Different colors in FCP vs Final Results

Paulski92, after further study I think here is what you've done. Note some of these are guesses, so correct me where needed:

• You shot a Rec.709 SDR clip with your camera
• You imported that clip to an FCP Wide Gamut HDR library
• You created an HDR Rec.2020 PQ project
• You put the Rec.709 SDR clip on the timeline
• You did File>Share>Save Current Frame
• You exported the Rec. SDR clip from the FCP HDR Rec.2020 PQ project, producing a file with NCLC tags 9-1-9, meaning:

Color Primaries: ITU-R BT.2020

Transfer Function: ITU-R BT.709

YCbCr Matrix: TU-R BT.2020

• When playing that clip in Quicktime Player and comparing it to how Quick Look shows the exported frame, the exported frame is darker.

Cause: The BT.709 SDR clip in an HDR Rec.2020 PQ timeline would normally have been too dark in the FCP viewer. However the FCP automatic Color Conform feature (see Inspector) applies SDR to HDR (PQ) conversion. That converted state is retained when you export that clip, tagged as 9-1-9. However the Save Current Frame export does not retain that. I am investigating why.

Your best current workaround is export that as a one-frame video. That is easy to do using the JKL keys. Put the playhead on the desired timeline frame, tap I to select the In point, hold K and tap L to advance one frame, tape O to select Out point, then export that. FCP will automatically export the selected range (one frame in this case).

This is actually not an esoteric workaround because there has long been an industry standardization problem concerning video tag attributes applied to still images. Regardless of your current situation, it is not really reliable to take a screen capture or even save the current frame from a video file.

I'll post more info when available. Let me know if you have additional questions.

I just tested this on FCP 11.2 and Tahoe 20.1 on an M1 Ultra Mac Studio and an Apple Studio Display with the default P3-600 preset, also the BT.709/BT.1886 reference preset.

Using an Rec.709 H.264 clip in a Rec.709 timeline and an SDR library, Save Current Frame to .jpg looked just the same in Quick Look and in FCP as the original video clip in FCP. I also tested it on an Eizo CG2700X monitor connected via USB-C (AltDisplayPort) using the standard Eizo ICC display profile. They looked the same on that monitor.

I also tested it using FCP 11.2 and Sequoia 15.7.2 on an M1 Max MacBook Pro 16. Save Current Frame to jpg also looked the same in Quick Look and FCP as the original Rec.709 video clip.

Is your FCP library SDR or Wide Gamut HDR? Is the project timeline Rec.709 or something else?

In Finder, select your exported current frame and do CMD+I. What does that say for Color Space and Color Profile?

For your video clip from which you did Save Current Frame, play that in Quicktime Player and do CMD+I, open the Video Details section, and tell us what that says, especially for the three-digit code points. What kind of camera was that shot on and what codec is that?

We also need to know your display color profile or display LUT. That is shown in macOS System Settings>Displays>Color Profile, or for newer MacBook Pros with an XDR display or Apple Studio Display it will be a reference preset. What does that show on your machine?

There was previously some kind of issue in this area, but I thought it only happened with a Wide Gamut HDR library, and it was a MacOS issue not caused by FCP. I can't clearly remember.

That said, I don't think it's guaranteed that a save current frame from FCP or a screen cap will show the same color behavior as the original video clip. Those are really not the ideal methods to save a color reference from a video. The best way is to use the FCP range select tool, select a single frame on the timeline and export that as a single-frame *video* clip. That will have all the same color metadata as the original clip. You can select a single video frame by pressing I to select the "in" point, hold down K and press L to go forward one frame, then the letter O to set the "out" point. Share that from FCP and it will export a single-frame video.

A Quicktime video file contains NCLC tags that ColorSync uses to color match to the display profile. There is no equivalent to NCLC color tags in a .jpg or .png still. That said it seemed to work on my two test machines using FCP 11.2, Tahoe 26.1 and Sequoia.

In that video I can definitely see a difference, BUT, you're in two different applications, which is never going to look right. Again, different applications handle color differently. Put both in an FCP timeline, do a side-by-side inside FCP. That's the ONLY comparison that matters.

FCP is processing everything as REC 709, most all other apps process a PNG as RGB. Apple to oranges. Please show us a side-by-side inside an FCP timeline.

This reminds me a bit of a problem I had a few weeks ago where the clip in the browser was darker than the same clip dropped on the timeline (before any processing). I was going to post here but the screenshot showed the same luminance for both images.

I'm not at that computer at the moment (Mac mini M4 and Benq monitor) so I'm struggling to remember exactly what I did but I think I turned off the HDR setting on the monitor which solved the issue. I think it was an HDR clip. For the simple things I do it really wasn't needed.

Paulski92: thanks. I need to see the ICC file from your M3 iMac. Please send that to me at this WeTransfer folder:

https://we.tl/r-Vdd4pOgjmn

See the attached graphic for how to get this file. This depicts a different ICC profile, but the procedure should be similar. The first step is running the ColorSync Utility. To launch this, do CMD+spacebar and type "colorsync". I am sorry it is this complex. You have not done anything wrong.

I agree with Ben. I don't see a difference. The only thing I can think of, which is probably not the case, but I will bring it up, is your monitor. I noticed on a project I was working on that my second monitor's colors did not match the first monitor, and there was a noticeable difference. Secondly maybe you had the "better performance " instead of quality, which could change the picture quality until you render. So it is possible that what you are seeing while in Final Cut, is not what is going to be rendered. Try switching to "better quality" under your view drop down. Those are my two thoughts. Good luck .

Wait... this problem has emerged before. Exporting a still image in png format makes the gamma be incorrect, resulting in the same image, when imported back, looking noticeably different.

What version of FCP are you using?

This problem appeared a few versions ago, but I think it has been fixed since then. I cannot make it happen in 11.2, and I do recall seeing it on my mac, when discussing the issue in an older thread here.

I found the thread in question, from the beginning of this year.

Problem with "Save Current Frame" exports… - Apple Community

It appears to have been a problem with (some versions of) Sequoia.

I am running Tahoe, and don't have access to a mac running Sequoia to see if the issue still occurs.

Thanks. I also need to know your monitor type and the monitor display profile. Look in System Settings>Displays>Color Profile or Preset, and tell me what that says. What color profile or preset name? When troubleshooting this kind of problem, it is essential to know these, because ColorSync uses those to match the video color space and gamma to the display's color space and gamma.

The attached graphic shows the items I need. You have already given some of these, but I don't think I have your FCP project characteristics, System Settings>Display info, the CMD+I info about your Save Current Frame export, nor the QuickTime Player CMD+I info about the HDR clip in the FCP timeline from which you are doing "Save Current Frame."

First, resize them to be the same size as each other. Size can affect that. And I do not see "way darker". Could be my need for new glasses. I'm sure others here can address this. You're not the first to see this difference. I test it and there's no difference at all. The video doesn't give us an info, really, that I can see. Another thing to remember is that different applications use different color spaces. Apple claims that's fixed with Color Sync in macOS, but I dunno...

I'd like to see the two side by side in FCP itself. Put the still on top of the original video, crop the top layer in half, see if it's really a noticeable difference.

Show us a side by side inside FCP, NOT another app.

Can you share the original video clip for us to verify?

This problem surfaces on a fairly regular basis. A year or so ago there was a lot of discussion about it with some suggesting that processing in Photoshop could rectify it.

I have always noticed it but perversely when I did a test a few minutes ago to confirm it I could not see any difference!

Unless you have the 2 images next to each other in the timeline it should not really matter.

You could try using the Digital Colour Meter found in the Utilities folder to measure the area . . . I suggest widening the Aperture Size that you see in my screenshot.

Incidentally note that Colour is spelled the English way in Digital Colour Meter and the American way everywhere else.

That's what the scopes are for, to know what it's going to look like in the wild.