Copy link to clipboard
Copied
I've just been recording on my iPhone 12 and I've just imported the videos into Premiere Pro, and the colour is completely different to the original file?
It is really saturated and bright, but I haven't even touched any colour grading settings. I even tried to export it without touching any colour settings, and it outputs the video with this weird saturation,
This is the original file from the iPhone:
This is what happens as soon as I load it into premiere pro:
I've tried uploading the iPhone 12 footage to an old 2017 version of Premiere Pro that I have and I don't have this issue at all.
Has anyone seen this issue and got any advice?
Thanks!
I just was on support chat and found a work around. If you import the footage into iMovie, when you're exporting, unselect HDR. Then it imported with accurate coloring. They said they are working on fixing this within the Adobe programs and it will hopefully be fixed in the upcoming updates.
Copy link to clipboard
Copied
Hello,
Try to turn on Display color management:
https://helpx.adobe.com/premiere-pro/using/color-management.html
Copy link to clipboard
Copied
Definitely helped - but still a little out:
Original vs Updated:
Copy link to clipboard
Copied
How are you viewing the original. Which app was used in the phone.
Post comp spec, OS build and Pr build and version.
Copy link to clipboard
Copied
If you're working on a Mac, there's a spot of trouble. The Mac ColorSync utility mis-applies the Rec.709 standard in two main ways:
This makes working on a Mac somewhat difficult, as it isn't showing the file correctly according to the Rec.709 standard. And Premeire Pro is hardwired internally to be used on a system with monitors running according to the Rec.709 standards.
That's why they added that display color management option, so that PrPro will instead look at the monitor's ICC profile, and remap the image to more properly show Rec.709 data correctly. Which mostly 'fixes' the issue inside PrPro.
However, due to the Mac ColorSync utility improperly displaying Rec.709 media in most any browser/player app, outside of PrPro it's dicey. My understanding is there are a couple players that do not allow ColorSync to manage them ... might include VLC, not sure about that ... but most everything will have color by ColorSync.
Understand ... every screen out there is different between screen type and calibration (if any, likely not), brightness of viewing environment, the player involved, and any user settings. There's no way anyone will ever see exactly what's on your screen. Many screens will not even be particularly close. No colorist can get around that problem either.
So the 'standard' working process is to work on a system as close to the standard as possible, and then just let it go. This at least gets your media looking relatively close to other professionally produced media on most screens. And that's the best you can do.
Out in "the wild" you don't have any control. And if you change the image to look better on one non-standard screen, it will now look worse on at least half the screens out there
Neil
Copy link to clipboard
Copied
If I'm understanding correctly, this is 100% unacceptable. Are they even working on a fix?
If I set everything correctly and the export doesn't look like it does in Premiere, that means the update isn't ready for release. It's obviously come at an expense to quite a few of Adobe's customers, it's now costing me sleep on top of chipping into my project rate.
Often times it seems Adobe operates like a bull in a China shop full of the people who's backs they build their fortunes on.
Copy link to clipboard
Copied
If you're understanding the issue on Macs between inside Premiere and outside correctly, then you understand why there is no actual fix possible. As that issue is due to the Mac mis-application of video standards to Rec.709/SDR video files.
If you are referring to issues with HLG footage from iPhones being shown as HDR on Rec.709 timelines in Premiere ... an altogether different issue ... that has a fix available.
When you tell us which issue you're bummed at, we can discuss fixes or workarounds. My guess is the difference between Premiere's handling of display of video files and the Mac ColorSync. And it's ColorSync that is causing the problem ... NOT Adobe.
It's simply impossible to create a file that will look the same when displayed with a gamma of 1.96 (Mac's ColorSync settings) and when displayed with normal and expected gamma 2.4 or 2.2, which is everything but the Mac's. Including all pro work in broadcast/streaming.
Do you realize that when you're watching pro content on that screen, that the image you see on that Mac screen is never like the image as graded by the colorist? Because no colorist grades pro material on a screen with a gamma of 1.96 ... ever.
So how do you deal with that problem? Or ... do you even notice it? Because you don't have an absolute reference, you probably don't even realize there is a difference.
Neil
Copy link to clipboard
Copied
You always provide excellent answers, Neil, thank you. However, I'm a pure creative, just a story teller, tech looses me in the details so feel free to consider me stupid in this department.
Here's what I see:
a) In over ten years now of using Premiere after Apple turned their back on us long time FCP users I have not run into this issue until the most recent update. One of my advertising clients submits iPhone footage to me consistently. This problem seems to be limited to the new iPhone 12, so that might be why.
b) The color in Premeire looks right, so from my simpliton point view, that suggest Premeire is capable of generating the image as seen in Premiere. Therefore, it seems that image should not only be replicable in the export, but if it's not (to the extreme that I'm seeing)—if the export looks differnt that it does in Premiere—that seems to be like selling a car with a blacked out windshield.
I realize I'm likely not understanding something but hopefully illustrating my view will help Adobe understand, and maybe me as well.
Thanks again, Neil!
gabe
Copy link to clipboard
Copied
It's very simple ... gamma is essentiallly making a Curves correction. Using a point say about 1/3 of the way up from the bottom (shadow) area.
So take an image into Lumetri. Go to the Curves tab, to the RGB curve at the top ... and I take FULL credit for that marvelous WIDE RGB curve tool, I've been pushing them for that for years and they finally made it happen!
Now make a control point by clicking on the white line about 1/3 of the way up from the left/bottom corner.
Pull it down just a little bit. We'll call that the 1.96 equivalent.
Make an edit point in the clip ... Ctrl-K, and go a frame past the edit. Now grab that control point and pull it down about as much more than the first point. We'll call this the 2.4 equivalent.
Now take the Program monitor into Comparison mode, side-by-side. With the first image on the left, second on the right.
Those are absolutely the same pixels, same timeline even, just shown with two different gammas. And this is exactly what's happening between Apple (anything outside Premiere controlled by ColorSync) and inside Premiere.
Apple applies a gamma (curve) that NO ONE IN THE WORLD uses for Rec.709 video. Premiere applies the correct gamma (curve) for Rec.709 video.
The only way Adobe could "fix" this would be by adopting 1.96 for gamma for Rec.709. At which point every pro user for broadcast in the world would immediately abandon Premiere. Because it would be unusable for them.
BlackMagic Resolve can't "fix" this either. They added an export option ... "Rec.709-A", and yes the A is specifically for Apple. It mods the image on export so it will look 'normal' with a 1.96 gamma curve. Cool, but ... of course ... if you show that file on any system expecting the correct 2.4, well ... it's way too dark in the shadows. Not usable for broadcast, of course.
So ... you can't show a file at two separate gammas and 'see' the same image. That's the problem.
Neil
Copy link to clipboard
Copied
Do you mean this is an issue with Mac? We have to change hardware in order to be compatible with Adobe Premiere software?
Copy link to clipboard
Copied
There are two potential issues here ... if your iPhone is recording HLG, an HDR format, then you would need to set the new color management options to override that to Rec.709. If it's just the difference between the way the Mac Colorsync utility 'plays' Rec.709 video files versus everything else, that's a different thing.
For the iPhone doing HLG ... past setting the iPhone to do SDR/Rec.709 instead of HLG for future shooting ... select those HLG clips in the project panel, right-click/Modify/Interpret Footage, go to the color management settings at the bottom of the dialog, set the Override option to Rec.709.
Neil
Copy link to clipboard
Copied
Did you find a solution that worked for you? I am having this same issue in both Premiere and After Effects.
Copy link to clipboard
Copied
Did you read this thread through? It's actually covered (fairly? sort of?) well.
There is a problem working with 'standard dynamic range' video with Premiere Pro on a Mac: PrPro is designed to be used on a system using full Rec.709 standards. But the ColorSync utility on a Mac doesn't apply the full standards.
So you can mostly get around this within PrPro with the 'display color management' preferences option selected. Within PrPro, your image will be shown following Rec.709 standards as close as PrPro can do on that system.
But outside of PrPro but on a Mac, the Mac ColorSync utility will for many browsers and players show the file strikingly differently. Because again, it's following Apple's unique sense of color management.
It's a "thing" that's there, and there isn't any real fix. Just that once you understand where the problem comes from, you can decide what you want to do to work around it. And yes, that's very frustrating.
Neil
Copy link to clipboard
Copied
Thank you for the insight, Neil! I appreciate it. However, I am not having issues with a Mac. I am having issues importing my iPhone 12 footage. Any other iPhone clips, drone footage, DLSR videos, etc works just fine. It is specifically causing the issue with only iPhone 12 footage. My Premiere Pro and After Effects worked just fine with the coloring of clips until I bought the new iPhone.
Copy link to clipboard
Copied
I unfortuantely didn't get it sorted. I was on support chat, phone calls etc for a long time but nothing fixed it!
Copy link to clipboard
Copied
I just was on support chat and found a work around. If you import the footage into iMovie, when you're exporting, unselect HDR. Then it imported with accurate coloring. They said they are working on fixing this within the Adobe programs and it will hopefully be fixed in the upcoming updates.
Copy link to clipboard
Copied
Ahh, it's an issue with the iPhone 12's "HDR" recording's process of encoding the file ... interesting.
There are a number of cameras that the makers have come up with unique processes to record/write file data that "technically" are within the specifications yet so rarely done that they are not particularly well supported.
Apparently, this is another case. But thanks a ton for sticking with this, so they can sort it out.
Neil
Copy link to clipboard
Copied
Just want to pop in for anyone else searching to resolve this - I was able to work around this by re-exporting the footage in Quicktime. This saves it with a different color profile that appears normally in Premiere. Hopefully this helps others!
Copy link to clipboard
Copied
Thanks for this! For anyone else here -- do we know if it can be resolved by changing an iPhone setting, instead of anything on the premiere/quicktime/imovie end? I went into my iPhone 12 settings and turned "record HDR video" OFF, and am hoping this may fix it, though I haven't been able to tell if it does yet.
Copy link to clipboard
Copied
That should take care of it. The video with that option on is given the color space HLG, rather than Rec.709/sRGB.
Neil
Copy link to clipboard
Copied
Okay great! Thanks Neil.
Copy link to clipboard
Copied
In response to @calvaryc37394405 , here was the video tutorial to turn the HDR off. If you shot your videos in iPhone HDR (that's what's messing it up) you have to import those videos into iMovie (download this app on your phone) and manually turn it off (what Calvary said) but here's the video tutorial. This saved me!! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DGaU9CZE7_Q
Copy link to clipboard
Copied
A workaroud I've found is when you import it into PrPro. Right click on the video file in your project bin and select "Modify > Intrepret Footage". In the pop up window, go down to the last seciton "Color Mamagment" and select the "Color Space Override" and you can select "Rec. 709"
Copy link to clipboard
Copied
Copy link to clipboard
Copied
I also had the problem and before I found this thread, found the same work-around myself but came back to the forum to check if this is the proper work-around.
There are two Rec 709 choices, one has a (scene) at the end. What's the difference?