MBR Color Corrector 3 Manual

The filter is called MBR Color Corrector III and will be found in the Color Correction group. Practically, the easiest way to find it to use the text search.

Move the playhead / cursor to a frame in your clip that shows the reference card.

To give the Find card in frame feature the best chance of working, you want to find the frame with the reference card in focus and relatively large within the frame.

The Find card in frame feature looks for high contrast edges to find the colored patches (and therefore the card), if the card is out of focus, or moving to quickly, then you'll have to use the Read card in frame fallback.

Simply select the option from the dropdown list that matches the settings used on the camera when filming. Usually this is obvious, but sometimes it requires a little more thought.

The options may have slightly different names in the camera...

The option Rec. 709 really means ITU-R Recommendation BT.709 but is often abbreviated as Rec. 709, BT.709, or ITU709; this means that if the camera has an option called BT.709 you should select Rec. 709 as the Input Transfer Function. Similarly: Rec. 2020 or Rec. 2100 may be called BT.2020 or BT.2100 on the camera.

Some cameras have a HLG / BT.2020 option, for this you should select Rec. 2100 HLG as the Input Transfer Function.
Hybrid Log Gamma is defined in ITU-R Recommendation BT.2100, and the color space for Rec. 2100 is the same as the color space for Rec. 2020. Therefore the HLG / BT.2020 option is referring to what the effect calls Rec. 2100 HLG.

The various Canon Log 2, Canon Log 3, and Sony S-Log 3 options refer to the same transfer function, but with different color primaries. If you have a shot with the reference card in it; it really doesn't matter which color primaries you choose as the color correction based on the reference card patches will correct the primaries. (If you are correcting a shot without any reference card in it, then it is important to select the correct color primaries).

4. Set the Card Type in the Effect

Set the Card Type parameter to match the type of reference card that is visible in the frame.

When you change the option, the diagrams of the cards in the Source and Target sections will update to match.

5. Read the Color Patches from the Reference Card in the Frame into the Effect

Click the Find card in frame button within the Source section.

This will update all the color patches shown in the Source section to match those in the frame.

If Find card in frame doesn't work

To manually tell the plugin where the card is, open the Card Location section and select any of the four corners within.

This should enable the plugin overlay in the monitor. You can now drag the corners the correct location.

The overlay shows a dotted line outlining the area in the frame where the card is. The dotted line is colored to match the patches at the edge of the card, and the top left of the card is marked with a diagonal line, to help mark the card in the correct orientation.

Click the Read card from frame button within the Source section to update the color patches.

If one of the patches is partially obscured

Screenshot to Follow

Click on the patch that is incorrect in the card displayed in the Source section.

Then change the colour of the Patch parameter to be the correct color from the frame.

6. Leave the Target section alone

Because we are trying to convert the footage to 'correct' / reference colors, we want the reference card in the frame to look like the reference colors built into the effect.

If the Target hasn't been changed the Ref button will be highlighted in yellow. If it has been changed, then clicking on the Ref button will reset it.

7. Set the Output Transfer Function

Select an output transfer function based on how you intend to use the footage:

• For HD footage you probably want to select Rec. 709.
• For 4K footage you probably want to select Rec. 2020.
• For HDR footage you probably want to select Rec. 2100 PQ or Rec. 2100 HLG.

Adjustments

The Adjustments section can used to perform very simple quick adjustments to the look of the footage. (The Contrast, Whites, Blacks, and Highlight Protection options are only enabled in the Full version of the plugin).

If you are converting from HDR / log footage into 'normal' dynamic range, the Exposure (EV) slider can be very useful to get the correct part of the footage exposed reasonably.

The Curve option shows the curve that results from the Exposure (EV), Grays, Contrast, Whites, and Blacks option settings.

The adjustments section of the reference manual describes what each adjustment does in detail.

Color Correction without a Reference Card

If you set the Input and Output transfer functions, and leave the Source and Target as the reference card; the effect will convert your footage appropriately.

This might be useful if you wish to convert from log footage from the camera into a standard that the camera manufacturer hasn't supplied a LUT for. Or, in conjunction with the adjustments, to convert into Rec 709 while also fixing exposure.

Matching Footage

Proper instructions to follow, but here is the idea:

Find or Read the card from the clip with the correct look, click Save

Then Find or Read the card from the other clip in the Source section as normal

Click Load in the Target section of that clip to match the look

Description of each Option

A description of what each option does is on another page.