Hi, I’m setting up my new equipment and not sure how to setup Flame’s monitor color settings. I got a HP Z27 for GUI and a Benq 10-bit that uses a hardware 3D LUT for calibration to use as my “broadcast” monitor. (No actual broadcast equipment yet, just USB-C). I used the benq software and i1 colorimeter to calibrate the broadcast as REC709 and left the HP as Srgb (I think, it just shows up as z27 in the Mac display color settings). My issue is that the 2 monitors don’t match in flame at all. They’re both set as aces cg -video in the viewer. I have the broadcast monitor set to rec709 and the GUI set to sync to OS but the Video picture in the GUI monitor is way brighter and the broadcast looks clipped and muted. I assumed they would be at least close to the each other. Any tips?
This is a longshot and I’m not much of a monitors expert, but in your color prefs, what do the Broadcast, Graphics, and Monitoring sections say?
Broadcast is what’s going out to your Benq monitor, Graphics is your main Flame monitor.
You can ignore “Monitoring” in this case, as that’s the scope signal.
Thanks for wading in Andy. Those settings were all correct. The culprit, it turns out, was that the default settings on my HP monitor were awful. Once I calibrated it, everything made sense. I totally was considering another Benq for my GUI that comes pre-calibrated and was a little bit cheaper than this HP but then decided to go with the HP because I love what they do with calculators.
Anyway, thanks for trying to help.
Wait… you are gonna have to explain more about this HP calculator thing.
And how did you calibrate your monitor?
Randy, you probably don’t get it because you used a TI-85. I was never that cool.
As for calibration, I used the i1 Display Pro Plus. It’s nothing like that huge kit they kept in that old suitcase at the mill but it’ll do. It is pretty shocking how different this HP looks now compared to before I calibrated it. I guess you really should never use an uncalibrated moniter. BTW, if anyone buys one of these calibrators, I suggest going for the “Filmmakers Kit” that includes a colorchecker passport. It’s significantly cheaper than buying the passport on its own and it can’t hurt to throw it in your on-set bag.
I was a sheep and was totally a TI-85 user. Nailed it
And that little monitor thingy just plugs into your Mac and generates all the test patterns and does its thing?
It depends on how high-end your monitor is. For most non-pro monitors, you plug the calibrator into the USB of your computer and the i1 software will do a test where it does test colors on the screen and creates a profile that is activated in the display settings of your OS. It also helps you figure out the correct brightness and color settings to dial in on the monitor itself.
For high-end monitors like the Benq SW271 that I’m using for my broadcast screen, it actually calibrates the monitor itself, so you plug the calibrator into a USB port on the monitor and there is Benq software that generates test patterns on the screen and then automatically creates and loads a 3D LUT into the monitor. so, I can create a calibrated profile for Rec709 and another for P3 and then switch between them using this remote control puck that comes with the monitor. I would still need to tell Flame what colorspace the monitor is in though.
@greg I’m in the market for a new monitor. What BenQ do you have and how do you rate it?
also, I made a separate thread for people’s monitor opinions if you want to post it there for posterity. Haha.
It depends on what you need from it. For color critical work I`d go with NEC P/PA series or EIZO CG series.
PS All BenQ I saw in person was nothing special at best, some was just bad. Maybe I have bad luck with them.
PPS It`s more important how you calibrate your monitor for most of a time, then what label it has.
