The Fujifilm IS-MINI 3D LUT Box Is Here to Revolutionize Your Workflow

Fujifilm have come a long way from their celluloid days and are now using their extensive expertise in colour to deliver products for the digital workflow in the 21st century. They recently developed the IS-Mini 3D LUT box, which is a image processing system and also known as a digital color adjustment device used for on-set camera preview and for monitor calibration for professional motion picture productions, TV drama, commercials and just about any other production looking for a critical colour preview and straightforward image processing workflow on set and in post.

The Fujifilm IS-Mini works a bit different than regular 3D LUT boxes, as Fuji's engineers managed to designed a rather physically small SDI-based LUT box to hold a 3D LUT for display profiling and calibration, but unlike other LUT boxes on the market, the manufacturer wrote their own PC and Apple display calibration software that can be used to quickly calibrate and install LUTs for a variety of purposes.

In colour grading suites like DaVinci Resolve you can create a test look while on set and installing that LUT into the IS-mini for preview purposes. The device is also very useful in networking multiple units together on a big multi-camera shoot to manage LUTs for onsite previewing, monitor matching, and look previewing at a  live event.

The best part is that the software is included with your purchase, and makes quick work of installing a LUT into the box for preview purposes on set. You can also quickly install a more accurate 3D camera log conversion for your Sony F5/F55 camera, which only provides a 1D LUT, for log conversion to Rec.709 (for example).

What is also unique in the IS-Mini is that Fujifilm designed it with a built-in pattern generator that runs with their included PC and Apple display calibration software. You’ll need to add a probe, of course, and they include the X-Rite i1Pro Spectrophotometer as an option (recommended if you don’t have a probe).

The IS-Mini LUT box and its accompanying software are a combo that is really simple to use, extremely fast, and amazingly complete for profiling and calibration purposes with their LUT box.  You can set it up in minutes and create a calibration LUT for a client display for example. The IS-Mini, along with the Fujifilm IS-Manager software, is going to be very popular in production environments where time is critical to set up quick review monitors and preview raw and log-based video streams as a DIT will need to do while on set.

The IS-mini LUT box interfaces seamlessly with SpectraCal’s CalMAN for 3D LUT generation. The advantage of using Calman is you get access to more advanced algorithms for adaptive multi pass creation of 3D LUTs. For reference monitor display calibration this can be critical. Features

• On-Set Colour management with multiple equipment interlocking with IS-100 - Ideal colour management is possible on large scale shooting sets, where multiple cameras and monitors are used at the same time.

By having IS-mini interlock with IS-100 connected to the main camera and main monitor, and having the equipment information of the shooting camera and image checking monitor to be connected with IS-100, registered in IS-100, the colour conversion table is automatically sent from IS-100 to IS-mini. This enables to check the final images with appropriate colour conversion according to the colour conversion table of each IS-100, even if a camera or monitor of a different manufacturer and model than the main camera and main monitor is connected to IS-mini.

• Monitor Calibration

Monitor calibration is possible if the figure measured with the spectrophotometer for the monitor is entered into the computer and IS-mini recorded with the colour conversion table created on the computer is connected with the monitor and image output equipment. Anyone can easily conduct calibration by following the instructions of the accompanying software IS-mini Manager, even if they have no special knowledge of colour management. This enables colour matching for not only shooting sets but also monitors in a broad range of business operations that handle images including production companies, post-production and advertisement production companies.

• Camera Preview

Camera preview of the shot images is available on the monitor in appropriate colour reproduction according to the colour conversion table of camera, recorder and monitor generated by IS-100 if this IS-mini is connected with the camera (or recorder) and monitor on the film set. Specifications