Gamma/Color matching between FCP7 and Photoshop?

I am restoring a classic animated film called The Thief and the Cobbler, and I spend a lot of time retouching individual frames in Photoshop to remove dirt and film damage. Of course the color and gamma settings need to match the original frames perfectly when I import the retouched images back into Final Cut Pro 7 as PNG images.

I am using Photoshop CS6.

After some trial and error, I found a solution which worked for my standard-def material. If memory serves, I exported a short image sequence from the footage using MPEG Streamclip. The resulting images had the "right color/gamma settings" as far as FCP7 was concerned, and I now simply paste and save everything I do into a copy of one of those original image files.

Somehow this hasn't worked for the HD material/HD sequences, though. I am still using the ProRes 422 codec, this time in "HQ." It seems like FCP7 interprets every still image I attempt as being brighter than the original footage, with a higher white point and more "orangey" reds. Even if I export a PNG directly from Final Cut Pro and import it back in without changing anything, the result is brighter.

I am considering exporting the entire 45 minute sequence as an image sequence right now in an attempt to get everything on the same page. I'm nearly out of ideas at this point.

It always seems difficult and confusing to get Final Cut to behave and interpret the gamma of still images/footage as intended.

What can I do about this? How can I control this and get things matching the way I need?

This was always an issue (still is to some degree). Different applications use different gamma for display. You absolutely have to use a broadcast monitor via HD-SDI to get the color accurate, to start with. Second, is there any reason you're not going out to Color to do the restoration?

My personal workflow would be to export an XML from FCP, go to DaVinci Resolve, do my color work there, output the final QT file from Resolve.

I'm not talking about color correction. I am painting out dirt and film damage in Photoshop. So I don't care about what gamma different programs use for display purposes as long as the frame I repaint in Photoshop matches the original frame when I import it back into FCP.

I've never used Color et al.

Exporting an Image Sequence directly from FCP 7 (no need for any other software), correct the images in PS. ProRes 422 is all you need for SD footage. HQ or 4x4 won't help at all.

The thing is, you're going between YUV to RGB and back, also. That's going to take some figuring out to deal with. You can make a custom Sequence setting that uses RGB in FCP 7, if memory serves.

Tygerbug wrote: I'm not talking about color correction. I am painting out dirt and film damage in Photoshop. So I don't care about what gamma different programs use for display purposes as long as the frame I repaint in Photoshop matches the original frame when I import it back into FCP.

I've never used Color et al.

Thank you , boss, for your straight cut expressions.