I had looked up the manual and it says'..

Auto-exposure

With this button you can automatically optimize brightness and contrast with a click. Use the fader in the dialog for finer adjustments.

However there is no information on what adjustments it did, which in my mind makes it a bit useless.. Sometimes it works fine, other times it over exposes the video..

I was just curious if anyone else had worked out what the thing does.. I'm assuming it uses the histogram to adjust the dark, middle and high tones, but there is no information on this that I can find..

@simmiv

Hi

The Auto exposure does exactly what it says in the manual, not showing the actual changes in values made is quite common in other video, and image, editors.

Perhaps you would like to put in a feature request to Magix for the brightness and contrast controls to reflect the changes made.

John EB
Forum Moderator

@simmiv @johnebaker

Hi,

As best I can tell and from what is in the manual and the location of the effect in the interface, Auto exposure uses just Brightness and Contrast but it may have more sensitivity than what we get. I tried on a photo to get the same look as Auto using Brightness and Contrast and got very close. But, adjusting the value by the single digit would go slightly one way or the other and the contrast always seems off. I had to add some Gamma lows to get closer. It's best to use the Waveform Monitor to better see what happens.

I, too, would like to see the adjustments made for both Auto-exposure and Auto-color.

John CB

Yes, I've tried using the histogram to match what Auto exposure does, but it seems to be more granular.. Anyway, it would be a nice feature upgrade if it showed on the sliders as to what it had done.. That way it would be easier to dial it back or more up depending what is needed..

It does work fine sometimes, but sometimes it's a bit inconsistent and doesn't work at all. I've also noticed if you have a video footage which has to be split and then apply auto exposure to one part of it, it may work well, but when applying to another part of the same video footage it is different. Of course one can apply the effect before doing the cuts, but that isn't always something one remembers..

@simmiv

I've also noticed if you have a video footage which has to be split and then apply auto exposure to one part of it, it may work well, but when applying to another part of the same video footage it is different. Of course one can apply the effect before doing the cuts, but that isn't always something one remembers..

Use the right-click Video Effects menu to copy and paste the Autocolour effect to the next object.

@AAProds @simmiv @johnebaker @browj2 @Bol

Hi Al.

Use the right-click Video Effects menu to copy and paste the Autocolour effect to the next object.

I would think that would not work if the next object had different exposure requirements and the auto colour effect kept the same settings. I thought that was the job of the shot-match plugin but even then results can vary.

How much auto correct is applied to a video clip would depend on the exposure of the original clip. It can't compensate for over or under exposed pixels if the surrounding photo-sites also have the same maximum or minimum recorded values so results will vary depending on how large an area of the image that over / under exposure affects.

However sometimes not all colour channels are over or under saturated and it may only be the red, green or blue channel(s) depending on how good the camera is at recording the colour balance as well as exposure as the light changes so the auto correct can lower or increase the over / under exposed channel or channel(s) to the one or two that may not be over / under saturated. Sometimes it will work better than others depending on how much information is actually lost in the shadows or highlights.

Ray.

@CubeAce

I would think that would not work if the next object had different exposure requirements and the auto colour effect kept the same settings. 

Ray, copy effects was for the scenario described by Sim, where they split the object before applying the auto-exposure: "Of course one can apply the effect before doing the cuts, but that isn't always something one remembers...". Obviously, if it is a different clip entirely, the copy/paste may not be appropriate.

@CubeAce, @simmiv, @AAProds, @johnebaker, @browj2,

Dear all,

I myself have not yet really delved into the Automatic Exposure. I usually adjust my colours manually with all other attributes. Sometimes I save the video effect setting (colours), so that I can use it again later.

To do this, I click on the three lines at the top right and then click on Save Video Effects.... When I need it again later, then click on the three lines again, but then on Load Video Effects....

But there will certainly be more about this subject to be found on the internet, such as Vectorscope, Waveform Monitor, RGB Parade and Histogram.

I wish everyone success in finding a satisfactory answer for everyone.

Kind regards,
Rob

Hi all,

Something to check. When you apply Auto... to a video clip, does it make 1 adjustment for the image that is currently displayed and just use that for the rest of the clip, or does it analyse each frame and make an adjustment?

I haven't tested this properly yet. I need a better example than what I could find.

John CB

And MMS2025: the Auto-exposure button doesn't change colour when it is engaged; one can't tell whether it's "in" or not.. The Auto Colour button does.

@AAProds You can see on the clip what effects you have activated. See image

Greetings,
Rob

@AAProds

Hi Al,

In MMS2024, the Auto-exposure button doesn't change colour either - it stays blue.

In VPX16, the Auto-exposure button only goes blue when moused-over. The Auto-Color button does the same but turns blue when activated.

I just noticed - apply Auto-exposure, then apply Auto-color. In the keyframe area, Auto-exposure changes to Auto-color. Then click Auto-exposure and Auto-color is switched to Auto-exposure. Click Auto-color.....

I mentioned that it would be nice to see what adjustments are made for both.

I was playing around with various colour grading tools and wanted to see what happens when a Template, Movie Looks - Film Basic Looks is applied, say Cinema 02. It makes adjustments to Contrast and adjusts all 3 colour wheels under Color Correction. Wonderful! That is when I realized that the photos and probably some of the videos that I took at a church wedding recently, were too orange.

Then, I started playing around with other tools, like Levels and LAB Color and AI Dehaze. I hadn't noticed AI Dehaze until now. It doesn't show up on the Magix.com comparison table. Anyone know when this appeared?

Is AI Dehaze also in MMS2025?

Lot's to learn about these.

John CB

@Bol

Rob, yes, but it is easier/helpful to see the activated button on the effect panel.

@AAProds I partly agree with that. But if you activate another effect, then you can no longer see that the Auto Exposure is activated. It always remains visible on the clip. See image

Greetings,
Rob

@Bol @AAProds

Hi,

It's worse than I thought.

In VPX, apply Auto-exposure - Auto lighting shows up on the object and in the kf area.

Go to Color, apply Auto color and it shows up on the object and in the kf area - Auto lighting disappears.

Go back to Brightness/Contrast and click on Auto-exposure. The image changes but the object and kf area still show Auto color. Now I don't know whether Auto-exposure is on or off. Toggling it changes the image but that is all.

John CB

@browj2

Is AI Dehaze also in MMS2025?

It is, and it's a gimmick. All it does is drop the contrast. Nothing AI about it at all, it is all manually set. Just give me individual level control on the Highs, Meds and Lows and I could achieve "AI Dehaze" myself.

@Bol

Bol, the idea is to keep things simple and easy. Having to peer down to the tiny text on the object is not easy. It is plainly obvious that Magix is taking MMS and VPX on a route that looks cool but actually makes it harder to use, although I suspect this particular issue is a bug, rather than by-design. As JohnCB has pointed out, the Auto Colour button changes colour when engaged.

@AAProds See the image. This way you can see what is activated.

Greetings,
Rob

@AAProds

Hi Al,

Agreed, but in MMS2015 with Dehaze, do you not get Low, Medium and High and the slider?

Of course, you are also limited because you don't have the scopes to see what is happening.

John CB

@browj2

John, yes, we've got those (the lo med high and slider).

AI Sharpen, on the other hand, is great! It messes with the colour a bit but does a good job on sharpening fuzzy video such as my telecine.

@AAProds

Whoa! AI Sharpen? Where did that come from? I just tried it on my wedding image. Wonderful. I was playing with Pixelan Smart Sharpen Pro yesterday. AI Sharpen looks like it could do the job in most cases.

John CB

@AAProds Back to the point of your question.

....As JohnCB noted, the Auto Colour button changes colour when it is enabled.....

I don't think this makes much sense as you would have to keep the auto lighting effects tab visible at all times. But I can live with the way you can see which effects are enabled.

Beste wishes,
Rob

PS. I haven't really delved into the added AI and KI effects yet

@AAProds Maybe this will help you further, see the video.

Let me know what you think, Rob