Editing in color gamut REC.709

For any video, really do video sRGB and Rec.709. That is by far the widest standard out there. The only question is whether to use gamma 2.2 or 2.4, but they're so close many editors just pick one and stick with it.

Neil

Premiere stores the information of what's been done to a clip in the sequence  ... NOT on the clip in a bin. So naturally if you open an image from a bin into the Source or Reference monitors compared to a clip in the program monitor on a sequence with effects applied,  they will be different.

So, again,  how are you viewing the image outside of Premiere?

Neil

And other thing that blowed my mind. Reference image ( left , outside the editing timeline ) vs current image ( right, inside my editing timeline ) The difference between them is exactly the one with PR vs YT versions... So PR sees the same image, differently 

You still haven't said how you're viewing the YouTube ones, and comparing. And perhaps you're expecting all viewers/players/apps apply the same color management.

They do not  ... period. You have no control whatsoever on how YouTube via Chrome or YouTube via Firefox for instance will compare. And they will not be identical.

No pro colorists hav ever figured out a way around the variances between computers, televisions, streaming, apps, phones, whatever.

So how do they handle it? The only way possible. Setup your system for tight adherence to color standards. Grade accordingly. If your ONLY expected usage is X, setup a bit towards that.

And let it go as you can NEVER control how things will look on other gear.

Nil

great question, and correct answer.

I would add that paying attention to the color bars is more important than trying to look at images to make comparisons. Kodak makes good color patches and grayscales ( on printed stuff you buy and can hold up to monitor to compare stuff ). But they don't make a printed rec 709 ntsc color bar chart that I know of.

Sometimes levels are off and people mistake that for 'color' being off.

if you generate color bars, put in timeline, export and look at stuff you can compare the two. Then upload to your choice (youtube, vimeo etc. ) and look at it again, you can compare all 3 ... timeline, export on local computer, upload played on browser of your choice.

It gets complicated cause it's really a matter of calibration of monitor(s) and signals output ( graphics card vs. SDI output to reference video monitor ).  But you can get close as possible if you focus on the color bars as your basis of comparison.

🙂

How are you determining the colors in YouTube after export?

Like Joost says, getting proper color isn't easy. My rig uses a BenQ PD2720U that I've both calibrated with i1 Display Pro puck/software and then ran a profile of the results using Lightspace ganged with Resolve to create the patches.

The results are very tight for both gamma and DeltaE but it takes some mucking to get it right. A number of the spendier monitors than yours come with factory calibration that  ... ain't even close.

My BenQ has a pretty little certificate but I've no clue what that supposedly  represents because it certainly was way off outta the box.

Neil