Dark clips after reinstall of FCP 7

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Level 1

124 points

Dark clips after reinstall of FCP 7

Hi

I wonder if anyone can help me with my problem.

Since the only program I´m using in FCS 3 is FCP 7 I decided to remove everything else and just reinstall FCP 7 on my mac mini i5 2012.with Mavericks

I Used FCP remover to delete everything and after that I did a custom install of FCP7 and I did update the program via Program update to 7.03.

When everything was done I used Preference Manager to delete FCP preference and used my "backup prefs"

The problem is that now every clip is very dark both on the the timeline and canvas and viewer.

It´s like every clip is underexposed by 2-3 stops.

I just don´t understand what has happened.

The program worked fine before reinstall and it is the same computer and screen and now the clips are dark

It´s only the clips that are dark the program itself is OK

Does anyone have a clue?

Any help would be much appreciated

Cheers

Hans

Ps I tested to change the gamma from 2.2 to 1.8 in user prefs in FCP but that did not change anything .DS

Posted on Feb 19, 2015 4:17 AM

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Answer 1

Stockholm Author

Level 1

124 points

Feb 19, 2015 6:48 AM in response to Stockholm

Update.

This is really strange .

I tested to play the timeline in full screen mode F12 and it was also dark BUT when i stopped it was normal brightness and as soon as I started to play it went dark.

This only worked that way in fullscreen mode.

Cheers

Hans

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Answer 2

Meg The Dog

Level 6

13,561 points

Feb 19, 2015 8:26 AM in response to Stockholm

Set your Gamma Correction to Approximate:

MtD

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Answer 3

Stockholm Author

Level 1

124 points

Feb 19, 2015 9:45 AM in response to Meg The Dog

Hi

Thank you very much that helped a bit.

When i play the timeline in full screen it is bright both play and stop.

However there is still problem in Can and View, now when i play clips they are bright but when i stop they are still dark,

and that makes editing pretty impossible.

What could be the problem??

Cheers

Hans

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Answer 4

Meg The Dog

Level 6

13,561 points

Feb 19, 2015 10:56 AM in response to Stockholm

Did you reset your import Gamma setting back to source?

Don't know but am wondering if your restoring your preferences from your previous installation has something to do with it.

Try trashing your prefs and running on default prefs, does the behavior persist?

MtD

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Answer 5

Stockholm Author

Level 1

124 points

Feb 19, 2015 11:21 AM in response to Meg The Dog

Bingo That was it

The problem came from using Pref-man from my old install from Snow Leopard.

I moved FCP 3 from my old computer to my new with Pref-manager and it seems to have worked up until I did a clean install on

Mavericks.

I did a test with a new clean install and did not use Pref.man and only adjusted the gamma on playback as you suggested and it worked.

I have now made a new backup with Pref-man and called it Mavericks and it works.

THANK YOU VERY VERY VERY MUCH for your help

Cheers and greetings from Stockholm

Hans

Ps. I should have my import gamma set to "source" right?

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Answer 6

Meg The Dog

Level 6

13,561 points

Feb 19, 2015 12:00 PM in response to Stockholm

Stockholm wrote:

Ps. I should have my import gamma set to "source" right?

I do, and have not had problems with it.

MtD

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Answer 7

Stockholm Author

Level 1

124 points

Feb 20, 2015 6:23 AM in response to Meg The Dog

Well I´m sad to say that my problems persist in a way.

Everything is OK until I enable "Range Check" under View meny then the canvas goes back to being dark on

"Stop" and when playing the timeline it is bright again and when I disable R C the darkness disappear and everything is OK.

Full Screen is OK

The sad thing is that I always use Range Check so I really need it.

Do you have any idea what the problem could be this time ?

Cheers

Hans

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Answer 8

Meg The Dog

Level 6

13,561 points

Feb 20, 2015 9:40 AM in response to Stockholm

Sorry, I do not. Maybe someone else has experience with this.

MtD

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Answer 9

Feb 20, 2015 9:44 AM in response to Stockholm

why do you need range check on all the time? You can also open the video scopes and take a quick look to see if things are generally within spec.

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Answer 10

Stockholm Author

Level 1

124 points

Feb 20, 2015 10:30 AM in response to Michael Grenadier

That is a good question and i wish a had a brilliant answer :-)

I guess the best answer is "i just got used to it."

I also use scopes but I always felt that with Range Check you could do a quick adjusting of levels,

but you are right about using scopes instead.

Cheers

Hans

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Answer 11

korobi

Level 1

0 points

Sep 11, 2015 7:01 PM in response to Stockholm

Check that your computer's System Prefs for Displays are correct.

This issue–where the clips are suddenly too dark and contrasty in the Timeline–can often be fixed by going to System Prefs>Displays>Color and changing the color back to whatever it should be (iMac, Mac LCD, personal calibration, sRGB, whatever) because some app install has hijacked the monitor prefs and installed its own calibration.

I had this issue today with some BlackMagic apps that I had installed last month. I had not opened FCP since then, and i had the same problem with dark clips that looked fine elsewhere. My prefs had been hijacked to HD-709 rather than my standard calibration. i put it back and everything was fine.

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Answer 12

Stockholm Author

Level 1

124 points

Sep 12, 2015 12:12 AM in response to korobi

Hi

Thanks for your reply

I have forgotten about this questionI discovered the same some time ago.
I just forgot to update it here

Cheers

Hans

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