Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/34797
ago that Canon’s 5D Mark II was unleashed on the world. Despite that short amount of time, every major manufacturer in the industry has responded by offering equivalent sensors, not just for video-enabled DSLRs, but a whole new generation of video cameras as well. Simultaneously, many new color grading plug-ins and suites have arrived to offer everyone, from the novice to the pro, color grading options for every capture device, be it the iPhone 4, the Arri Alexa or the Red Epic.These new color grading suites and plug-ins allow the colorist to choose a look prior to it ever being shot. Cinematographers have responded by shooting footage that is flattened, removing all contrast, sharpness and saturation, creating a clean pallet for the colorist to paint as they see fit. As accommodating as RAW or simulated RAW The footage can be, it’s not a slam-dunk scenario. De- pending on the 3D color space you’ve created, pulling out all of the saturation or contrast might not work.With all this new hardware on set, it’s likely that more than one type of camera may be used, creating variations in footage that can be a post production nightmare.This myriad of capture devices has re- sulted in a great need for accuracy from capture as well as the post process. A lack of accuracy in color increases the amount of time and therefore the cost of any production. The industry has responded with a variety of mon- itoring solutions that not only ensure an accurate re- production of images in the edit bay, but they can also help the DP make certain that what they shoot will be a perfect fit regardless of the color space chosen. With this in mind, Post has chosen a handful of top monitor manufacturers in the industry to share how they are helping get the greatest accuracy from cap- ture to distribution. IKAN’S CINEMAGE Cine-tal’s Cinemage marked a new standard for monitoring solutions for industry giants like variety of cameras now offering VistaVision sensors has exploded. It was only two and a half years James Cameron and places like Deluxe and Technicolor. Recently, Houston-based Ikan purchased the Cinemage line from Cine-tal and is continuing this lineage of success in a whole new way. Every great monitor begins with a great panel, and the quality of that panel dictates the quality of the monitor itself. According to Michael Webb, director of product develop- ment for Ikan, they go to great lengths to get the very best panels in the industry for the most white points, incredibly even backlight and ensuring against any flaws such as dead pixels. Cinemage’s image processor gen- erates realtime data to generate waveforms, vectorscopes, gamut in- formation and status of the incom- ing signal. Cinemage uses “Cine- Space” software to emulate any display system, even display systems that do not conform to industry stan- dards like iPods, consumer TVs, cell phones, digital signage and event venue displays.You can operate the Cinemage monitor from any device with a Web browser. According to Barry Garcia, manager of Cinemage works. Frames, LUTs and system presets can be saved to network storage devices. Cinemage is also a network appliance. Prices run $10,000. to $25,000 depending on software options and size. DOLBY According to Derek Brookmeyer HP’s DreamColor display was co-developed with DreamWorks Animation. at Dolby (www.dolby.com), they worked closely with colorists and cinematographers to perfect the Dolby Professional Reference Moni- tor.This 42-inch monitor has a reso- lution of 1920x1080 and a refresh rate of 120Hz.The unit renders true black levels, accurate dark detail and precise color accuracy across all lu- minance levels and in all formats. It supports 3D LUTs, allowing it to match digital screening environments and to emulate the response of film-print stocks during the digital intermediate color cor- rection process. The monitor displays color pre- sets with 1D and 3D LUTs. It also sup- ports DCI P3, all high definition for- mats over HD-SDI and 2K video con- tent. By emulating the full gamut of film, it allows DCI P3 color grading products for Ikan (www.ikancorp.com), a cool feature of the Cinemage monitors are the look-up tables and the ability to push those predefined tables to other monitors. Cinemage’s previsualization tools work with color grading tools so you can see what your image will look like after processing.The monitor lets you capture still frames during production and will transmit those images to your iPhone, laptop or other Web-enabled device. Use your PDA to control the system, e-mail stills and LUTs to other members of your team. LUTs can be stored locally, on network storage or on a portable USB thumb drive. Remote colorists can grab frames to create LUTs and load them into Cinemage for color previsualization on set. Cinemage allows you to conduct engineer- ing set-up for a post ses- sion remotely. The Cinemage monitor is a network device that provides for full connectiv- ity to Gigabit Ethernet net- Dolby’s 42-inch unit offers 1920x1080 resolution and a refresh rate of 120Hz. without using a digital projector.The unit is back-lit by 1,500 RGB LED triads.This image, together with the image on the LCD, produces the final image. The Dolby monitor sports two output connectors, with support for 1.5G and 3G SDI, single and dual link.The Dolby monitor doesn’t have onscreen displays to in- terfere with the image. An included external desktop or rack-mounted remote controller handles all func- tions providing immediate, intuitive access to all of the features, functions and parameters with simple menus. HP DreamColor, the 24-inch, 30-bit LCD panel co-de- veloped by HP (www.hp.com) and DreamWorks An- imation, can be found on the set and in the studio for those looking for accurate image reproduction. Ed Leonard, chief technology officer of DreamWorks Animation, summarizes the HP/DreamWorks collab- oration:“With the new DreamColor display, HP has broken through barriers that have existed in display technology for the past decade.”The DreamColor boasts 30-bit LCD panel technology and supports over one billion active colors — 64 times the colors supported by traditional LCDs. The monitor incorporates technology that pro- vides saturated primary colors and a very broad color gamut.This makes it possible to set the monitor to ac- curately reproduce a chosen standard color space. The DreamColor includes easy factory presets that allow the user to “snap” to the color ranges. Each monitor is factory-calibrated with values used to apply corrections to the red, green and blue input values, within the “front-end” electronics of the monitor. www.postmagazine.com June 2011 • Post 29