X-Rite i1 Filmmaker Kit Combines Two Powerful Tools at One Great Price

X-Rite combines its powerful, award-winning X-Rite ColorChecker Video and the iDisplay Pro Calibration device into the i1 Filmmaker Kit. 

Two of the biggest frustrations facing filmmakers today have been matching the image between cameras, and matching the appearance between monitors. X-Rite has combined tools designed to help those problems together into the affordable i1 Filmmaker Kit for $389. The kit offers a combination of popular tools at a savings of over 10% when buying them both together.

The ColorChecker Passport Video is a very useful set of four charts that comes in a hard plastic housing, making it easy to keep with you in all situations. It offers a variety of charts, but the most frequently used for camera matching will be the color chips shown above, which work well with the auto balance features in many post tools. In our tests, we shot with a RED Epic under very harsh florescent lights with a large green spike, used an iPhone 6S as a "B camera," then shot ColorChecker Passport Video and used the automated calibration tool built in DaVinci Resolve to calibrate the two cameras to each other, removing the green spike and bringing the cameras into balance. This provided a great start to matching the shots to each other, and ColorChecker Passport Video delivers an in-frame reference starting point that is easily attainable for an ideal neutral color before applying a specific ‘creative look.'

In addition to the auto-calibration tools built in DaVinci Resolve, Final Cut Pro also has the ability to auto calibrate to the ColorChecker chart using the Color Finale plugin from Color Grading Central. The benefits are effective no matter your workflow, and are just as helpful in balancing images captured in log, raw, Rec. 709 or 2020. They help balance not only your black and white points, but also bring skin tones into a pleasing area quickly to speed up your post processing. Even if you plan on a heavy creative grade, the four charts in the ColorChecker can help you bring different images into balance with one another so that the heavier look can be applied consistently from shot to shot.

The other half of the filmmaker kit is the i1Display Pro, which is a probe you can use to measure the current output of your display. If you've ever had the frustrating experience of wondering if two monitors are showing you the same thing (or, even more frustratingly, moving a .mov file back and forth between two monitors in a dual monitor setup and seeing wildly different things), you've known the pain that the i1Display Pro is designed to address. An OEM version of the i1Display Pro is fully supported by other software manufacturers (such as Light Illusion and SpectraCal), and X-Rite has also developed their own software, iProfiler, which creates a complete end to end solution. Filmmakers who need to calibrate their monitor to Rec. 709 for HD work, Rec. 2020 for UHD work, or even DCI-P3 for theatrical release can do so with the powerful tools that this combination provides.

The filmmaker kit, and more information, is available on the X-Rite site.