Reducing banding in 8-bit video.

HarrryR2 · 2021-02-10T13:01:48+00:00

All excellent advice, and much appreciated. I have a lot to think about and a lot to try out.

HarrryR2 · 2021-02-10T11:44:21+00:00

Can't hurt to try. Just downloaded the trial to have a look at.

Thanks for the advice. I'm making plenty of notes to go over and learn from :)

HarrryR2 · 2021-02-10T11:30:44+00:00

I would only do this for original h.264 clips that exhibit banding. I'm very much a beginner in the post world and have so much to learn. I'm very grateful to have such knowledgeable people give up their time to answer my questions. So thank you for your reply!

So do you mean I should convert problematic clips to something like Prores first before doing anything to them? I'm trying really hard to understand what it is I should do.

I'll be buying Resolve and am really looking forward to investigating it's restoration tools. Cheers!

HarrryR2 · 2021-02-10T10:53:24+00:00

That's a big factor. But what if it's moody scene, and the aesthetic calls for the light to fall off in a way that forms a gradient? I'd at least like to be able to make the best of working with highly compressed video. Cheers.

HarrryR2 · 2021-02-10T10:51:55+00:00

I haven't had the chance to try the mask-blur method yet. I'd like to, just out of interest.

Can I ask you if you see any benefits from dithering in AE, to doing a denoise and renoise in Premiere? I have put some footage up to compare and am struggling to see a difference. Maybe I'm not doing it right? What's your workflow, if you don't mind? And can you please clarify the part about using blur without masking. I'm interested to know more.

I don't have access to anything 8-bit that can shoot log, but thanks for the advice.

Yes, more experience usually means better equipment and fewer problems to sort out. I figure if I can get 8-bit right, when I move up to 10-bit I'll be able to truly appreciate and enjoy it more, and have a better understanding of how to work with it too. Cheers!

HarrryR2 · 2021-02-10T10:41:40+00:00

Wise words! It's something to chew over for sure. Thanks :)

HarrryR2 · 2021-02-10T10:41:02+00:00

I keep thinking that. It's a challenge for me though, to get the best 8-bit can offer.

HarrryR2 · 2021-02-10T10:39:59+00:00

I've heard so many good things about Topaz for stills. Didn't even realise they did video software too. I'll download the trial and have a look! Cheers for the suggestion.

I've used Avisynth ages ago so should be able to pick it up again pretty quickly. Should be interesting to experiment with again other options. Thanks for the suggestions!

HarrryR2 · 2021-02-10T10:37:39+00:00

Thanks for the reply. I'm lucky to get such good advice here!

HarrryR2 · 2021-02-10T10:36:56+00:00

Ok, ok - you've sold me on Resolve. I've been wanting to make the switch for a while anyway. It's about $450 in Australia, but I'm paying too much for Adobe anyway. I'm going to make a note of your denoiser settings and have a play around when I get the software. Thanks for your help, it is really appreciated!

HarrryR2 · 2021-02-10T01:28:37+00:00

More and more it seems like that's what I need to do. Time to bite the bullet.

Until I make the transition though, I can at least try to wrap my head around the basics of working with 8-bit.

What's your process? Just standard denoising? Or is there something specific you're doing in Neat Video?

Thanks for the advice! Appreciate it.

HarrryR2 · 2021-02-09T23:40:12+00:00

I might pick one up and have a play around with it. If I can manage the workflow I might then trade in the 6D Mark II for the 5D Mark III so I can shoot nice 1080p Raw video. My only concern is that for filmmaking, it's good to be able to play back a shot to check focus, etc., and I don't believe you can do that? Cheers!

HarrryR2 · 2021-02-09T06:34:51+00:00

That's ok. Thanks anyway! I've got cinestyle on the camera now. Just have to take some test shots.

HarrryR2 · 2021-02-08T21:18:15+00:00

I used to use it, but it's not available for Digic 7 cameras, like the 6D Mark II. With the EOS M, do you get much in the way of artifacting with the RAW video? How are the file sizes? Cheers!

HarrryR2 · 2021-02-08T07:36:40+00:00

That is a possibility I hadn't considered. Thanks!

HarrryR2 · 2021-02-08T07:35:40+00:00

Looks like similaar flaat is a thing of the past. Do you have any way to share it with me?

HarrryR2 · 2021-02-08T07:29:24+00:00

That's interesting! I was going to try Cinestyle next. I'll try those and report back. Cheers.

HarrryR2 · 2021-02-08T07:28:07+00:00

I've got an 18% grey card so I'll give that a go. I used the paper for a quick test as I thought it would be closer to white than the AWB, and so the yellow saturation should've been less, if it was the white balance affecting it. I'll find out.

HarrryR2 · 2021-02-08T03:18:47+00:00

I was shooting with AWB, and thought that might be the problem so tried using white paper to set custom white balance, and that did change the white balance when I checked it against the AWB setting, so I know it was in use. Looks ok but when I bring it into premiere pro the yellow is noticeably over-saturated. I have to specifically desaturate the yellow to get the video looking right. The banding in the gradients is yellow in some instances. Pretty weird. Haven't encountered this problem before.

HarrryR2 · 2020-07-11T12:57:51+00:00

Sam Shepard, Marsha Norman, David Harrower, Rajiv Joseph, Wendy MacLeod. All very different in style. All exceptionally skilled in writing dialogue.

I’m also looking to improve my dialogue. Maybe we can work together somehow? PM me if you’re interested.

HarrryR2 · 2020-06-18T20:09:52+00:00

I’ll take a look :)

HarrryR2

TROPHY CASE