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Old 10th November 2020, 16:16   #5  |  Link
johnmeyer
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Join Date: Feb 2002
Location: California
Posts: 2,691
Color grading is one of the toughest things to get right when restoring old film, and I don't think there has ever been an automatic function that can get it right for most scenes. I do 90% of my color work in my NLE, before exporting to the script for dirt removal, stabilization, sharpening, grain reduction, etc.

That function you are having trouble getting to work (GamMac, which is what requires "FredAverage") can sometimes provide decent gamma and color correction, but only sometimes (about 1/3 of the time in my work). The functions it replaced worked even few times than that.

The problem, of course, is that the color dye layers in the film each fade, but at a different rate for each color. This is what leads to film with a reddish cast (most common) or sometimes blue or yellow.

Color is an art, even with brand new film. When commercial movies were still being shot on film, one of the jobs you'd see in the credits was "color timing." That person's job was to make sure the clips from different reels of negative film would match each other when spliced together. Even when all the film was new, and used the same stock, the differences in lighting, times of day, and development would all contribute to slight shifts in color.
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