Shooting with a standard video camera, you'll often notice that the original contrast of the scene just cannot be reproduced. The basic problem is that a CCD chip cannot match the amazing contrast range of the eye.

CGM DVE Vol.3+ (also included in CGM DVE Complete) contains some tools which can repair these problems without affecting the quality of your video footage.

First place the video on the timeline, then apply the CGM Highlights filter (located in: Video Filters / CGM DVE Image Control) and open its input controls in the viewer. In the Range section you can modify the brightness range where the filter is applied. The Edge Thin slider allows you to expand or reduce the area and Edge Feather slider allows you to blur the edges. The Amount slider defines the visibility of the filter, and if you disable the Increase Saturation gadget, the saturation of your video won't change.

If you'd like to see the range you've selected, switch the View Mode to the option Matte.

Sometimes it's necessary to limit the area where the filter works. You can do this by defining the points of the eight-point garbage matte in the section Area.

In the example you can see the white facade of the hotel has a very low contrast range.

Now the contrast of the facade is higher. The video looks similar to the footage of a 35mm film camera.

What happens:

Point here to see the Video Scope of the original movie.
Point here to see the Video Scope of the corrected movie.

You'll notice that the contrast of the lower areas in the range between 0 and 55 IRE was increased, but the rest of the image was not affected.