Nattress, Sapphire, Magic Bullet, Boris.....Which is best?
 

Researching these filters through demo downloads gives me a good idea about what I think is best but I wanted user feedback before I purchased the Sapphire filter package.

I think for price, Nattress is best because the individual packages they offer are cheaper but smaller.

What's the best for a solid addition to my FCP studio?

Thanks,

Richard Guaty

I'm not sure it's really fair to compare these. The scope of each filter package is radically different. Do you have a specific purpose in mind? If you want to do film look/de-interlace effects then maybe it would be fair to compare, but without knowing what effects you need, I don't see how anybody can make a useful recommendation. So what effects do you plan to use?

I use Nattress for creating filmic looking video. With Nattress, you have the added benefit of the author of the filters as a member of these forums.

And you pay once and get all the updates for that product.

I love Nattress filters.

I shot a 20 minute film with a Sony DSR-500WS, in the summer of 2003. At the time, the DVX100 had only been on the street for about 6 months and was still somewhat unproven as a quality 24P camera. The budget did not allow for 24P HD. And ultimately I was forced to shoot 60i NTSC with the Sony DSR-500WS strictly for budget reasons.

After an exhaustive post schedule the film was finally completed this spring. And while I was plenty satisfied with the quality of the image, the 60i motion signature was a huge detractor from the cinematic look. Many colleagues stated that the film looked great, but that the movement gave it away as digital.

After discussing post options like Magic Bullet, to manipulate the motion signature, an editor suggested that we try Nattress. I took a look at the demo results and was very impressed. The plug ins were so incredibly affordable that the producers had nothing to lose. So the editor ran the final cut of the film through the 24 frame conversion. I couldn't be more pleased with the results. In terms of cost to performance ratio for 6oi to 24 frame pulldown plug ins, Nattress can't be beat!!!

Jon, I couldn't agree more. I live via Nattress. he makes me look awfully good.

Thanks all. I think, the answer the question in the best way, that Sapphire and Boris are general effects packages, and useful no matter what. My Film Effects and MB compete directly with each other, and I prefer mine, and indeed, the fact that MB was so expensive and that I thought I could code better is what made me produce my plugins in the first place.

Graeme

I only wish we had you programming on Windows too :-)

Sapphire is Great
 

I've had Sapphire for about a year now and think the filters are great. I'm using a GL2 at the moment and have used their "film effect" filter on a couple of movies with racing some Porsche's and an M3 around the track. The filter really brightened up the sky, the color of the cars (especially the yellow Boxster) and the red and white stripes on the track (in every corner).

I purchased the effects taking the chance that the client would like the results. I showed him the footage without the effects first, he was happy. I showed him the footage that would cost him $1,000 more - he said definately the second one, and paid the difference and was extremely happy with the outcome.

I also like GenArts (the makers of Sapphire) customer service. I've contacted them on a couple of occasions and they are a "10" with their quickness and professionalism.

They are also good about providing upgrades for their filters as the different editing software versions improve. I just upgraded to Final Cut Pro 5 and was getting a strange message about Final Cut Pro not being able to find the filters. I went to GenArts web site and they had already posted a quick fix download. The problem was fixed in 5 minutes. I like that.

One last thing. If you are ever thinking about using Apple's motion. The Sapphire effects have worked very well within that program too. Hope this helps.