SmallHD, a producer of on-camera monitors, announced a new on-camera color grading system, designed to dial-in quick color grades and provide clients and crew with a clear view of how the finished product will look. Available now, this toolset is part of a free downloadable firmware upgrade V3.0, and ships with all new SmallHD DP7-PRO on-camera field monitors.
Providing a real-time preview of what a shot should look like after post can be costly and cumbersome, requiring additional hardware to be dragged around on set. SmallHD’s DP7-PRO color monitor and color grading software offers a cost-effective method of injecting visual creativity on the spot to keep the client and key members of the crew on the same visual page.
The DP7-PRO with the color-grading suite offers color grading of HDMI and SDI signals. The graded video can be sent downstream via HDMI or SDI to another monitor. It also allows for importing and applying grades in 3D LUTs (look up tables) that have been created on desktop color grading apps, and for modifying them on the DP7-PRO. What’s more, the resultant grades made on the DP7-PRO can be exported for use with any color-grading app as a starting point for postproduction coloring.
“More and more cameras are producing flat looking image profiles, which is better for post but have made it harder on shooters who need to instill confidence in clients and directors on set,” said SmallHD co-founder and CEO Wes Phillips. “The DP7-PRO color grading system is a compact, low cost way of giving a client or director an instant view of what the up-coming or just-finished take will look like coming out of post–everything they need to be excited about your shots.”
Another function is the ability to overlay any JPEG image via SD card on top of live video using selectable transparency of the JPEG. Shooting for post becomes much easier now that a small on-camera monitor allows shooters to perform shot matching for CG work and camera alignment for 3D rigs. In addition, the update allows the DP7-PRO to capture nearly unlimited screen shots from the video feed, giving the user a reference for continuity, and shot composition for future “overlay” use.
