Magic Bullet? Over Hyped?

[Carmen Neely]

Ok, I just got my DVX100B and I'm looking at many, many months before getting the Magic Bullet software. Is it really worth it? I have Adobe Premiere Pro 2.0 and I'm not too familar with it, but can't I do most of the MB effects in this version of Premiere?


Please let me know. The wait will be sooooo long on getting the free software version.


Thanks!

 

[Jeff Anderson]

yeah I have never been a fan of the MB stuff. Not that they look bad - I can do what makes me happy in PP though. Saturation, Levels, Contrast, etc all get me where I need to go.

 

[saturnin]

magic bullet is fun to use, but lot of ppl use it and its funny when youre watching videos and youre like..hey thats a "preset" lol

 

[Carmen Neely]

Thanks, that what I thought.....MB is mainly a 'fun' extra.

 

[stinkpot]

magic bullet is fun to use, but lot of ppl use it and its funny when youre watching videos and youre like..hey thats a "preset" lol

I agree. Seeing something with preset mb applied is quite comical. Although, I have seen some pretty slick stuff when the presets get tweaked beyond recognition and then applied to good footage.

Focus on great in-camera exposer, composition, etc. and some subtle mb can do wonders.
:beer:

 

[Huy Vu]

It's best used as a template for further tweaking. Some of the settings like diffusion is difficult to duplicate in Premiere.

I'm expecting great things of the next version of MB. Some of the tools are kickass.

 

[Ferdi Willemse]

Whatever MB can do, I can do faster (render time-wise). Including those white and black glowy things, whatever they were called. Basically everything.

MB is fun for inspiration, though.

 

[saturnin]

mb presets are meant to be twekaed but it just akes forver after u cahnge the settings...

 

[Shooter]

Heres a few effects I use regularly by tweaking the basic MBs.

Vignette ( I use this most frequently although I can also do it in Colorista)
Grads
White & Black Diffussion
Black and white 'looks' (ie duotones)


None of these are too easy or possible to replicate in basic PremPro

 

[TeamJoeDawn]

http://www.videocopilot.net/fmp.html

Similar effect, quicker render time.. judge from yourself from the demo videos on the page.

By the way, I think Andrew Kramer as done wonders at his website, from his really great add-ons to his free tutorials. Good job Andrew!!! Go Video Copilot!!!


J

 

[dr jones]

i like mb because it actually renders diffusions and glows into the "look" that are very hard to accomplish by CC without it.

 

[dregenthal]

While not a strong fan of MB . . . I own it. Although sometimes it's convenient to have a starting place.