Import MXF files Gamma Shift

Report · Oct 06, 2025

Hello everybody!

I am working with MXF AVCIntra100 50i format files with audio from 2 to 16 channels.
Sample file

File characteristics in the attachment.

On request, I perform visual masking of objects, such as cigarettes, drugs, etc.
The main task is to minimize the modification of the video file, we do not change the colors, levels and other characteristics that may affect the file from the visual side, but only apply a small Gaussian blue mask.

The problem occurs on Mac M1 12.6.2. Adobe version 25.1.2
The problem occurs on Win 10 i9-14900KF 64.0 GB RTX 5080 1Tb (+1Tb for Cache). Adobe version 24.1.0

I open the same file in DaVinci 19 (Mac M1 12.6.2)

I tried all possible settings of the Lumetri Color window. But none of this brings the signal back to normal values (as in the screenshot in DaVinci).

The attached screen recording shows that the Display Color Management Button affects the color in the Program window, but the signal itself in the Lumetri Scopes window remains unchanged.

The fact is that in Premiere version 22.3.1, this file opens correctly.

What am I doing wrong? So far, it seems that in the new versions (24, 25) Adobe has changed something in the principles of importing mxf files. What should I do in my situation?

Report · Oct 08, 2025

Upon closer inspection of the file, the Black Reference Level is 0, the White Reference Level is 1023, and the Color Range Levels are 1023.

The file that, in my opinion, is displayed correctly in the Lumetry Scopes window has different values.

I assume that the issue is in the interpretation of the video with the Nominal Video Range and Total Video Signal Range metadata.

Updating to the latest version of Adobe Pr 25.5 did not produce the desired result. Full-range video is imported in a compressed state (gray).

Changing the project settings, file color space, and Lumetri Color settings window settings does not restore the video to its normal appearance.

Report · Oct 08, 2025

I think your problem is the file was encoded as YUV (technically Y/Cb-Cr) and also as Full range ... while by the standards of the format, Rec.709/YUV files are expected to be encoded as legal range.

There is ABSOLUTELY no difference in the data levels between the two mathematical encoding processes, but Premiere expects YUV media to follow the rules ... and be encoded as legal range. Which is of course then always displayed full. That's how the whole thing is designed to work.

Premiere doesn't have a switch to handle this conversion, so there's a couple things to do ... one might work, the other should work.

The first is set the Display Color Management, auto detect log, and auto tonemapping to on. See if that fixes this.

Alternatively, in the Effects Presets Lumetri section, there are conversion presets that change 8 or 10 bit files from full to legal or the other way around. Drop a 10 bit full to legal on the file in the bin, and Premiere should handle it correctly.