|
Macie’s “Wicked Cool Warm Card System”
Greetings from Roger Macie,
Ever since EFP/ENG cameras became popular, many
operators have been using all sorts of
methods to improve the “look” of their cameras. This has been due to
primarily two factors:
1. Early video cameras had standard color matrixes
set to a relatively low saturated color picture. Matrixes are the final
encoding circuits on all video cameras which determine the color level
and hue of the video as referenced to the internal color bar generator.
As new models were developed, that early standard colorimetry was
maintained to keep the cameras matched from generation to generation.
2. The typical consumer home television is set up to
a very cool (blue tinted) 9,200 plus degree Kelvin color temperature
standard.
What many have been doing to improve on these
problems is to warm up the picture with the use of warming gels on
lights, filters on lenses and of course fooling the video camera’s white
balance circuits by balancing through blue tinted gels. This warming
adds a red tint to the picture which creates a natural healthy look to
skin tones, and has become very popular with the weekly news magazine
shows. All of these methods have drawbacks. The warming filters are
expensive and are a pain to use if lighting conditions change. The
camera has to be color balanced with filter removed for each location
where the lighting changes.
The best overall method is the use of warming cards.
For those of you who have never heard of them, let me explain what they
are and what they do. Video cameras have auto-white balancing circuits
which automatically adjust their internal color gains to create a
perfect white balance. When white balanced on a blue-green tinted card,
the white balance circuits reduce the blue gain and increase the red to
balance out the card color. The camera has now been fooled and a warm
color tint has been added to the entire picture, which is equivalent to
adding a warm (red) tinted glass filter to the front of the lens.
Professional warming cards were the brainchild of Jim
Billip, one of our local Boston area network freelancers. With his
concept and the help of DSC Labs of Toronto Canada, we developed the
“original” warming card system. DSC Labs is the manufacturer of the
finest video test charts in the world. They created the “Optical Signal
Generator,” a camera alignment system which is now the only true video
industry standard, from broadcast to the high definition video movie
industry.
As many of you know, our “Macie Uniform Standard”
camera alignment would not exist without the DSC Labs chart. With this
we are able to align cameras to a realistic colorimetry, which
eliminated that low saturation problem mentioned earlier. Nearly fifty
percent of our new clients come to us for
camera alignments alone.
Our “Macie Cool Warming Cards” have been designed
from the ground up to be a real industry standard. The system
includes a 2 sided card, with one side adding a mild amount of warming,
and a TRUE WHITE reference on side 2. The TRUE WHITE card has absolutely
no color tint and assures perfect white balances. The card is totally
opaque, and not affected by back lighting and is covered with a tough egg shell finish plastic
coating for easy cleaning and long life.
Why did we create this product? We did it for the
same reason that we created our camera standard, Freelance Listing
Guide, Netpolice, and Newsletter. We want to return the blessings you
have given us. Simply, we love freelancers.
How do you get one? Call 888-MACIEVIDEO or
781-326-3135 and ask for Paula. It costs $60.00 plus shipping for the
Pocket model.
Take care,
Roger |
