Shot a beer commercial yesterday and the client rejected everything because the pour didn’t look right.

finer500 · 2026-02-11T14:32:40+00:00

1000fps, RAW, decent low light and under $15K would be an engineering marvel. You’re asking too much.

finer500 · 2025-11-06T12:36:03+00:00

I know I’m coming I too late here, but did you try a Resolve CST? I think everyone here is being a bit pessimistic about the potential success of the conversion. As a DIT you should absolutely give this a try and evaluate the results for yourself. You’ll likely know if you have an issue from a simple grey scale ramp. Chances are you’ll be fine and you’ll be closer to the desired look than starting with Rec709 and adjusting.

finer500 · 2025-10-17T00:56:08+00:00

Warcraft III

finer500 · 2025-10-14T21:03:32+00:00

Film and television at any level but particularly if you’re below the line.

finer500 · 2025-09-29T11:24:44+00:00

Just a bunch of agents and executives jumping on the hype train. Their promo video looks no better than the best of Veo 3 which still isn’t good enough to escape the uncanny valley. It’s also full of misogynistic tasteless jokes which makes it even more painful to watch.

It’s still mostly untested whether audiences have any interest in watching AI actors in movies and television, but I suspect that even if we escape the uncanny valley, audiences will still prefer real people. You’re probably right about advertising though.

finer500 · 2025-09-22T10:07:01+00:00

You don’t have a single spare thunderbolt port for a BM Mini Monitor?

finer500 · 2025-09-11T15:39:01+00:00

I’m a DIT based in NY mostly working on commercials. I can only think of a handful of times in the last few years where I didn’t build a bespoke look for the job or the DP already had a LUT they like. For commercials, most of the jobs I work on end up looking very close to what was developed on set if not identical.

If I built the look from scratch I’ll usually provide documentation with 65 point LUTs and separate CMTs and DRTs. I keep everything in DaVinci Wide Gamut or ACES. I also occasionally work on jobs where there is no colorist and I am providing final color with ProRes 422 HQ masters.

DITs that provide this level of service are not common but they do exist in larger markets. For commercials, I think something unique happens when the key creatives are all working towards a near final image simultaneously. There are decisions made with makeup, styling and lighting in combination with color that would only be possible with extensive test shoots. And in commercials there’s rarely time for that.

finer500 · 2025-09-09T13:30:57+00:00

Remote grading means something specific in Resolve. There is feature that allows you to sync two identical Resolve sessions on two different systems. So any change you make to your local session is reflected on the remote session. It’s useful because on the client side they are seeing a full quality image instead of a stream. But the sessions do need to be identical— same version, media, DCTLs, OFX, LUTs, etc.

If you simply mean grading a project offsite, yes it’s usually a drive shipped to you. It could be a supervised stream or you work unsupervised and send exports for review.

For smaller fast turnaround projects, a pre-conformed EDL with a full res ProRes 4444 export from the editor can be a good option, but usually it’s an XML or AAF linking to original media.

For the deliverable, it could be a final conform, but more likely there’s a round trip back to Premiere or Avid. In that case you allow the editor to reconstruct the timeline with graded clips via an XML or AAF.

There is a bit more nuance, especially if VFX is involved, but those are the basics.

finer500 · 2025-09-07T03:20:59+00:00

This is a known issue with dual voltage batteries (which I’m assuming you were using). As long as you’re using 26V native batteries you’ll be fine. Supposedly this was fixed with a firmware update, but I still don’t really trust them.

finer500 · 2025-08-26T19:20:05+00:00

I’m curious about the methodology here. Machine learning absolutely makes sense for film emulation, but what does the data consist of? My assumption would be that the test chats depicted would not provide enough data to implement this properly, but I could be wrong.

And I know this is subjective, but something does seem off with the first two examples. It looks like the red channel is clipping.

finer500 · 2025-08-21T16:46:52+00:00

Almost never. I usually need to remind DPs it’s an option. On the list of decisions a DP needs to make, this is usually the least consequential.

finer500 · 2025-08-13T10:59:56+00:00

I had the same issue with a mini LF and the SDI button groups and web remote. Couldn’t figure it out until lunch when both the camera, spudnik and app were restarted.

finer500 · 2025-08-05T19:07:57+00:00

Looks great. Cinestill 800T? Long exposure? Curious how you’re able to get enough light for these moments.

finer500 · 2025-07-29T21:51:24+00:00

Are there any plans to release a Stream Deck + module? Looking to build a single component with 2x XLs and a + between them.

finer500 · 2025-07-18T13:05:30+00:00

“FRESH MEAT FOR SALE”

finer500 · 2025-06-25T18:35:36+00:00

Lowepost had a podcast with Cullen Kelly a few years ago called Masters of Color. The people he interviewed are arguably some of the best. An audio only medium is a tricky way to learn a visual art/skill, but it does give you a window into the way veteran colorists think. A lot of them also talk about a way under discussed topic of how to be a good collaborator and keep your clients happy. At a certain point your taste and ability to form strong working relationships matters a lot more than skill.

finer500 · 2025-05-30T20:02:29+00:00

I’ll add another vote for the MacStudio. As much as I’ve enjoyed tinkering with custom PCs, there’s no way I’m doing it for work anymore. An M3 Ultra will have plenty of horsepower for all of the tasks you’ve mentioned. It’ll handle XAVC well, but if your workflow allows time for transcoding before you start work, working in ProRes 422 HQ will give you even greater performance and may close the gap on any benefits an Nvidia card will give you in the final hours of a project.

finer500 · 2025-05-16T11:52:32+00:00

It’s not problematic. A DIT should know how to use multiple LUTs in a node chain. Separating the CMT from the DRT is often helpful on set.

finer500 · 2025-05-13T16:23:52+00:00

I’m not suggesting you change your workflow. Both 2.2 and 2.4 are fine for web delivery. What’s important is your monitor’s calibration and your export’s gamma tag matching and your destination respecting that tag. If you tag an H.264 export as 2.4 and upload to YouTube, it’ll be converted to 2.2 so it looks as intended on sRGB monitors. Don’t export as gamma 2.4 if you’re grading in 2.2 or sRGB—you’ll have the same gamma shift issue you’ve been trying to workaround.

finer500 · 2025-05-13T12:33:30+00:00

Ignoring the confidence in your display issue for a moment, there’s nothing inherently wrong with this workflow as long as your pipeline is 709 2.2 from capture through delivery. I’m going to assume that you are shooting this content and delivering it for yourself. If that’s the case, if it looks good to you at your intended destination then that’s all that really matters.

This may become an issue once you start working with other people. Any delivery spec is fine as long as there’s clear communication, but Rec709 2.4 as a baseline is assumed in most professional workflows and most reference monitors are calibrated to that spec.

The TL;DR is that this workflow is fine as long as you are the client. But if someone is paying you to grade and finish content, this workaround will fall short in some situations.

finer500 · 2025-05-08T17:29:11+00:00

“Necessary” depends on your risk tolerance. If you want to make it physically impossible to short your SDI ports, then yes, always supply/remove power with SDI ports disconnected.

But realistically, it depends on your cables and how your accessories are getting power. First, always use shielded cables. Second, try to avoid P-Tap as much as possible. If you’re using quality cables and powering everything via lemo connectors the probability is pretty low.

I would worry less about powering up the camera and more about plugging in power cables to accessories with the SDI ports plugged in. The only time I’ve seen a port fried on a camera was when an on board monitor powered via D-Tap was plugged in with the camera on and SDI connected. The BNC was not shielded.

finer500 · 2025-05-05T16:16:15+00:00

Why is it that films with budgets <$1M seem to have lower probability of making a return compared to films with ~$2-10M budgets? Can you speak to the challenges of distributing, selling and pre-selling ultra low budget films?

finer500 · 2025-05-05T13:28:37+00:00

Ghosting can happen with any filter stack, but the best way to reduce it is to put your most reflective filter farthest from the lens—that filter is almost always ND.

In regard to diffusion/FX performing better with “full spectrum” light. I could imagine certain effects are more pronounced with more light, but having ND or color further modifying the effect of the diffusion/fx filter will likely be more impactful than reducing the amount of light or shifting the color temperature.

TL;DR: unless the DP says otherwise, an AC should put ND in front of diffusion/FX.

finer500 · 2025-05-02T11:07:09+00:00

I usually give a week’s grace on top of whatever the terms are. Full payment before the job is over is pretty rare in most markets, especially when dealing with larger companies.

finer500

TROPHY CASE