16-bit quality
What does 16-bit color buy you? UL: FEC’s Mr. Smoothie. UR: CC’s Mr. Smoothie. LR: I took both Mr. Smoothie defaults and used Photoshop’s Difference to reveal the difference between the two images. This is normally just the high-frequency detail which is cropped off by the 8-bit color, but preserved in 16-bit color. I’ve increased the brightness of the difference 300% so that you can more easily see the difference. Is the extra detail worth it? For DV, probably not, but if you are going to HD or film, then the extra quality might justify the expense.
Here’s the real story with FEC5 – on the lower left – is Mr. Smoothie with a preset. I could have spent an hour trying to get this effect without the preset.
1950s – 1960’s – 1970’s
The lower left image has the unmistakable look of 1960s panachrome. The upper right has that late 1970s warm saturated look of kodacolor. And the lower right is a clever alternative to monochrome – noise in the hue channel causes the image to have a slightly tinted grain to it. Almost like it was shot on monochrome film and then kept in a vault too long. Definitely a 1950s movie or TV look.
These effects and presets could have some very definite applications in filmmaking.
I’ve been after that panachrome look for months now, trying to develop it in native AE for use in a flashback scene to the 1960s.
UL: Original. UR: Cylinder w/ Tilted Forward preset. LL: Gradient Blur default. LR: Lens Star on top of Replace Color w/ Gold Sat preset.
Congratulations!
For event videography, FEC5 has some nice motion graphics tools. I could easily imagine that Cylinder used for a graduation video or for an advertisement featuring a “brochure” theme.
When I used some of the presets with Lens Star it took a long time to render. It was the only effect that I used that didn’t render in only a few seconds.
For those of us who pay for our filmmaking gear with event videography and advertisement freelance work, the potential value of FEC5 should be obvious.
