Technical Instruction | WFM (Waveform Monitor)

The waveform monitor is used to evaluate the brightness of your shot, ignoring colour. The scale of the waveform monitor is 0 to 100 IRE. IRE represents the scale invented by the International Radio Engineers society. Basically, it is designed to match the capabilities of early televisions to display an image. Anything at 0 is completely black, with no detail, and anything above 100 will be peaked and white, again with no detail. With modern televisions and displays, especially HDR, it is possible to exceed the 100 IRE threshold and not peak your highlights; luminance values found in this region are often called super whites.

However, the peak at 100 situation still exists, and you need the be aware that unless you are sure your post production software can handle images with areas over 100 without peaking, cutting off any information in that part of the image, it is safer to keep your images in the 0 to 100 IRE range.

Peaking

Not Peaking

A waveform monitor display, as opposed to a vector-scope or histogram, is that the waveform produces an abstract version of your shot; viewing the waveform from left to right mirrors viewing the shot from left to right, making it easy to see the brightness of specific areas of your shot quickly.