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Sky flickering, using Magic Bullet Looks in CC
Hello everybody, This is my first post ever and its about a big problem I can´t seem to solve. My impression is that the problem is Adobe related. I have last week installed the adobe cc apps and removed my old cs5 installation. I am working on a windows 10 computer that has the following specifics:
processor: Intel Xeon(R) CPU, 24 MB RAM Memory, W3565 @ 3,20GHz 3.19 GHz, videocard nvidia 4000 quadro.I am filming with PAL setting on a Canon 5d3 DSLR camera. My shots are recorded with 50 frames a second and a shutter speed of 100 and with a 720p quality. I use the Magic Lantern software in my camera and record the shots with a flat settings. I use a very very cheap lens (sigma 70-300 4-5.6), next to my Canon 24-70 2.8. I make pan shots of airplanes landing on the track. It a very long pan shot (180 degrees) and it ends up in an area with lots of highlights, filming full against the sun. I have the impression that it is part of the problem.
When I start editing I use NEOscene to make my files 422 instead of 420.(this seemed to reduce the problem) Then, in the premiere program I use Magic Bullet looks to make the shots look better. There is where I start noticing a very strange movement of the bright spots in the sky, very very annoying and not acceptable. As I think the problem is Adobe related I have tried a lot of things to solve the problem. And on a certain moment I really thought I solved the problem but then it came back again. Even when I did the exact same thing in the editing process. I have searched a lot on the internet and the problem that came close to what I am experiencing is the shadow/highlight problems that a lot of people have causing flicker. Only its happening to me when I am using the Magic Bullet Suite. (the auto shoulder effect seems to make things worse so i don’t use that anymore) I am not sure this can be called flicker officially but here is an example of my problem, please look a the strange movement in the sky, best visible from 0:25 seconds. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PAArXQZUfcM
What I have done to make it go away:
Re-install all the adobe CC software and plug-inns
Checked all my drivers
Re-installed all my codecs
Re-installed Windows Visuals C++ (I believe I installed all versions)
Used different sequence settings (used different frame rates and different resolutions (720 and 1080) And also different video preview settings, i put all possible settings to maximum (render quality, bit depth) and tried a few different settings. In the adobe settings the problem was bigger then when I changed it to another setting.
Did my color correction in After Effects in combination with the warp stabilizer.
Checked if there was a difference between the two lenses I am using (it seemed to be worse with the cheap lens)
Cleaned my PC screen (yes I am desperate)
Cleaned my Sensor, because there was a lot of visible dust on the screen, I haven’t tested with a clean sensor yet, I will do this in two days
Used Neat Video to remove noise (this made it look better I believe)
Cleaned the Adobe media files in AE, Premiere and the media encoder
Changed the effects order in AE and Premiere. This seemed to help at one time. Also I changed the preview settings and that made an effect for sure on the quality.
I am now trying a trial app called GBD deflicker but it doesn’t seem to help.I am hoping to find out what the cause is of this problem. I have found a lot of useful information on this forum in the past so I hope there is a pro that can tell me what I am doing wrong. If you need more information about things please let me know. The so far best solution I have found was someone buying a new computer;)
Kind regards,
Jacques
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6 Replies
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I don’t see flickering, but I do see banding in the sky area. This can be caused by your color correction trying to reign in the levels. Skies are very difficult due to the subtle gradation of brightness and color.
Some ways to combat banding is to use a graduated blur on the sky or adding noise/grain to the banding area. Also, using a graduated neutral density filter when shooting will help.
Joe
Living the SuiteLife!
Stuff for editors http://www.cafepress.com/suitelifehttp://www.facebook.com/pages/SuiteLife/1524456414462851?ref=hl
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Hello Jacques,
It’s pretty clear that instead of properly learning color theory and learning to use the powerful color tools inside Premiere, you’re taking all kinds of shortcuts, trying to use an array of plugins and/or 3rd party apps to automatically color correct your footage. Just reading your long explanation is painful, and it’s clear to me you’re wasting an enormous amount of time and energy looking for shortcuts.
Do you truly aspire to become a professional, or are you just experimenting with software because it’s entertaining?
If the answer to the question above is the former, I would suggest that you study any of the vast number of free tutorials available all over the internet (many from Adobe itself), instead of wasting time trying out all those plugins and 3rd party apps.
David Roth Weiss
Director/Editor/Colorist & Workflow Consultant
David Weiss Productions
Los AngelesDavid is a Creative COW contributing editor and a forum host of the Apple Final Cut Pro forum.
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Thanks Joe for your answer and time. I was hard to describe, even in my own language;) I did use variable ND filter for the shot. But I think its a very good suggestion and I will check for some solution in my local photo shop.
I will try your editing suggestions tomorrow and post the results.
Thanks again.
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This is what to ask for at the photo shop;
graduated neutral density filter
Joe
Living the SuiteLife!
Stuff for editors http://www.cafepress.com/suitelifehttp://www.facebook.com/pages/SuiteLife/1524456414462851?ref=hl
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Dear David,
Thanks for your answer and time. I’ve done a few color correction courses on Lynda.com and it was quite useful in understanding the theory behind it. I have worked a few years with magic bullet looks in CS5 and I am now very familiar with the software so I didn’t want to give that up directly after stepping over to Adobe CC. You are right, I have wasted a lot of time and energy to resolve this problem but this is also because I just want to understand what is happening and learn from it to prevent it to happen again in the future. If you think I can get better results with the (32 bit?) Adobe color correction tools, I will give it a try. I haven’t really looked into the new tools of Adobe since CS5, so there is probably still a hope to learn.
I’ve never thought about that question, but entertaining is for sure not the first word that pops up in my mind at the moment.
Kind regards,
Jacques
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I am quite sure this will help! Thanks again!!
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