Since I did say I would be doing the video testing and some of you might actually care, I thought I had better report on the video test of SpyderCube.
I shot the same thing as I did in the still test. I didn't even move the camera. So, it's the same stuff and the same lighting. It's the same camera too, just in video mode rather than still mode. Keep in mind that this is a video camera that shoots still. Video is what it's good at. I shot in 1080/24p, but rendered it in 720/24p to keep the size down. OK, 50 MB doesn't seem small by still photography standards, but it is very small by video standards. Here's the video - in WMV format:
http://lugh-clyde.home.comcast.net/pictures/Color.wmvColor correction, like everything else, in video editing is very different than in Photoshop. For one, there is no Curvemeister to make it quick and easy. I'm spoiled by CM. That has led me to do all this to see how quick and easy I can get color correction done in Vegas Pro 8. Like most full featured non-linear editing (NLE) tools, Vegas has a video FX "filter" called "Color Corrector". Opening it up shows 3 color wheels and a few sliders. There is a color wheel for the lows, mids, and the highs. The hue is controlled by the angle on the 360 degree wheel. The saturation is controlled by the magnitude - or distance out from the center. This allows you to adjust the shadows, mid-tones, and highlights separately. Well, there is overlap, but it is pretty flexible. Vegas has 2 dropper buttons for each wheel. One allows you to select the adjustment color you want to work with and the other lets you select it's complimentary color that is 180 degrees off from the color you select.
I applied the Color Corrector to each event. [Vegas' term for a clip or any chunk of stuff in your project.] Then I clicked on the complimentary eyedropper button for the lows and clicked on the black part of the SpyderCube. I used the gray that was aimed at the primary light for the mids. I used the white aimed at that light for the highs. This is shown in the middle section of the video. The last third of the video shows how I did the same for the 3 Golden paints.
For purposes of testing only one thing at a time, I did not apply any levels or curves to this. Brightness is not handled by the Color Corrector tool in NLEs. That's a different process not covered in this test.
Both the SpyderCube and Golden paints work very well. They gave me excellent colors across the whole color range in both still photography in Photoshop/CM and my video with Vegas Pro. I used Golden paints because they give the Lab numbers for all their paints on their Web site. They are very good paints, but aren't the cheapest artist paints you can buy. After buying them, you have to come up with something to paint that is easy and practical to carry wherever you photograph. You also have to get them as smooth and flat as you possibly can. I was never able to get them as smooth and flat as SpyderCube. I probably spent as much on the paints as I did on the SpyderCube too. (No art supply store in the Western suburbs of Chicago had the matt versions of these, so I had to order online from Dick Bickle with the shipping cost incurred.)
The SpyderCube gives me the small, smooth, durable, versatile, and practical tool that I've been looking for. The format is as perfect as I can imagine; more so than I could dream up to slap Golden paint on. The colors are embedded in the plastic and seem spot-on for neutrality. It even has things I never dreamed of, like the chrome ball and the absolute black hole that really works.
My only very slight grumble would be in it's size. Yes, that is one of it's major pros too. However, if the item being shot is large, far away, AND in a different light than the camera, getting the SpyderCube way out there in that light will be a bit of a problem. Getting it way out there makes it too small to pin properly. Well, I still do have those painted oatmeal lids that I can dig out for that. However, 99% of my shooting the SpyderCube will do just fine.
I'm happy as a clam about this and highly recommend the SpyderCube for anyone using Curvemeister (or anything) for fast, easy, accurate color correction.
Thanks,
Clyde
