R3D come in very flat and Gray.

[TonyAro127]

Lately, I tried importing R3D files from the Red website into Premeire v22. They come in very flat and have a hazy gray look to them. I happens on both my Windows and Mac systems.  I am an instructor and wantede to teach my students about Proxy and Transcoding.

In the past, I have used the same files and they were fine, only the Proxy was grayish but the full resolution was fine.  Even odder, the old file seems to be fine but if I bring in the same files again, they are messed up.

What's going on? Is it a bug? Please help.

[R Neil Haugen · Accepted solution]

That's because the r3d files are log encoded RAW files! They have the full sensor data and metadata from the camera for the user to complete set things as if still "in the camera". They do NOT come in with anything "baked in".

You need to then go into the Source tab settings for the clip in the Effects Control Panel, and use the tools for setting what you want done to the file, everything from ISO to all the exposure and gamma settings.

Neil

[TonyAro127]

Thanks Neil, that helped alot. I swear, several months ago I brought in the same files and they looked fine without any settings changed as I did not know they existed until you told me about them.

The files I had brought in months ago did have some different settings. Another funny thing is that the thumbnails in Bridge also looked fine.

Well thank you again for the help. I think I got it now.

Tony

[TonyAro127]

I just discovered, if I click the "Reload from RMD" button it magically becomes beautiful.

I thought it might have something to do with that sidecar file.

Thanks again and Happy New Year!

Tony

[R Neil Haugen]

Ain't it fun to sort all these things out? ... Um ... or maybe not so much ...

Neil

[TonyAro127]

If you would like to see a video of my problem click the link, Proxy Problem.

Otherwise, thanks for all your help. I learned a lot. No need to reply.

Tony

[R Neil Haugen]

Yea, the proxy issues with the currently adopted default CM setup is broken, and the engineers are aware. How long till it gets fixed, no clue.

What you're looking at between the old behavior and the new is those r3d files were brought in with the Red meta data (that's the RMD option) loaded assumed as Rec.709/SDR.

Now ... they don't 'auto-assume' anything. So the files come into Premiere's source monitor viewed as a log-encoded (not normalized) view. That's the gray-ish version.

SDR/Rec.709 media is mathematically a full-integer encoding, essentially. Logarithmic encoding was used to get more dynamic range and color space data stored within a file without the numbers getting huge. And so when HDR was imagined, they decided that HDR would use log encoded data as the "normal" way of encoding.

So when the devs set Premiere to "recognize" some forms of log-encoded media, as log, it assumes those are meant for an HDR timeline now. Rather than that grayish log view of the r3d files you showed, you get ... a full-on maybe 8,000 nit file displayed on your Rec.709 timeline.

Yowza!

There aren't monitors that can produce an 8,000 nit image yet! So ... to use those files, you have to go into the project panel and use the Modify/Interpret Footage option Override to Rec.709.

But the proxies from those media clips will be blown out in any use even on most HDR timelines. And some, like the r3d files, will be 'log looking' on a Rec.709 timeline, but often look fine on an HLG timeline. Even though your source settings are set for Rec.709.

Yea, busted thoroughly at the moment.

Neil