Solving the Calibration Process

There are solutions. In fact, a dizzying number of solutions, all of them slightly or greatly different. To sum up:
  • Kodak Display Manager is a software application
  • designed to emulate the photochemical process of Kodak print film. Says
  • Kodak's Commercialization Manager, Hybrid Origination Products, Carlo
  • Hume: "We calibrate and characterize a number of displays. In the case
  • of computer monitors, we can automatically adjust the red, green and
  • blue controls using a colorimeter or what some people call a puck, that
  • senses luminance and color."
  • FilmLight Truelight is a mix of service and software.
  • The service kicks in during a test phase when FilmLight sends Cineon
  • files on CD to the end-user who then records them out to negative,
  • strikes a print and sends that back to FilmLight. The exercise is to
  • guarantee fidelity at three points: between the data and the negative,
  • the negative and the print, and the print and display. Using a probe
  • that characterizes monitors, displays, and projectors, FilmLight comes
  • up with a mathematical model and creates a customized 3D LUT for the
  • user.
  • Rising Sun Research offers CineSpace to create a
  • perceptual match among all the facility's displays. "Secondly, we take
  • those calibrated displays and try to emulate what the final film will
  • look like," says VP of Sales Jeremy Pollard. Though CineSpace includes
  • a set of film profiles, users doing color grading are encouraged to run
  • a custom profile. Send in test frames recorded to film and Rising Sun
  • turns around the custom profile in 24 to 48 hours. Earlier this month,
  • Rising Sun Research debuted CineSpace OnSet, designed to integrate
  • directly with IRIDAS' SpeedGrade OnSet look development
  • application. RSR's Onset profiles the displays of laptaps or standalone
  • machines and preserves color characteristics through to any operation
  • using CineSpace 2.1.
  • Arri Color Management System (CMS) converts the image
  • prior to recording with the Arrilaser, so that the film in projection
  • matches the look of the monitor. A software option for the Arrilaser,
  • CMS adjusts the image data while recording, matching colors that were
  • seen on the HD monitor during grading.
  • Grass Valley LUTher Color Space Converter with 3D LUT Designer Software
  • is a high-resolution 3D look-up table that enables calibrated
  • previsualization of a film print on a HD display or digital projection
  • system. 3D LUT Designer Software allows the user to create 3D LUTs from
  • 1D LUTs, or by comparing a reference image with an image that's gone
  • through the complete processing chain. The system also allows the user
  • to combine different 3D LUTs into one for different display devices.
  • ECinema Systems debuted the DCM23, a flat screen TFT
  • LCD monitor at IBC this fall. Founder/CEO Martin Euredijian guarantees
  • 'identical color viewing' from one DCM23 to another, whether between
  • two color suites in a facility or in remote locations.” Film stocks can
  • be emulated on the monitor using a 1D look-up table. (For more on the
  • DCM23, see www.hdstudio.com.)
Everyone agrees that competition is good. In the world of Digital
Intermediates, matching what you see to what you get is even better.