55mm is the definitive set of digital optical filters meant to simulatepopular glass camera filters, specialized lenses, optical lab processes,film grain, exacting color correction as well as natural light and photographic effects–all in a controlled digital environment with either 8 or 16 bits per channel processing.
The 55MM digital optical filters from Digital Film Tools seem to have a bit of that Hollywood movie An extensive filter collection, they excel at enhancing the light, color, and diffusion in ways that magically transform the atmosphere and mood in images. On a more routine level, they are some of the best and most powerful tools we have found for color correcting, and as such are a basic part of our workflow.
We originally came across Digital Film Tools 55MM when we were looking for 16-bit plug-ins for Photoshop. As you probably are aware, processing in 16-bits is a huge advancement over 8-bits when it comes to maintaining image quality. 55MM has 47 different filters, all with 16-bit functionality.
Viewing their web site, we were fascinated by the fact that the 55MM filters, designed for feature film and television visual effects, could achieve those same looks in Photoshop. We downloaded the demo, and were hooked.
Features :
The Filters Overview
Rather than ramble on trying to describe all the filters I am quoting Digital Film Tools web-sight; “55MM is the definitive set of digital optical filters meant to simulate popular glass camera filters, specialized lenses, optical lab processes, film grain, matte generation, exacting color correction as well as natural light and photographic effects–all in a controlled digital environment with either 8 or 16 bits per channel processing”.
The set of plug-ins includes:
Black Mist
Black & White
Bleach Bypass
Center Spot
Color Conversion
Color Correct
Color Grad
Color Temperature
Cross Processing
Defocus
Diffusion
Dual Tint
Enhancing
Fast Blur
Faux Film
Fluorescent
Fog
F-Stop
Glow
Grain
Infra-Red
Lens Distortion
Light!
Low Contrast
Matte Generator
Mist
ND Grad
Night Vision
Overexpose
Ozone
Polarizer
Printer Points
Rosco Gels
Selective Color Correct
Selective Saturation
Selective Soft Focus
Soft EFX
Star
Streaks
Sunset/Twilight
Tint
Temperature
Ultra Contrast
Warm Mist
Color Correction
With the intriguing filter names above you are probably wondering why I would start out with something as mundane as color correction. The answer is that the 55MM color correction filters are the most powerful all in one tools we have found, better than anything that Photoshop CS has. The great power lies in the combination of controls allowing interactivity between Hue, Saturation, Brightness, Contrast, Gamma, Red, Green, Blue, and Color Temperature. And, saving the best for last, the adjustments can be applied globally to the whole image or locally to select areas. The selections or masks are generated within the plug-in. The bragging rights for Digital Film Tools is that the means of producing the masks is more intuitive, flexible, and powerful than Photoshop CS.
The ability to generate a mask and apply adjustments locally is built in to many of the 55MM filters. Other filters in the set make use of gradient masks, and once again the controls are intuitive and easy to use. If all this talk of masks and selections seems a little daunting to you, thatÂ’s exactly why these filters are so useful. All you have to do is adjust for the look you want, and apply it just to the areas in the image you choose. The 55MM filters can also be used fully automatically. Just select the filter, click Reset, and then Ok. In this manner these filters can be applied as easily as using an action in Photoshop.
Black Mist
The Black Mist filter creates atmosphere by reducing contrast, but with minimal glow around highlights.
Black and White
Black and White converts color images to black and white simulating the look of Black and White photographic filters.
Blur
ItÂ’s fast, high quality and blurs outside the frame which removes the dark inward bleeding edges of most blurs. Horizontal, vertical or both, Blur uses either Gaussian or Box quality settings.
Bleach Bypass
Bleach Bypass is a film laboratory technique where, by skipping the bleach stage in the color processing sequence, silver is retained in the image along with the color dyes. The result is effectively a black and white image superimposed on a color image. Bleach Bypass images have increased contrast, reduced saturation, often giving a pastel effect.
Center Spot
Diffuses and blurs distracting backgrounds while keeping a center spot in focus. The center spot can be moved, sized and the amount of blur can be controlled.
Chromatic Aberration
Chromatic aberration is caused by a lens having a different refractive index for different wavelengths of light and is seen as fringes of color around the edges of the image. This fringing is removed by un-distorting the individual color channels.
Color Compensating
Color Compensating filters control color by attenuating specific parts of the spectrum. They can be used to make changes in color balance or compensate for deficiencies in the imageÂ’s spectral quality.
Color Conversion
Color Conversion filters correct for significant differences in color temperature between your light source and recording media.
