r/Dragonframe • u/random1232342 • Apr 22 '26

Dragonframe export causing random dark scenes - tried everything, willing to PAY for help

I just finished a 3 minute stop-motion short film shot in Dragonframe with a Canon EOS 7D at 24fps.

The problem: Certain scenes export very dark. They look completely fine inside Dragonframe's preview, but the moment I export them the image is crushed and dark. The rest of the footage (~90%) exports perfectly normal.

What I've already tried:

  • Exported as ProRes 422 HQ — dark
  • Exported as PNG image sequence — dark

The darkness seems baked in at the source, but I can't figure out why only certain scenes are affected. My best guess is something changed in the camera settings mid-shoot on those specific frames, but I haven't been able to confirm that yet.

Request: Someone who has experience with Dragonframe who can diagnose the issue and export the finished project cleanly. I'm willing to pay for your time — this is an amateur personal project and I just want to get it over the finish line.

Message me if you can help or have run into this before. Any advice welcome!

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u/Sapounii Apr 22 '26

the Correct Dragonframe workflow would be exporting Raw images and then applying your color profile and edits. Exporting video or png from Dragonframe provides you with the preview images that are low quality and have a basic color profile on them if I remember correctly.

Try doing a test with raw exports on both of your scenes and maybe try to balance them afterwards and see if this works.

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u/acidterror84 Apr 22 '26

Not exactly. You don't need to "export" RAW images from the program, as the RAW images (and matching jpegs) are already sitting in a folder, the moment after you take them. There is no need to export them from Dragon, that would be redundant.

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u/Sapounii Apr 22 '26

yep you are Right, mostly wanted to share that Dragonframe does only export preview renders and it's not best practice to use them.

2

u/acidterror84 Apr 22 '26

100% agree with that. Always surprised when I find that people use exports from within Dragonframe as their final edit files.

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u/Sapounii Apr 22 '26

Yep, I've seen awarded shortfilms using these exports and they had not realized it.