

I just want to add my vote to bring some sort of eye dropper or color picker fuctionality to the color adjustment and exposure tab of the color corrector. It would take a lot of the quess work out of levels adjustment and color grading.

Add your vote in feedback.

I have. I also mentioned it twice that apple software survey I got this week. But I see your point - that doesn't really help mrmccormack now.

As for possible solutions to his problem now - there is a fcpx white balance plug in from FCP Effects that might be useful.

I don't think that plug is a substitute for the 3 way color corrector. At least from what I can see in that video. The color bar in FCX is clearly geared towards novice users. Color wheels are a more precise and standardized expression of color.

And the eye dropper was an efficient tool for WB. Especially when used independently for each part of the spectrum.

Sending suggestions to feedback is fine. But Posting opinions here should not be discouraged. Maybe it will encourage more people to send feedback and improvements will actually be implemented.

g

But Posting opinions here should not be discouraged. Maybe it will encourage more people to send feedback

Hopefully it will not do the opposite. Make people feel they have had they say and been heard.

Honestly I have to say I'm not wild about color pickers for white balance. I think the parade and the vectorscope are much more useful and precise. The color picker after all, at least as it was in legacy versions, was picking a single pixel, which did produce weird results.

Would love to have the separate color wheels back, rather than having the pucks, which often end up bunched together, or at least two of them often do.

I've been giving FCPX the best chance. The guys/girls in my editing suite won't touch it without an eyedropper white balance tool.

The 3 way corrector in 7 is much better IMO.

The 3-way color corrector may be easier to use, but the FCPX color correction tools are much better. The color balance function is your eyedropper, if you like that sort of thing.

I'd love learn specifically what makes the color bar "better".

Here is my comment which I recently left on a similar thread:

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4140427?answerId=19082591022#19082591022

The eye dropper in the 3 way CC was an amazingly efficient way of getting color balance.

Not only is it easy but also was a very intuitive way for less experienced users to grasp how color is distributed.

This new brain-dead approach of color matching in FCPX is inconsistent and doesn't help novice users really get a grasp on the fundamentals of color grading.

If Apple doesn't return the 3 way CC hopefully someone will write an affordable 3rd party plug that brings back this functionality.

Here's a short youtube tutorial illustrating how simple white balance is in FCP7.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3d3rlRUXz4M

Here's a tutorial on how it's now done in FCPX. (The kid comments on the ridiculous absence of the eye dropper.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mX3nsIm5oKg

Decide for yourself which is more intuitive and logical.

http://www.apple.com/feedback/finalcutpro.html

White balance is only one part of color grading. Indeed it was very simple in FCP7, but there is much more to grading including secondary correction, which was simply not possible before except in Color.

There's no need for the eye dropper in FCPX... Need balance? Just turn it on (Color Pane > Balance — a blue rectangle will hilite when on)... that's it. You should Analyze your clip for Color Balance first...most of the time, there is very little difference. It's usually perfect. No need to find neutrals in the image. No need for test shots for white balance.

Trying to color balance with the Color Board is a waste of time. You cannot "manually" do better than the Balance option.

The "Color Board" is not about color correction, it's all about grading. It's about colorizing for effect. The labels for Correction 1, etc... are misnomers for me. The Pane for the "correction" is just labelled "Color Adjustment." The "corrections" are basically layers of adjustment... as in a correction in course when a change is affected to avoid an obstacle -- it doesn't necessarily mean that it THE ultimate correct course.

Everything "past" Balance is subjective colorizing...

IMO

Fox_m,

I have to disagree with your scourging of FCP X color board. I have used both 7 & X, and for what the programs offer, I find X way more powerful for adjusting exposure, color correction, and then grading. The 3 way color corrector is just not as great, and it isn't a RGB color space either, but X has it. If you know Apple Color, and want to round trip to it for your FCP 7 project, then that is great, and better. But X has Da Vinci Resolve (lite), and it's free if you are outputting to HD resolutions, and version 9 was just announced and on its way out. It's in Beta now but real soon out of beta

Back to the FCP X color board. It's very intuitive, and with proper knowledge of manual color correction techniques, and the cropping tool to zoom in on a face for eg., and the scopes, you can very easily take out a color cast, and neutralize a color. Then with a secondary color correction, by clicking the color plus button, you can put a grade on it. I do like the color wheel too, but not that much in 7. I like it in Apple color though, when I have a lot more other options to go with it.

Bmann.

Thanks all, I have enjoyed reading all the comments/posts/links.

It all gets pretty complicated, with software and all...

but

Question:

Am I correct in assuming, that there isn't much sense

in shooting the white/grey/black card in each shot.

and just shot ONLY a White card (I use 18% WhitBal) card.

I'm not expert, but the 3 cards seems to give my shots a reference to go on, and seemed to make it easy to match shots, cause I had a consistent reference in every shot, under all different conditions.

Rob