Datacolor Spyder Checkr Video: A real-world test during my trip to Japan – Part 2 – In Post-Production

Adjusting Color Accuracy in Post-Production

Personally, I use DaVinci Resolve for video editing and color grading, but you can implement the following steps with any non-linear editing software of your choice.

First, let’s bring one of the reference clips into the timeline and then switch over to the DaVinci’s color tab, where all the magic happens.

Important: If not already done, you have to transform your footage into Rec.709 first. As already mentioned, the Spyder Checkr Video cards are based on this industry standard, so it is important to work in the same color space.

First, we choose a frame in the recording in which the color patches and grey scale card of the Spyder Checkr Video can be seen clearly and without any reflections.

Now, before I start making any changes, I like to divide my adjustment process into several steps. In DaVinci Resolve we can use so-called nodes for this. These are comparable to something like layers in Adobe Photoshop.

Let’s create an extra node for each processing step, and also name it accordingly. You clearly don’t need these nodes at all, but I find them very useful to organize myself. Especially if I need to revisit and tweak a few adjustments later on.

As you can see, I created the following nodes:

1. White Balance & Contrast
2. Hue
3. Sat

We’re all set now, so let’s start with correcting the reference footage accordingly.

1. Adjusting White Balance & Contrast.

First, let’s switch to the waveform view in the scopes menu at the bottom right corner as we need it for the following steps.

We then create a power window around the greyscale card of the Spyder Checkr Video in the frame.

Now we navigate to the curves view, in order to bring the black and white tones.

We adjust the curve until the blacks are within the range between 0 and 128 of the waveform view.

For the whites, we need to adjust the curve until they are in the upper the range between 896 and 1023.

By doing so, we now have recovered the correct contrast in the clip.

In order to adjust the white balance, we now have to stack the individual color channels on top of each other as close as possible.

Therefore, we click on the respective channels for red, green and blue one after the other and move each curve accordingly until all colors on the waveform tool lineup with each other.

This might take some practicing but you’ll get used to it very quickly and it should look similar to this:

If we now deactivate the power window again, we can take a closer look at the adjustments taking effect on the frame already.

That’s it for correcting the white balance and contrast. In case you captured your reference in a shadow area like I did in the example above, while some parts of the scene are in sunlight, you might need to correct the overall brightness afterwards. This can easily be done by lowering the gain or highlights in your Primaries color wheels for example, or by simply tweaking the curves again.

Alright, so let’s move on to adjusting the hue.

2. Adjusting the Hue

First, we select the second node and then create another power window, but this time around the area of the color pattern card to isolate it from the rest of the scene.

We then switch from the waveform to the vectorsope view at the bottom right corner of the screen.

Pro tip: Make sure to activate the 2x Zoom and the skin tone indicator in the vectorscope settings and bump up the brightness level as well.

In the curves view, we switch to the Hue Vs Hue tab as we want to correct the gradient of each color accordingly.

Click and activate each color below the curve, to make it adjustable.

Then move each individual color point on the curve until the respective points in the vectorscope are pointing in the direction of the corresponding yellow boxes like shown in the screenshots below.

That’s it, we successfully corrected the overall hue of the clip.

Let’s disable the power window and move on to the final step, which is adjusting the saturation.

3. Adjusting the Saturation

Again, we quickly isolate the Color Pattern Card using a power window, before we switch to Hue Vs Sat view in the curves section, since we now want to change the saturation for each color.

We proceed as we did with the prior node, by activating each individual color and then moving the points on the curve until the individual points in the vectorscope are placed within the related boxes. Kindly see the screenshots below.

As you can see there are two boxes for each color, representing two levels of saturation. Which one you choose is up to you. Personally, I always try choose the outer ones as I like a tad more saturation to my clips.

Done! We just corrected our overall reference clip. Pretty straight forward, huh?

Let’s quickly deactivate all nodes to have a look at the before and after. Seems like quite a lot has happened here. The clip now appears much more accurate in terms of the real scene that was captured, and the overall white balance and contrast are also corrected.

Again, it is important to emphasize that we have adjusted our color according to Datacolor’s Rec.709-compliant color chart. In terms of accuracy, we are on the safe side now, having eliminated potential weak points in our workflow, such as incorrectly calibrated gear and screens or just our subjective perception of what correct color should look like (which oftentimes is pretty inaccurate).

Note: These settings can now be copied and pasted to all clips that were recorded at the same location with the same camera setup. Based on your workflow and the editing software of your choice, you can also create a preset to speed things up in the future. But of course, that’s totally up to you.

Comparing different camera systems

Now let’s do the exact same steps with some clips that were recorded with the other systems, like the iPhone or A7R and do a final comparison of how close we can get the colors of each by adjusting it. The following screenshots give you a pretty good idea of what’s possible by using the Spyder Checkr Video.

Shinjuku Gate – Canon EOS R5 vs. Apple iPhone 13 Max Pro

Before

After

Osaka Castle – Canon EOS R5 vs. Sony A7R III

Before

After

Kyoto Temple – Sony A7R III vs. Apple iPhone 13 Max Pro

Before

After

Mount Fuji – Canon EOS R5 vs. Apple iPhone 13 Max Pro

Before

After

As you can see, the footage looks much better after correcting it based on the Spyder Checkr Video references. Not only do the clips look more vibrant and truer to real life, but the recordings from the different systems look basically identical to each other. Obviously, there can be some differences in the overall brightness, depending on your personal settings, but these can be adjusted very quickly. In terms of overall tonality and colors, the footage matches flawlessly now. I have to say that I’m truly impressed with these results!

All clips are now perfectly calibrated to the REC.709 standard and they can also be used interchangeably in a project without showing any significant differences to the viewer.

Alright, it’s been a lot so far, so let’s wrap things up with my final thoughts about the Datacolor Spyder Checkr Video.

My final thoughts

In my opinion, Datacolor has absolutely nailed it with the Spyder Checkr Video.

Not only is it very portable, so you can always have it with you, but the ergonomic case design was well thought out, as was the case’s flexibility to accommodate Spyder Checkr Photo target cards for hybrid work convenience.

It’s very nice to have a portable all-in-one solution, that’s also very friendly to your wallet as you don’t need to buy an additional tool.

Using the Spyder Checkr Video on location is incredibly easy and doesn’t interrupt my creative process at all. I just have to take a quick reference shot and I’m done.

Adjusting the color accuracy in post-production is also straight forward and can be done without installing and learning any additional software.

In my opinion, the overall ease of use and flexibility make the Spyder Checker Video a perfect solution for professional and enthusiastic creators alike.

As a hybrid shooter who often deals with a variety of systems and formats, the Spyder Checkr Video is a very welcome solution for me, and I will definitely be incorporating it into each of my projects from now on.

About the author – Chris Martin Scholl

Chris Martin Scholl is a German based travel photographer & videographer and has been a member of Datacolor Friends with Vision for several years. His work focuses on urban landscapes, architecture and lifestyle photography, as well as always being on the lookout for that perfectly framed moment.