Comments

farss wrote on 1/26/2004, 11:23 PM
Best approach is a filter in front of the lens. Look into Formatt Supermist filters. You'll also need a matte box to use filters properly.
If you have a look over at www.dvxuser.com there's one advertised there that'll fit just about any camera that doesn't cost a fortune.
Formatt make a nice matte box out of carbon fibre that has adaptors that'll fit most lenses but be warned it COSTS!
Cooldraft wrote on 1/27/2004, 12:03 AM
Wow, I was looking for a POST solution to fix video that I have already done.
musman wrote on 1/27/2004, 1:37 AM
You could always try the filmlook script at the sundance site, but this makes everything a bit fuzzy. Have you tried DSE's film look tutorial yet?
farss wrote on 1/27/2004, 2:11 AM
Despite all the digit magic that can be performed there are many, many things that just don't work the same in post. Even on film for example soft focus was always best done in front of the lens. You could sort of get the same result by blowing smoke in front of the enlarger lens but nothing came close to vaseline on a piece of glass.

Probably you can come close using a mixture of VERY small amounts of blur and glow as is done in the "film look tutorial'.
I'd respectfully suggest even if you're trying for that effect you'll get better results with the filter I suggested.
Cooldraft wrote on 1/27/2004, 7:08 PM
Wow, and I thought that post was EVERYTHING! Couldn't find the lens on that site, seemed to be for a different cam family, I have a Sony TRV950. I will look around the net & ebay.
Cooldraft wrote on 1/27/2004, 7:09 PM
No, I will search the forums for the link. Thanks very much!
kevgl wrote on 1/27/2004, 7:53 PM
I haven't checked the film look link mentioned but one trick I've used for years is to put the footage into After Effects and apply a glow filter. Low settings with glow across almost the entire threshold and it gives it a nice warm soft look without too much blurring.

Cheers

[edit] I just tried the glow effect in Vegas and it doesn't really give me the same effect as the AE one, although with a bit of tweaking it might get there.
Josh15 wrote on 1/27/2004, 8:23 PM
Try this method:

1. Duplicate the video track
2. Apply gaussian blur to the upper video track only
3. Adjust the opacity of that layer to anything you want (less than 50..)

Experiment with different values for gaussian blur and opacity
logiquem wrote on 1/27/2004, 9:34 PM
I had exactly this kind of romantic smooth bluring with Canopus "soft focus" filter . I would really like to emulate it in VEGAS too, cause saddly, it only works with the "beloved" Premiere... :-)
[r]Evolution wrote on 1/30/2004, 8:16 PM
Gausian Blur is the way to go. VERY subtle though. We shoot everything DVCam and it looks really sharp. Too Sharp to some. We apply a bit of Gausian Blur and Whalla! Smooths out our picture a lot.
FuTz wrote on 1/31/2004, 1:22 PM

It may sound weird but have you tried playing with the "Glow" filter? Just the right amount of Supression sometimes gives very good results.