filter choices
by JW
on
May 10, 2002 at 10:08:07 pm
I'm editing a one-hour doc with FCP3 and an IgniterRT Component (Uncompressed). I need to do quite a bit of black and white level adjustment, but not much with chroma. I have a lot of old black and white photos (both stills and AE animations), and some beautiful interviews shot on BetaSP don't need much work.
What factors go into deciding which RT effects filter is most appropriate for a given shot? It seems that the Color Correction 3-way, Brightness, Contrast, and Proc Amp filters could all do the job, if indeed they are all processing blacks and whites in essentially the same way.
Any wisdom about how these filters are different (other than the user interface) would be very helpful.
Re: filter choices by Battistella on May 10, 2002 at 10:27:37 pm
I have used thte 3 way cc filter for most of my adjustments. It seems everything needs a little tweak here and there. The one thing that I have noticed is that it does tend to add (or pronounce) noise in the picture.
I was dealing with Beta SP source Aurora uncompressed footage. The source footage was recorded with a Tiffen quarter black filter in place on the camera (this could be a source for some of the noise). Shooting with this filter gives a little extra range in color correction. It allows you to "put the blacks back" as it were. The combo of the filter and the Beta SP recording softens out the hard edge of video.
I don't know if the filter scripts process in FCP's YUV color space differently. For the Black and white I would use desaturate and I would use the three way CC or the CC filter for everything else.
Re: filter choices by JW on May 11, 2002 at 2:45:49 pm
Let me be more specific in my question:
If I have an After Effects animation of a B/W photo with levels between 20-70 on FCP's waveform, and I want to bring the blacks down to 0 and the whites up to 100, which is the best realtime (with IgniterRT) filter for the job, and why? Seems like FCP3's Proc Amp and 3-way CC can both do the job, but is one actually doing a better job than the other? Obviously the user interfaces are different, most notably that the 3-way has mid-level control, which the Proc Amp doesn't. Does that automatically make it a better choice when working solely with contrast/exposure issues?
Same question for my BetaSP interviews, which don't need any color correction but do need blacks lowered a bit and whites occasionally tweaked. Are there reasons why one filter would be better than the other?
The FCP 3 manual doesn't really explain the underlying difference between its filters. Does anyone know of any authoritative comparison?
Re: filter choices by Battistella on May 13, 2002 at 4:36:41 am
JW
I am sorry I was not more technical in my response. Maybe you should post you question to Apple on the FCP discussion group as well.
My response was based on the experience of what I've seen onscreen in real world situations working with similar footage that you described. I guess the people who write the code might be more help. They could tell you exactly how each filter processes in the YUV color space and probably provide you with technical specifications.
