In FCP6 there was the ability to select the Excess Luma function from within the Canvas window is there a plugin to do this in FCPX?
Thanks

I just filled out the feedback page... again...

Ha ha

I was looking all over for it and was hoping it was there in the Viewer display window but it wasn't. I thought though that there might of been a plugin available somewhere.

I'll fill it in again aswell!

Nattress has a levels and curves plugin that will handle excess luma among other things. I haven't purchased it myself, but I did read his pdf manual and it appears to be a pretty full featured levels control for fcpx.

Does it show zebras on screen? The reason I ask a college has only got FCPX and is learning video and wants to see the correlation between what he sees in the video camera with the zebras to what he sees on screen in an editor.

Most camera operators set zebra to 75 or 80. That's not what you want in a video application. Zebra in camera has a different purpose. You should not try to correlate the two.

I set my zebras at 70% which i believe is the right exposure level for skin tones in a camera. I was asking because a college just wanted to gauge if he was under or over exposing (visually) with the zebras. I know its not necessarily the right way to do it but he is only starting out in video. So until he understands the scopes correctly he wanted to do it that way.

Kind Regards,

Marc

I find the scopes so fantastic in FCP X I haven't missed this feature at all.
But I guess if you're in a real hurry it could be useful.

Scopes are easy to learn. In my classes I spend a full 60 seconds explaining them, and I've yet to have a student not just get it right away.

But like Tom says, Zebras in your camera and Scopes are very different things.

I always use 80 percent in my Zebras. What is correct exposure for skin tone? Well, depends on what you want that skin tone to look like.

As for correlating what you see in the camera and what you see in the NLE, that just takes practice to figure out. There's no rule that lets you make them look identical. The only way to do this is to have a professional monitor connected to the camera that has scopes built in like Flanders Scientific or some such brand.

Zebras are about exposure, about Luma values, not chroma values. Skin tone relies more on chroma than luma to look correct. So I don't see the connection between zebras and skin tone.

I might not of worded things correctly. Ben as you have mentioned it does take practice, experience and good judgment to figure out how things look in camera to how they look in an NLE. As I have mentioned my college wanted to know whether he was 'exposing' correctly in camera and getting used to using the zebras. That is why I asked about the Excess Luma function in FCP6/7 With that function is was graphically easy (for a beginner) to see what was exposed correctly or incorrectly.

I don't know any plugin that will set zebra to 70. The only ones I've seen in editing apps are set to 100.

He needs to learn to read the zebras in his camera, then.

In FCP X, just have the Luma scope open.

And fill out the feedback page that we need luma/chorma warning indicators back.

For clarification...

I set Zebras to 70% in my cameras so that I can gauge if I'm over-exposing (skin tones) thats my personal preference.
A college was (and who is learning) was asking whether he could see a correlation between what he was seeing in his camera to what he was seeing in FCPX. This is not directly linked to skin tones. He was asking in general about exposure.

I thought of the function in FCP6 (excess luma) would help on his learning of exposure in general, hence the original post. The excess luma in FCP6 does show from 90 - 100%

I just thought the excess luma function would be a good starter for learning exposure.

Luma scope, same luma data, more detailed.

I'm not sure how the this plugin would help him after the fact.

There are a lot of books and tutorials about exposure all over the web and libraries. If I were your buddy, I'd look for a incident light meter and learn how to use it (is pretty simple).

Does his camera have built in waveforms?

There is not any one single correct exposure setting as this is based on a particular look one is trying to achieve. There are guidelines and rules of thumb for this like there is for anything.

A levels plugin that allows luma control, broadcast safe and the like is useful after the fact to assist in correcting seriously over or under exposed images that would otherwise be useless.