It’s time for part two of our “Helpful Little Plug-ins” review. This segment will include reviews of some other great plug-ins that I have tested on real-world projects. Some of them have been around awhile, while some have just been released. All of them work great.

Tiffen Dfx Digital Filter Suite

Filters are made to solve problems…so how can these plug-in filters help you? Imagine having every popular Tiffen glass lens filter available to you in postproduction. This means that you can shoot without filters (and the resulting loss of light and image control) and add the filters in post…with total control. You can also match plain footage with footage that was shot using a Tiffen filter. Let’s say one shooter used a Black Pro-Mist, and one forgot to use a filter. Not a problem; you can now match up the footage in post.

In addition to simulations of many popular award-winning Tiffen glass filters, the Dfx package contains specialized lenses, optical lab processes, film grain, exacting color correction, plus natural light and photographic effects. You now have total control in a digital environment with either 8 or 16 bits per channel processing.  Using the Dfx Standalone version, any filter can be limited to a portion of the screen using sophisticated but simple-to-use masking controls. There is also a layering system to apply multiple filters, and a batch processing system.

In one week, Tiffen DFx filters saved by butt three times. I used the Black Pro-Mist to finish a clip that needed to “Pop”, the GlimmerGlass to hide wrinkles, and the Warm Black Pro-Mist to warm up footage shot in a warehouse under fluorescent lighting.  My job was to get HD footage of the automated machinery in a 300,000 Sq Ft warehouse. Using existing lighting was the only option since some of the shots went on for several hundred feet, and the budget didn’t allow for a lighting truck.  While checking the image on my Panasonic HD monitor, I tried white balancing to different cards in the WarmCards pack. I found that the “Minus Green” card made the best looking image the greenish light.

We shot all day, and at the edit, the footage looked good, but not great. The Tiffen Warm Black Pro-Mist filter smoothed out and warmed up everything shot in that gloomy warehouse. The light-distributing effect of the Pro-Mist evened out the lighting and it actually looked like we lit it.

Finally Tiffen has given us an affordable way to mimic their glass camera filters digitally in postproduction. They have done an outstanding job.

MSRP: $499
 
 New In V2.5 Nattress

If you like the idea of having your video look like film, then the Nattress Film Effects package was designed for you. Whether you are using PAL, NTSC, or HDV (or HD or SD), Film Effects has settings which will make your video look much more “filmic”.  Film Effects does 25p conversion for PAL frame rates and 24p conversion (with 3:2 pulldown added) for NTSC frame rates. It has over 20 presets and you can also make your own. There are over 27 plug-ins (all designed for different aspects of making your video look filmic) and they can be used separately, or in combinations.

Film Effects also gives you immense control over the gamma and tone of your image, so it can be a great tool even when you're not trying to make your video look like film. As I understand it, Nattress uses both fields of a frame to process information instead of just one field. This improves the final product immensely.

You can also take a 30i clip and convert it with a Nattress plug-in. In addition to the 30i to 24p change, you can play with all kinds of parameters within the plug-in to adjust everything that you would care to play with.

MSRP: Varies with package, but very reasonable.
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