Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/394837
www.postmagazine.com 28 POST SEPTEMBER 2014 COLOR CALIBRATION man, in-house engineering team known as "The Think Tank," handle calibration chores armed with a Photo Research PR- 655 SpectraScan spectroradiometer for the reference monitors and a Klein Instru- ments K10 colorimeter to calibrate against the PR meter for the plasmas. Calibration is done to the Rec. 709 color space or to BT. 1886, the recommended gamma target for reference video monitors. Clark notes that as different display technologies have emerged, his team has noticed instances of metamerism. "Two different display technologies appear to match with the calibration device, but they don't appear to match to every- one's eyes," he says. "You didn't see that with CRTs. But you see it with plasmas, OLEDs and LCDs. That's why it's so important to stick to a reference calibra- tion device that any facility can match to rather than starting to adjust by eye, which is never a good idea." While it doesn't fall strictly under the heading of calibration, assessing the viewing environment is also critical to the process. "We make sure there's an ap- propriate surround environment in each of our grading suites," says Clark, "with ambient lighting that meets the SMPTE spec for home video environments. And in our theater we have dark surround. This is key because your sense of con- trast is affected by the environment." When Colorworks needs to take its color workflow on-set, Sony OLED BVM or PVM Series monitors are installed. "They're very good reference monitors and smaller — 17 or 25 inches — so they're good for on-set use," says Clark. "We calibrate them when they go out and when they're set up. They need to meet our specs so everything looks the same when on-set color decisions come into our rooms." LCD monitors are often used on-set, too, and they typically re- quire more frequent calibration. FOTOKEM At FotoKem (www.fotokem.com) in Burbank, a combination of Sony BVM and PVM Series of OLED professional reference monitors and 55- and 65-inch Panasonic plasmas are used for color grading and editorial on the campus, on- set and at remote locations. "Color is a critical component that often starts on- and near-set, and is important not only for technical reasons but also to empower people making creative decisions that can have impli- cations in dailies, editorial, visual effects and finishing," notes chief strategy officer Mike Brodersen. A small team of FotoKem engineers provides calibration expertise, says Brod- ersen. "They've been doing calibration since the days of Sony CRT professional reference monitors — and we still main- tain a couple of them," he reports. "They also go in the field and on-set to calibrate monitors. Whether we deploy the monitor or if it's someone else's — the DP's monitor, a monitor in the DIT tent, our own monitors for NextLab live dailies — we maintain control over the critical monitors on-set, near-set or near-location," Brodersen says. "We cal- ibrate monitors before they're deployed and double check them after they're shipped to make sure all the settings are maintained and nothing's been lost in transit. Remote personnel do regular checking too and send for us to recali- brate if they notice any issues." FotoKem's calibration kit consists of a Photo Research PR-650 SpectraScan colorimeter, PR-655 SpectraScan spect- roradiometer, SpectraCal's CalMAN video calibration software, which is compati- ble with a number of monitors, and test generators. An additional component of the calibration kit is the engineers' experience. "Calibration isn't done auto- matically. It requires a lot of attention to detail and has to be extremely accurate," says Brodersen. "We calibrate everything to Rec. 709 or BT. 1886. Even with a soft- ware program to guide you through the process, you still need the experience to know that things are working correctly." FotoKem puts a Fujifilm IS-mini 3D LUT box inline with every plasma "to fine tune the calibration and try to get it as close to the specs as we can," Brodersen explains. "We've been doing this a long time; it gives us more control than the monitors' controls provide to achieve the specs." He notes that the facility has the same strict procedures for the 2K and 4K pro- jectors in its DI suites. New at FotoKem's TV facility is a Pana- sonic 4K reference monitor. "We continue to evaluate all 4K offerings, including those from Canon and JVC," says Broder- sen. "We pay close attention to emerging technologies. We're looking closely at HDR technology, like Dolby Pulsar, and Rec. 2020, the UHD color broadcast spec, for high dynamic range and higher and wider gamut color spaces." NICE SHOES Each of the five identical color suites at New York City's Nice Shoes (www. niceshoes.com) features a Sony OLED PVM-A250 reference monitor for the col- orist and a 58-inch Panasonic consumer plasma monitor, calibrated to match the OLED, for the client. Routine maintenance is done month- ly by Nice Shoes' engineering and IT staff. Colorists check the displays daily, however, and if they spot any problems help is quickly at hand to resolve them. The chief calibration tool is a high-end professional probe, which is used for both the OLEDs and plasmas. "We just got new plasmas, and the initial calibration is a long process, but af- ter that, it's just slight tweaks," says Chris Ryan, a Nice Shoes partner and senior colorist. "Any professional monitors today are good at holding their color — they're FotoKem's Mike Brodersen and the studio's DI suite.