Improve AF100 highlight overexposure by adding magicbullet "bloom" from Look Suite?

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filmguy123

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Improve AF100 highlight overexposure by adding magicbullet "bloom" from Look Suite?

Was watching the zacuto 2011 camera shoot-out and reading up more on the AF100 (mine arrives Thursday!) I'm aware of the harsh highlight handling if you over-expose, and the chromatic aberration. I know this has been beaten to death. Not here to talk about it.

Am wondering: if I just add a bloom filter from Magic Bullet's look suite, this tends to soften and bloom out the highlights with a nice roll-off. Does this work to effectively "solve" the ugly highlight blow outs if you over-expose? Seems the effect would make it similar looking to a 5D Mark II's highlight roll off?
 
That might do something if thats the look you want.

What would you do if you dont want a "bloom"?

Covering a problem with an effect is not a true fix and if its for broadcast..you still have the problem.

Common wisdom is... "don't over expose the highlights" (Protect the highlights)

Same for any digital camera.

I have never ever seen any "ugly highlight blow outs" or "chromatic abberation" on anything I have shot on the Af102.

I was able to induce some ugly banding on a scene once... and then control it by getting the lighting and exposure sorted.

All that said...I do actually believe this sensor has a bit of an issue with broadcast "legality" of the red channel.
 
Good points. Yeah, I don't shoot for broadcast really. Small business web commercials/promos, local music video, independent films, live event coverage. I like a little blooming as I think it generally looks filmic. Regarding clients, most people don't even know what it is or means... But yes, proper exposure is always best. In reality though it doesn't always happen, or something isn't even feasible if you are shooting indoors that has say a ton of windows and it's live event coverage.
 
I understand the problems of that ( and sympathise) ...so yeah...go for it with the MB's. There are no rules!
 
Shooter said:
That might do something if thats the look you want.


All that said...I do actually believe this sensor has a bit of an issue with broadcast "legality" of the red channel.
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What issues are you seeing with the red channel shooter? I haven't noticed anything that has stood out to me , as being off with it. I'll look over some footage once you tell me what your seeing.
 
I agree with Shooter and others regarding "dont over expose". I was diligent during the year I owned the AF to protect the highlights at all costs and was extremely happy with the results. I have used the Shoulder setting in Looks before as well and it cant hurt. My only bit of technical advice is turn down the Chroma to -3, dont let Caucasian skin go over 70 and brightest highlights at 95 (gives you a ounce of safety when grading) and everything should be fine.
 
swanny said:
What issues are you seeing with the red channel shooter? I haven't noticed anything that has stood out to me , as being off with it. I'll look over some footage once you tell me what your seeing.
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I will start a thread on this when I get a moment .
 
Yes! Upon applying it, you and your footage become OVER EXPOSED and an overlaid RED title deems your footage and your opinions CENSORED. Do you need a link, or can you find your way to the developer web site?
 
The highlight handling on the AF100 is very interesting, and the thing about it, I really feel like Panasonic was trying to give you more detail out of blow outs, but, it just doesn't look pleasing.

On cameras that blow nicely, most of the ones I have studies blow out to white, and not to a primary or secondary color (secondary being any combination of 2 primary colors). When I studied the AF100 footage really closely, what I see is that if one of the colors is about to blow out, depending on the other channels, it won't ramp up the other channels to blow out at the same time near that last little bit. If you look at the blown out color, you see variations in one channel where the other two are maxed out.

The problem is, that detail changing in the 3rd channel that isn't blown out isn't really pleasing to the eye. The secondary color dominates. However, what is retained is a bit more detail you would not see in a camera that blows out to white. This is why I find it fascinating, because technically it's superior in retaining detail, but aesthetically, it looks really bad.

What makes this problem WAY worse that I didn't realize before is that if the spatial frequency on many blow-outs in scenarios with extremely bright lights and dark surroundings (like an LED on a piece of equipment in a dark studio), the 4:2:0 encoding contaminates on the boundaries of the blow-out which makes it more difficult to fix in post. This is something I am still trying to wrap my head around on what to do.

I've started a plugin for AE and Premiere to work with fixing highlights. Basically, I am looking at the values of R, G and B, and ramping the values up in the other channels accordingly. It's VERY early, but so far, very interesting. (I have another thread on here where I talk about it more).

I also contemplating using something like the bloom as well, however, what I feel is that it affects areas that are not over-exposed as well since the range of the bloom is not consistent with the highlight blow out edges. That said, it's better than nothing!
 
I know this isnt a perfect example. But take a look the suns. The first image is straight out of camera. The second was manipulated in many ways. I was experimenting.. but what to look at is the sun and the ugly yellow ring around it and the hot overexposed center on the first image. The second image was corrected in COLOR app for FCP Studio. I first saturated the overall image more and then took the 'Desaturate Highlights' feature and played with it until it gave me a great result of ways to make highlights above a certain level become smooth and produce nice rolloff. It isnt a perfect example but will work in similar large scale examples of highlight issues. windows, etc. I will post better example soon, But lowering highlight SAT in Color and playing with overall saturation can lead to nice roll off.

387823_602175254128_32702998_32593508_431745147_n.jpg
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AND I will say, that if you white balance correctly in a stable lighting temperature, you won't get bad highlights. It's really when you have mixed lighting conditions that you can't get a single balance to work where this will really help. IE crowded places with multiple light sources.
 
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Out of interest...try a soft highlight clip on a qualified area ie the sun, if Color can do so.

Be curious to see if you can just fix that localised area without globally changing the entire frame.

Your result is pretty good anyway.
 
Yeah using a matte or just a selected portion of the image would be a great way to just select certain areas that have issues. Thanks!
 
A filter infront of the lens that softens highlights is another way of dealing with blown highlights. If you look at how Panasonic GH cameras do it in the nostalgic film mode it's a nice look to blown out areas. Just like the neutral profile in Canon DSLR cameras is. The Af is just different and after awhile you know when not to go there and if you went wild what can be done with filters in post like shoulder or bloom. I find highlights to look better in Cinelike V gamma because it protects more than Cinelike D gamma.
 
Shooter said:
Wouldnt this camera be extra awesome if it had user defineable curves in it.
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I do a lot of my comp grading, keying, adding grain etc using curves in Nuke (Shake, Cineon). It's the most visual way I know to grade.

And I have long wanted the ability to complete the loop with setting custom curves with long roll-offs in camera.
 
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