Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

If you are not using a color checker for referencing then you are doing it wrong. I am not talking about using it as a color picker even though that does come in handy when matching cameras. I am talking about when you are color correcting before your grade. We all know unless you spend a fortune on the right monitor and calibrate it -- nothing is going to be better than your scopes. Using this to reference accompanied by scopes and other tools we have at our disposal, I do not see how anyone serious about nailing imagery can go on without something like this. There are too many YouTube tutorials that teach the wrong thing and it is frustrating to see this being done. This is why I like the X-Rite. Let me elaborate. People teach the wrong way to white balance and correctly white balancing is ABSOLUTELY CRUCIAL for getting all the color information that was there when you were recording. Especially if you record RAW or ProRes. You want all the dynamic range in not just your highlights and shadows but you want it to show in your colors. Without properly white balancing first; this is not possible. The X-Rite has THE BEST white balance reference on the rear end that I have used and I have used so called 'certified' white balance cards. Simply crop your clip with the white board, set your vector-scope to 2x and boost your RGB levels (NOT SATURATION). Then bring your kelvin (if shooting RAW) or warmth/cool and tint to a point where the cropped white balance card shows as a dot right in the center of your vector-scope. DONE.. NAILED every damn time. White balance in post perfectly every time in less than 30 seconds. The next thing I like to do is use the clip of the front of the X-Rite to make sure my exposure is perfect a la scopes. Make sure the front of the board is in the light of your scene and adjust your highlights to ensure the white (highlights) are showing as 95 IRE in your waveform, adjust your gamma so the mid-tones (second to last grey swatch) are roughly in the center and adjust your shadows so your blacks (shadows) are right around 0 IRE in your waveform. This way, when you look at the scene with your talent and the highlights are not hitting 95 IRE, you know you are where you should be and don't boost your highlights too much. Then, adjust mid-tones for taste and start your grade. (I don't like crushing my blacks so I will clip them in my grade, not my color correction). I don't usually adjust exposure in the RAW file and will almost always use my levels for exposure. However, if I over exposed a lot in a scene (which I often do when shooting RAW) and highlights aren't clipped (otherwise the footage is scrapped), I may dial down the ISO (RAW adjustment only) so I have a better starting point (general crushed wave is in the center of the waveform scope). Sorry to turn this into a tutorial but I just feel this is an invaluable tool and worth every penny because of how fast it can help you get a scene color corrected and on to the fun stuff. Feel free to comment below for any questions.