At London’s BVE this year site editor Dan Chung had a chat with photographer Adrian Weinbrecht, who has been using X-Rite’s new ColorChecker Video colour chart as part of his video workflow.
Even if your lighting setup is completely controlled it looks like this new chart could be a valuable tool in speeding up post-production and making sure that you begin to grade your image from a controlled starting point, especially if you’re shooting in a flat Log-style colour profile.
The chart uses fewer colour chips than a traditional colour chart, to make it easier to read using a vectorscope; there are also more skin tone patches to make it easier to judge if there’s something that needs adjusting in your image.
As well as an on-set tool, the chart can also be used in post as the starting point of a semi-automated colour correction process. You have to make sure to record a frame with the chart on set under each different set of lighting conditions you use; then in post when used in conjunction with a plugin (Adrian uses Colour Finale in our video above) you define where the chart is and the software does the rest, generating a colour-tweaked image that’s ready for further grading. Depending on your look (and/or laziness) you might even find you don’t need to do much more than that.
The ColorChecker Video is available now, priced at £110 inc VAT for the larger target that comes in a slipcase. The smaller ColorChecker Video Passport (that comes in a folding pocket-sized case) is priced at £125 inc VAT.
