Clips appear desaturated in Premiere

[Tomathan69]

I'm working with some DNxHR 444 12-bit clips I exported from Resolve.

In Resolve, they appear the way I want them.

In MPC, they appear the way I want them.

When I import them into Premiere, they become desaturated. Images below.

1: As it appears in Resolve

2: As it appears after exporting as a DNxHR, played in MPC

3: As it appears in Premiere

How do I fix this so the colours match in Premiere?

[Joëlle Bh]

Hello,

Please check this link

https://community.adobe.com/t5/premiere-pro/quot-why-does-my-footage-look-darker-in-premiere-quot-co...

[Tomathan69]

Update

After closing Premiere, going to bed and starting it back up this morning, this problem is mostly gone. I tried restarting yesterday but it didn't work then.

However, the colours still aren't quite right. The brightness isn't all the way there yet. I compensated by adding an adjustment layer with Lumetri set to Whites: 30.

Right now, I can't tell the difference between the current version in Premiere and the Resolve export. I still think it's pretty poor that I have to do this to make the shots match but oh well.

So maybe the problem was just a fluke or maybe the solution is a fluke or maybe the contrast/gamma setting randomise each day. I'll give an update after some time to see how things go from here.

[Kevin-Monahan]

Any system info? We have nothing to go on, Tomathan. Often, this is a macOS issue and using P3 monitors. Is this your situation?

Thanks,

Kevin

[Tomathan69]

Gigabyte AERO 17 HDR

Windows 10 Pro

i9-10980HK

32GB RAM

RTX 2080 Super MaxQ

[R Neil Haugen]

Premiere Pro has some "anamolous"  reactions to DNxHD/R 4444 12-bit. My recollection is it treats them like an RGB format,  rather than YUV as Avid tends to see it. I don't remember what behavior that causes for the image viewing within Premiere.

Neil

[Tomathan69 · Accepted solution]

So, here's what I did. It's a bit of a janky solution but it worked for me.

Just so you know, a part of the project included VFX and title elements in AE and film grain over the whole thing.

1: Matching the footage INSIDE Premiere

I put a Lumetri adjustment layer over footage (not including AE comps) with these settings.

Whites: 25

Blacks: -6

I did the same for the footage plates in the AE comps inside AE. When linking the AE comps to the Premiere sequence, I put the AE comps in a layer ABOVE the Lumetri adjustment layer. Reason being I don't want the VFX and title elements to be changed because they already look how I want them to look.

Doing this made the footage match in Premiere's preview window.

I then put the film grain layer on top of everything.

2: Matching the footage on EXPORT

After export, the colours don't quite match how they appeared in the preview window.

I added another Lumetri adjustment layer on top of everything with the following settings:

Highlights: 20

Shadows: 20

Blacks: -12.5

I then applied the LUT Joëlle Bh linked (https://assets.adobe.com/public/a0b635a3-6bc3-452b-5f7d-c997b9b36cf5) in the export settings.

To recap the layers:

1: Colour graded footage

2: Lumetri adjustment layer to match image in preview to original

3: AE comps, already matched in AE using the same settings

4: Film grain

5: Lumetri adjustment layer to match exported video to preview window

And finally, applying the previously mentioned LUT in the export settings

 

You could probably put the LUT in the highest Lumetri adjustment layer if you try this workaround, but I didn’t test it.

I got these numbers for the Lumetri setting through a trial and error/eyeball routine, but the footage matches pretty damn well. If you go through the same process and find better settings, reply and tell us all about it, I’d be very helpful.

If the link to the LUT goes down, post a reply and I'll post another link.

Finally, I want to say that is pretty poor on Adobe’s part. I don’t know exactly what causes the footage to not match in the preview window, but it really isn’t good enough. DNxHR is a commonly used codec and better support is not only needed but expected. Even worse, there is no excuse for the export to not match what appears in the preview window. These problems added too many unnecessary hours to the project. These products are expensive, and the quality should reflect it.

Here's the final video if you want to watch it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Amb0B-t5eFI