After having the opportunity to share my camera test results for the Sony FX9, I realized just how useful a high quality dataset is for qualitative analysis and LUT building. The FX9 test was so useful and popular amongst my cinematographer clients that I wanted to organize another test using multiple camera systems. I decided to make an event of it and invited ten cinematographers. We had beer and ordered Chinese food and ran a bunch of cameras through the ringer.

We recorded using the on-board codec when possible to compare systems. As not all of the cameras we tested had RAW recording capability, I moved everything to ProRes 422 HQ - 4K DCI to level the playing field before doing any color transforms. I also exported a DPX for every image so you can download and check these images in your color grading software. I spent a little time comparing the various characteristics of the native codecs but found that the differences were less interesting than the overall color science and noise profiles.

There were a few anomalies which I'm still looking into. Particularly RED Dragon's color science. I used the built-in Color Space Transform tool in Resolve for each camera's transform to Rec.709. If you would like to apply your own LUTs and transforms, you can use the raw DPX files in the ZIP file below.

-->>RAW DPX FILES<<---

Although there's an iPad with the metadata in each shot, the exposure bracketing is denoted by the N+/- number. N+0 would be normal exposure to meter. N plus or minus a number represents over or under exposure in single stop increments.

C300_M3_800ei_CLOG3_CCGAM_CST_N-1_1.3.1.png

REC.709 PNG FILES for viewing lossless results with a web browser. Internet/smartphone/laptop friendly. In no particular order:

If you would like for me to send you the entire raw dataset, just hit me up. It's approximately 100GB.

February 9, 2021

Deconvolutional Upscaling for Legacy Media

MCM Creative in NYC reached out to Magic Lantern and asked if it was possible to clean up and upscale his feature doc Shelter Island prior to an Amazon streaming distribution sale. Unfortunately, the original media was no longer available and the master had already gone through various unknown encodes.

February 2, 2021

Superior Deinterlacing and Upscaling With Machine Learning

Typically, filmmakers use the deinterlacing tool provided for free within their NLE or Davinci Resolve. This article will demonstrate why this approach can be destructive to the image and will offer a better alternative.

January 28, 2021

Rendering With JPEG Compression(ism)

A collection of photos taken with a cell phone at full magnification yields interesting results. Although the discrete cosine transform compression still has a significant effect in the image, by magnifying the image in camera prior to the encode, these images take on a hybrid of pixilation and compression decimation. There is also a slight halation ghosting around the higher contrast edges which get encoded into a pleasant glow.

Color and the Physiological Response - A Colorist's Exploration

Colors, generally speaking, are instinctively associated with emotions. Working as a colorist and having to manipulate color everyday – I feel that most directors and cinematographers intuitively ask for specific colors to enhance specific emotions on special scenes without even realizing it. Here is a little help on how to actually use color in film making to activate – or not – a physical reaction in your audience.