Handman said:
Yeah, blacks look a bit crushed to me.In many shots, the whites are blown out after ColorYUV(levels=“TV->PC”), too, so it’s definitely not a straightforward levels problem. I’d say that the luma range has possibly been compressed a little while the video was (already) in the TV range, which has the usual effect of making it look a bit too bright and somewhat undersaturated.
Seems like leaving it a bit brighter was a deliberate choice to stick to a reel-by-reel grade to preserve the print as is without crushing the blacks - found this quote from ohteedee while going back though the project discussion thread on the 4K83 forum, from September 17:
There is room at the bottom to darken but not in every shot. Space is not the darkest areas of the film, believe it or not. Is it okay to slightly crush some areas to improve it overall? Some will say yes some will say no. As it is there are a few shots in each reel that are slightly clipped at the bottom already. I’m resistant to darken much more but I’ll re-evaluate it.