Luminance / Backlight setting for Grading Monitor

discburn schrieb am 06.05.2019 um 16:25 Uhr

Hi. I've just viewed a great video about how to set / distribute the gamma of a video to 2.2, 2.4 or 2.6. And the relationship of gamma to the color grading room environment.

It was very good. The guy giving the talk was using a Flanders Scientific BM 210. Same as mine!

Lately, I've been viewing my videos on external displays (tvs) and see that the backlight / luminance setting of a display makes an enormous difference to how the video looks. For example, a setting of 2 works very well in a dark room for 'cinema mode'; a setting of 5 (50%) works well in a dimly lit room; and Max (10 or 100%) works for a bright room. I guess the backlight setting should complement the room brightness.

So to my question: When grading, should the luminance / backlight of one's 'reference monitor' (in my case the BM 210) be set to suit the luminance of the display / environment the video is targeted for? As far as I remember, Flanders Scientific have always said 'Standard'. That very dark setting (100 nits, I think) seems aimed at 'Cinema' (blacked out room)?. But, if I'm grading for 'TV' (dim room), should the luminance not be set to a 'Custom', say 160 ish? And if grading for 'YouTube' (bright room), should the luminance not be set to Max ('Studio' or around 200 on my BM 210)?

Just like the gamma, doesn't the luminance of the monitor also complement the brightness of the grading room?

Looking forward to common / best practice tips!

Seamus

Kommentare

emmrecs schrieb am 06.05.2019 um 18:23 Uhr

Hi Seamus.

Purely my gut reaction to your question as I have absolutely NO experience in this area: set those various settings to suit the environment in which you are working/editing. From what you write it seems that, unless you are going to produce a "different version" for each potential viewing environment, "something or other" may not appear quite as you intend if the environment is not "ideal". But how are you, in your specific working/viewing environment, to be able to "simulate" other environments or are you intending to make your own work area multi-functional, i.e. a "dark" area, a "dimly-lit" area and a "bright" area?

Although I do not have a similar monitor to yours (simply an HD computer monitor) I do use an "X-Rite colormunki Display" unit to regularly calibrate my monitor's colour, contrast and luminance. In addition, it also checks the ambient light level of my work space (every 5 minutes) and adjusts the monitor to compensate for this.

HTH

Jeff

discburn schrieb am 06.05.2019 um 21:27 Uhr

@emmrecs

Yes I can set the lighting in my room to dark, dim or bright. And, yes, the monitor’s luminance should be set to suit that. Yours does that automatically, so no worries.

For my monitor, Flanders Scientific suggest a dark or dim room with a ‘Bias Light’ just behind the monitor. Monitor set at 100 nits luminance for the dark room and 200 nits for the dim room. Former for TV/Movie viewing. The latter for YouTube.

After that it’s all practice and experience, I guess.

Seamus