1 00:00:00,200 --> 00:00:02,520 BenQ reached out to us to sponsor a video 2 00:00:02,520 --> 00:00:05,080 about their SW271 monitor, 3 00:00:05,080 --> 00:00:09,280 which is marketed as engineered for photographers 4 00:00:09,280 --> 00:00:11,880 and great for video editing too. 5 00:00:11,880 --> 00:00:14,200 But what does that mean? 6 00:00:14,200 --> 00:00:17,400 Well, it means it has hardware calibration support, 7 00:00:17,400 --> 00:00:19,440 fantastically accurate colors, 8 00:00:19,440 --> 00:00:22,680 covering over 99% of the Adobe RGB color space, 9 00:00:22,680 --> 00:00:25,000 and it's 4K to boot. 10 00:00:25,000 --> 00:00:27,680 So then, with a tool like this at our disposal, 11 00:00:27,680 --> 00:00:28,960 we thought, well, hey, 12 00:00:28,960 --> 00:00:31,660 why don't we take this opportunity to take a look 13 00:00:31,660 --> 00:00:34,420 at how we have done a less than perfect job 14 00:00:34,420 --> 00:00:38,140 of color correcting some of our own videos here at LTT 15 00:00:38,140 --> 00:00:40,660 while offering you guys three tips and tricks 16 00:00:40,660 --> 00:00:42,560 for taking our color correction, 17 00:00:42,560 --> 00:00:44,980 and maybe yours too, to the next level. 18 00:00:44,980 --> 00:00:48,160 And since I can't tell pink from periwinkle, 19 00:00:48,160 --> 00:00:49,040 I've enlisted the help 20 00:00:49,040 --> 00:01:04,260 of our very own director of photography, Brandon Lee. 21 00:01:04,260 --> 00:01:06,210 There you go. 22 00:01:06,210 --> 00:01:08,020 Okay. 23 00:01:08,020 --> 00:01:09,460 Okay. 24 00:01:09,460 --> 00:01:10,840 So taking a look at our backlog 25 00:01:10,840 --> 00:01:12,020 from the last six months or so, 26 00:01:12,020 --> 00:01:15,720 I was able to identify three common, 27 00:01:15,720 --> 00:01:17,700 let's call them shortcomings, 28 00:01:17,700 --> 00:01:19,360 that I think we could improve on. 29 00:01:19,360 --> 00:01:20,840 The script is not moving at all. 30 00:01:20,840 --> 00:01:22,760 What the heck? 31 00:01:22,760 --> 00:01:26,520 Number one, foreground to background color exposure balancing. 32 00:01:26,520 --> 00:01:27,900 This can be really challenging, 33 00:01:27,900 --> 00:01:29,200 especially if you're shooting outdoors 34 00:01:29,200 --> 00:01:32,380 like we were in our recent ASUS AI Mesh video. 35 00:01:32,380 --> 00:01:34,180 Let's freeze frame there. 36 00:01:34,180 --> 00:01:36,340 We did an okay job balancing the exposure here, 37 00:01:36,340 --> 00:01:37,640 but it could have been better. 38 00:01:37,640 --> 00:01:39,200 The image is overexposed overall, 39 00:01:39,200 --> 00:01:41,040 but it's particularly bright in the background 40 00:01:41,040 --> 00:01:42,220 compared to Linus. 41 00:01:42,560 --> 00:01:43,400 What we should have done 42 00:01:43,400 --> 00:01:45,440 is brought the background highlights down 43 00:01:45,440 --> 00:01:48,740 to make Linus and the laptop stand out more like this. 44 00:01:48,740 --> 00:01:51,820 Number two, color consistency throughout the video. 45 00:01:51,820 --> 00:01:53,260 If your colors are inconsistent, 46 00:01:53,260 --> 00:01:55,160 then scene changes are really jarring 47 00:01:55,160 --> 00:01:56,560 and distract the viewer. 48 00:01:56,560 --> 00:01:57,440 We were guilty of this 49 00:01:57,440 --> 00:01:59,220 on our TechLink announcement video, 50 00:01:59,220 --> 00:02:01,480 where we quickly jumped from location to location 51 00:02:01,480 --> 00:02:04,240 and each spot had a different dominant light source. 52 00:02:04,240 --> 00:02:06,760 In this case, the biggest issue is white balance. 53 00:02:06,760 --> 00:02:08,820 At the beginning, we start in Linus's office 54 00:02:08,820 --> 00:02:11,360 where he's being lit by a daylight balanced Aputure 120D. 55 00:02:11,360 --> 00:02:12,320 The daylight balance is 120D, 120D, 120D, 120D, 120D, 120D, 120D. 56 00:02:12,560 --> 00:02:13,660 Daylight from the outside 57 00:02:13,660 --> 00:02:15,460 is mostly being stopped by the window shades 58 00:02:15,460 --> 00:02:17,700 and the white balance on the camera is a little warmer 59 00:02:17,700 --> 00:02:19,360 because I personally think it's a good fit 60 00:02:19,360 --> 00:02:21,320 for the friendly tone of the video. 61 00:02:21,320 --> 00:02:23,060 But then we move to Nick's office 62 00:02:23,060 --> 00:02:25,760 where the guys are being lit by much warmer overhead lights 63 00:02:25,760 --> 00:02:26,960 and the shades are open, 64 00:02:26,960 --> 00:02:29,140 so we see blue daylight behind them. 65 00:02:29,140 --> 00:02:31,100 To keep the color ideal for this shot, 66 00:02:31,100 --> 00:02:33,320 I split my white balance between the cool daylight 67 00:02:33,320 --> 00:02:34,400 and warm overheads, 68 00:02:34,400 --> 00:02:37,000 otherwise their skin would look really orange. 69 00:02:37,000 --> 00:02:38,620 But in a fast-paced shooting environment, 70 00:02:38,620 --> 00:02:41,000 you have to make these changes on the fly 71 00:02:41,000 --> 00:02:42,700 and they're not going to be perfect, 72 00:02:42,700 --> 00:02:46,720 which is okay as long as you close the gap in post-production, 73 00:02:46,720 --> 00:02:49,120 which we didn't do this time. 74 00:02:49,120 --> 00:02:51,740 We release a video every day, all right? 75 00:02:51,740 --> 00:02:55,390 Give me a break. 76 00:02:55,390 --> 00:02:56,590 All right, that's fine 77 00:02:56,590 --> 00:02:58,030 because I've done the color correction now 78 00:02:58,030 --> 00:02:59,190 and watching the before and after, 79 00:02:59,190 --> 00:03:01,290 you can see that it's a smoother experience 80 00:03:01,290 --> 00:03:03,430 since the scenes have more unity. 81 00:03:03,430 --> 00:03:06,450 And finally, number three, color grading. 82 00:03:06,450 --> 00:03:08,950 This is the process of deliberately altering the colors 83 00:03:08,950 --> 00:03:11,150 in the pursuit of artistic expression 84 00:03:11,150 --> 00:03:13,270 rather than neutrality and realism. 85 00:03:13,270 --> 00:03:15,090 But here's the thing, 86 00:03:15,090 --> 00:03:16,850 in order to do a color grading properly, 87 00:03:16,850 --> 00:03:19,550 color correction has to be done first. 88 00:03:19,550 --> 00:03:21,370 If your starting point doesn't have consistent 89 00:03:21,370 --> 00:03:22,990 and neutral colors and exposure, 90 00:03:22,990 --> 00:03:24,650 then color grading will usually only serve 91 00:03:24,650 --> 00:03:27,180 to make your videos look amateurish. 92 00:03:27,180 --> 00:03:29,640 Our camping battle station video is a good example 93 00:03:29,640 --> 00:03:32,300 of a video that is ready for color grading. 94 00:03:32,300 --> 00:03:33,360 It's nicely balanced, 95 00:03:33,360 --> 00:03:36,100 but it lacks that wow factor to take it to the next level. 96 00:03:36,100 --> 00:03:38,600 Tweaking the green and yellow tones throughout each shot, 97 00:03:38,600 --> 00:03:40,580 as well as the adjustments to the overall contrast, 98 00:03:40,580 --> 00:03:43,120 make the video pop just a little bit more. 99 00:03:43,300 --> 00:03:45,760 We did actually color grade our murder box video. 100 00:03:45,760 --> 00:03:47,820 See how those warm colors shine through? 101 00:03:47,820 --> 00:03:48,960 But in my personal opinion, 102 00:03:48,960 --> 00:03:51,260 we could have worked in a bit more color contrast 103 00:03:51,260 --> 00:03:53,360 by pushing cooler colors in the shadows 104 00:03:53,360 --> 00:03:55,980 to contrast the warm orange mid-tones. 105 00:03:55,980 --> 00:03:57,160 There we go. 106 00:03:57,160 --> 00:03:58,060 So that's it. 107 00:03:58,060 --> 00:04:02,080 Brandon's top three tips for taking your videos, 108 00:04:02,080 --> 00:04:04,240 our videos, to the next level. 109 00:04:04,240 --> 00:04:05,860 Back to you, Linus. 110 00:04:05,860 --> 00:04:07,440 Thanks, Brandon. 111 00:04:07,440 --> 00:04:09,380 Now, are we really doing the newscaster bit? 112 00:04:09,380 --> 00:04:10,380 Okay, whatever. 113 00:04:10,380 --> 00:04:12,260 Now let's take a closer look at the SW271. 114 00:04:13,300 --> 00:04:16,240 So first and foremost, it comes with a shading hood. 115 00:04:16,240 --> 00:04:18,140 This not only helps cut out glare, 116 00:04:18,140 --> 00:04:19,860 but perhaps more importantly, 117 00:04:19,860 --> 00:04:22,160 makes your monitor, and by extension you, 118 00:04:22,160 --> 00:04:23,640 look like a super badass. 119 00:04:23,640 --> 00:04:25,760 It even comes with this little door in the top 120 00:04:25,760 --> 00:04:28,180 for your spectrophotometer or your colorimeter, 121 00:04:28,180 --> 00:04:30,260 so you don't need to take the hood off 122 00:04:30,260 --> 00:04:31,960 when you need to calibrate the display, 123 00:04:31,960 --> 00:04:33,340 which you can do with the included 124 00:04:33,340 --> 00:04:36,320 Palette Master Element software that, in our case, 125 00:04:36,320 --> 00:04:39,580 made the already great out-of-the-box color accuracy 126 00:04:39,580 --> 00:04:42,020 even better thanks to hardware calibration. 127 00:04:42,020 --> 00:04:42,800 It managed Delta E values, 128 00:04:42,800 --> 00:04:47,200 under one, well under what's perceivable by the human eye. 129 00:04:47,200 --> 00:04:50,620 So thank you, 14-bit 3D lookup table. 130 00:04:50,620 --> 00:04:53,020 It also comes with this little puck control, 131 00:04:53,020 --> 00:04:55,300 right for the face, puck controller, 132 00:04:55,300 --> 00:04:58,200 which not only makes the on-screen display easier to use, 133 00:04:58,200 --> 00:04:59,880 but also lets you set shortcuts, 134 00:04:59,880 --> 00:05:03,220 like switching between sRGB, Adobe RGB, 135 00:05:03,220 --> 00:05:04,840 and advanced black and white modes, 136 00:05:04,840 --> 00:05:07,380 and it nests nicely into the stand 137 00:05:07,380 --> 00:05:11,460 in this little nook right here, keeping it nice and clean. 138 00:05:11,460 --> 00:05:12,560 The stand, by the way, 139 00:05:12,800 --> 00:05:15,480 is very sturdy, mitigating screen wobble 140 00:05:15,480 --> 00:05:19,280 while still affording a generous amount of swivel, 141 00:05:19,280 --> 00:05:25,340 elevation, tilt, and even 90-degree pivot. 142 00:05:26,140 --> 00:05:28,260 Although it should be noted that your shade 143 00:05:28,260 --> 00:05:30,280 will not function quite the way that it does 144 00:05:30,280 --> 00:05:32,040 when you have it in landscape mode. 145 00:05:32,040 --> 00:05:32,860 Incorrect. 146 00:05:32,860 --> 00:05:33,700 This gives a- 147 00:05:33,700 --> 00:05:35,660 Actually, it has more parts that you can use 148 00:05:35,660 --> 00:05:36,800 to put it in the other mode. 149 00:05:36,800 --> 00:05:37,640 Oh, really? 150 00:05:37,640 --> 00:05:38,480 Yes. 151 00:05:38,480 --> 00:05:39,320 Oh, cool. 152 00:05:39,320 --> 00:05:40,140 Nevermind, I stand corrected. 153 00:05:40,140 --> 00:05:42,780 Now, in terms of IO, we've got two HDMI 2.0s, 154 00:05:44,340 --> 00:05:46,100 one for the DisplayPort 1.4, 155 00:05:46,100 --> 00:05:49,840 as well as DisplayPort over USB type C, 156 00:05:49,840 --> 00:05:53,460 which can also deliver both data and 10 watts of power. 157 00:05:53,460 --> 00:05:56,520 Plus, there's a no-rotation required USB hub 158 00:05:56,520 --> 00:05:58,100 with an integrated SD reader 159 00:05:58,100 --> 00:06:00,520 that you can check out here on the side. 160 00:06:00,520 --> 00:06:02,960 So, a big thank you to BenQ for sponsoring this video. 161 00:06:02,960 --> 00:06:05,100 Big thank you to Brandon for providing me 162 00:06:05,100 --> 00:06:07,380 with some much-needed color correction tips. 163 00:06:07,380 --> 00:06:10,940 You guys can check out the SW271 photographers monitors, 164 00:06:10,940 --> 00:06:12,860 as well as other monitors in this lineup, 165 00:06:12,860 --> 00:06:14,060 like the SW320, 166 00:06:14,060 --> 00:06:15,080 the SW2700PT, 167 00:06:15,080 --> 00:06:16,280 and SW240, 168 00:06:16,280 --> 00:06:17,580 which is just 400 bucks, 169 00:06:17,580 --> 00:06:18,820 at the links below. 170 00:06:18,820 --> 00:06:21,800 There's one for B&H Photo and one for amazon.com, 171 00:06:21,800 --> 00:06:24,340 where the first 50 people can get 10% off 172 00:06:24,340 --> 00:06:25,860 by using our promo code. 173 00:06:25,860 --> 00:06:27,260 Then, after you buy one, 174 00:06:27,260 --> 00:06:30,940 you can get a $25 gift card just for writing a review. 175 00:06:30,940 --> 00:06:32,980 And if you have more color correction questions, 176 00:06:32,980 --> 00:06:34,640 make sure you leave a post on our forum, 177 00:06:34,640 --> 00:06:36,440 where you can chat with a giant community, 178 00:06:36,440 --> 00:06:38,140 which includes, believe it or not, 179 00:06:38,140 --> 00:06:41,440 some professionals and enthusiasts, 180 00:06:41,440 --> 00:06:42,840 as well as some trolls. 181 00:06:42,840 --> 00:06:44,040 I'm not gonna oversell it. 182 00:06:44,060 --> 00:06:45,590 So thanks for watching, guys. 183 00:06:45,590 --> 00:06:46,890 If this video sucked, you know what to do. 184 00:06:46,890 --> 00:06:48,790 But if it was awesome, get subscribed, 185 00:06:48,790 --> 00:06:49,690 hit that like button, 186 00:06:49,690 --> 00:06:51,330 or maybe check out the link to where to buy the stuff 187 00:06:51,330 --> 00:06:53,490 we featured in the video description. 188 00:06:53,490 --> 00:06:54,790 Also down there is our merch store, 189 00:06:54,790 --> 00:06:56,150 which has cool shirts like this one, 190 00:06:56,150 --> 00:06:58,850 and our community forum, which you should totally join.