iPhone Footage Color not the same after export as in project

[Mathis32204034bzos]

I'm having issues with editing iPhone Footage in Premiere. I read a couple articles about this issues but i just dont get what i'm doing wrong and how i need to export the video so. that it looks the same as on my timeline. Also, the timeline video looks different than on the phone.

[Ann Bens · Accepted solution]

Its all about color management. Please read below.

Color management in Premiere Pro

Tone mapping in Premiere Pro

[Mathis32204034bzos]

And how do I fix the export?

[Ann Bens]

I am guessing you did not read the docs.

Everything has to be the same for tonemapping: clip, sequence and export.

[fxde]

i did read it, it is the same, but it has something todo with apples 1.96 gamma i think as r neil haugen pointed out

[R Neil Haugen]

There is one other thing you're running into. You're on a Mac, right? Apple's created a massive headache by using an incorrect display transform for Rec.709 /SDR video files. That is I think what's your problem.

Bring the exported file back into Premiere ... does it look the same as on the sequence? As I expect it will ... if so, yea, it's Apple's fault.

And for that there isn't any good complete fix. Why?

The long-time standard display transform specified for Rec.709/SDR video has been gamma 2.4. However, Apple chose to use the camera transform figure, roughly gamma 1.96, as the display transform.

You simply cannot display the same file at two different display transforms and get the same look to the file.

You can also play the file in VLC or Potplayer, on your Mac, and it will probably look very like it did in Premiere. But not like it looks in QuickTime player, or Chrome or Safari browsers, because the later let Apple's ColorSync utility set the display transform.

VLC, Potplayer, and Firefox nearly always use the correct gamma 2.4 transform.

To make matters even more ... fascinating ... Apple has 'Reference modes' on some of their computers. Setting the Reference mode to "HDTV" gets the correct transform.

So what you see is not just different on a Mac, it's only different on some Macs.

In Premiere's color management options there's now the Viewing Gamma setting and you can pick what thou wist. 

You could use gamma 1.96/Quicktime and your file after you do your corrections, will look very similar outside of Premiere on your Mac ... as long as you are viewing without Reference modes, and in QuickTime Player, Chrome, or Safari.

Outside of your computer, most PCs, TVs, Android devices, and any Mac with Reference Modes wills see a much darker image.

Or use gamma 2.2/web, which is for when setting color corrections in a fairly bright working environment actually. 

Or use gamma 2.4/broadcast if you are working in a pretty darkened room, as a pro colorist would be doing.

The latter will result in files that will look relatively like unto normal pro produced media on most screens. As all pro Rec.709 is graded in darkened rooms using display transform of gamma 2.4.

But if you are not in a darkened room, do not use gamma 2.4 while doing your color worrk. Use gamma 2.2. Or 1.96 if you want to.

[fxde]

so tldr: the color is that is displayed in premiere is correct, but it'll look different on my mac/other macs when viewing it on quicktime player or browsers and if i want to display it like its in premiere on most devices i should just stick to the current setting. If i need to see it the same as in premiere on my mac in quicktime, i need to change the reference mode if available or use gamma 1.96 but that will result in a darker image on most oder devices.

Thank you so much!

[fxde]

if i use hdtv reference mode, my screen is actually limited to a certain brightness, thats probably intented right?

[fxde]

just thought about the reference mode thing: if im using the correct transform so 2.4 on my mac display, my footage will still look x in premiere and y on quicktime, because i didnt change the export, i only changed the way the image gets displayed or am i not understanding something? because im not just changing the reference mode in quicktime its my whole display that changes how it looks so premiere preview will also change?

[fxde]

and even when using display gamma 1.96 in premiere and playing in quicktime (so also gamma 1.96) the colors still look different. Is this just something that i have to live with? reference mode is NOT set to hdtv

[fxde]

the displayed clip is transformed to rec709 and the sequence is also set to rec709
and im exporting in rec709 so it shouldnt look differemt when using the same gamma as in quicktime or am i missing smth?

[R Neil Haugen]

The gamma isn't encoded into the export. Isn't how it works.

The display gamma is applied to the file at the time of display. The reason the file looks different after export, when using different display gammas, is because you will do different changes to the file in color work.

Which is why the actual colorists training is to use the display gamma of 2.4 when ... and only when! ... grading in that very dark working environment. As that ambient light affects your perception of both screen brightness and especially color contrast and saturation.

But if, on the same computer and monitor, you are grading in a normally lit, fairly bright room, you would use a display gamma of 2.2.

NOT because Premiere or Resolve will encode the file accordingly to the display gamma, as they don't. But because that gets a more likely best result from your correction.

How the file is displayed outside of Premiere is out of Premiere's control. And yours, also, on every other screen out there.

Understand this: you have never, ever seen any show anywhere that was what the colorists saw when grading it. That is impossible and is never the aim of the colorists while working.

You can't even get two identical monitors, fed the same image from the same computer, side by side, to show the same identical image. This has been demonstrated many times.

Colorists grade to very tight demands... using a Decklink or AJA card/device and never the GPU to feed their Reference monitor, expensive calibration gear, and running a profile to check the results of the calibration BECAUSE only then can they guarantee that what they do to the pixels is correctly controlled.

And then, on any other screen out there, their output will look ... relative to any other professional media watched on that screen  ... like the other professional media watched on that screen.

And they know that no matter the screen, the image will never match what they saw when grading. It physically cannot.

Take a tablet outside during daytime, finish watching the show in your dark bedroom at night. Itcwillbseem a different image on that same screen due to the changes in ambient light.

Now add in that no two screens are ever alike.

Premiere actually tries to match professional standards. QuickTime player does not. It just does what mess ColorSync tells it to do.

I work for/with/teach pro colorists. Been with that a decade now. It's a very first bit of training.