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Film convert


Justin Oakley

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Can somebody please explain this add on/plugin...or whatever it is?

 

I get the basic concept, but I cant really find any good info on WHY one should use this over using the color grading tools that come with whatever NLE one uses.

 

So it allows you to create a certain look of a certain film stock, using the color profile of your camera and some fancy math wizardry. Great!

 

But I like color grading with my current NLE. And I have LUTs (should I choose to use them). And the software has a film grain effect. So what makes this filmconvert plug in so great?

 

Is it a lazy way to color grade? Is it comparable to slapping a LUT on the image?

 

Any insight would be great...especially personal experience using it.

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  • 2 weeks later...

You kind of get the idea by saying that it's a lazy way to color grade correct. However, trying to recreate what film convert is on your own would require a lot of experience color grading to the point where you would have to create your own LUT. One of the benefits of film convert is not only that it recreates different film stocks on your footage, but also that it adjusts that "film stock" so that it adjusts for whatever camera you shot on. For example, the same film stock LUT will look the same on both Sony and Canon cameras, meaning that no matter what camera you use it will accurately recreate that film stock. This also helps quite a lot when trying to match shots from two different cameras, since you can just tell it to adjust for each camera individually on a shot-by-shot basis. Make sense?

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You kind of get the idea by saying that it's a lazy way to color grade correct. However, trying to recreate what film convert is on your own would require a lot of experience color grading to the point where you would have to create your own LUT. One of the benefits of film convert is not only that it recreates different film stocks on your footage, but also that it adjusts that "film stock" so that it adjusts for whatever camera you shot on. For example, the same film stock LUT will look the same on both Sony and Canon cameras, meaning that no matter what camera you use it will accurately recreate that film stock. This also helps quite a lot when trying to match shots from two different cameras, since you can just tell it to adjust for each camera individually on a shot-by-shot basis. Make sense?

Totally makes sense. I dont think I have an experienced enough eye to appreciate different filmstock looks.

 

Oh, the Fujifilm-whatever stock looks so good! Etc.

 

Completely lost on me...like wines. You could put a $10 wine and a $500 one in front of me and I wouldnt be able to tell you the difference.

 

I was wondering about this film convert thing because it costs enough money for me to want to research it. And from the few tutorials Ive seen on it, it has color correction/grading tools that I already use in other NLEs...so it seems kind of redundant for the price.

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Personally, I love Film Convert. If you have a good calibrated monitor and you audition different stocks, you will no doubt see the difference between the various Fuji and Kodak stocks and you can see what is appropriate based on the look you're after.

 

It's a matter of taste and after you try it out and get used to it and cross check with your waveform, you will start to develop an eye and see the differences a bit more. But get a decent monitor or you won't have a good benchmark.

 

What's important is getting the basic signal correction right on that tool so you have a starting point when you want to add finishing LUT's I usually combine film convert with a Vision Color Lut at a low opacity and that combo is a pretty nice look.

Edited by Michael LaVoie
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Personally, I love Film Convert. If you have a good calibrated monitor and you audition different stocks, you will no doubt see the difference between the various Fuji and Kodak stocks and you can see what is appropriate based on the look you're after.

 

It's a matter of taste and after you try it out and get used to it and cross check with your waveform, you will start to develop an eye and see the differences a bit more. But get a decent monitor or you won't have a good benchmark.

 

What's important is getting the basic signal correction right on that tool so you have a starting point when you want to add finishing LUT's I usually combine film convert with a Vision Color Lut at a low opacity and that combo is a pretty nice look.

Do you use their color tools as well or just the stock conversion?

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Do you use their color tools as well or just the stock conversion?

You have to use the color tools to get it to look right. You open the waveform and adjust the highlights mids and blacks where you want them and then from there you can start to tweak the color.

 

I usually throw the finishing LUT in an adjustment layer. above it so I can toggle it on and off and know how it'll look finished as I set my exposure.

 

But it's important to get the exposure right with film convert before moving on in the process

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