The Topaz Deception

Is Topaz ethical? When we are looking for reviews to buy camera gear, we want to see how the camera will perform in the real world. People post examples online, but how many of these were secretly enhanced with Topaz? The photographer says nothing, leading you to believe you will get the same results. Today we have a little fun with Topaz Video Enhance AI. Upscaling and slowing footage down to see how far we can push the limits.

If you buy today's gear through my affiliate links, you could even get away with shooting on the Sony ZV1f. I took that joke too far, sorry.

[cameraconspiracies]

If you buy today's gear through my affiliate links, you could even get away with shooting on the Sony ZV1f. I took that joke too far, sorry.

[AllgoodthingsTv]

I took the dive yesterday and purchased Topaz AI Video to upscale some Canon R 720p footage I had to 4K. It's definitely NOT the same as just dropping that footage in a 4K timeline in FCPX and hoping for the best. Not even close. This stuff is pure sorcery lol. The footage now looks like I actually shot it at 4K. So, yeah, worth the purchase. Of course, the old motto still stands, which is just "get it right in camera" in the first place.

[chcomes]

"you need it because you dont have the skill... to buy a better camera" words to live by!

[mervfer]

When I was your age and wanted to make a slow motion video, I had to take my 3MP camera and take a series of photos at 2.5 fps. Then I had to get the subject to repeat the action thousands of times while I got about 5 photos each time. Then I had to manually sort through them to create a fluid string of them that would look like a video. Once finally rendered I had a 3 second clip that somewhat resembled a 120 fps slow motion video.

TL/DR: using the latest software isn't cheating anymore than using the latest hardware.

[Finfection]

I see a lot of people talking about people using this software to "cheat" their footage. But, I don't see that as the main benefit.

I recently bought the program to use it to clean up and upscale some old ass footage I have. Stuff that varies from VHS home movie transfers, old Sony HANDYCAM discs, and even ancient low res 3GP cell phone footage. And I gotta say, this software is AMAZING at cleaning that kind of stuff up and making it suitable for modern displays. Will it make footage look like it was actually shot on HD or 4K? Hell no. But, it makes everything not look like a low resolution, badly compressed mess.
It's been worth every penny so far.

[Tmaxar]

That line, your grandfather invents a time machine…..had me laughing my heads off. You have such an amazing sense of humour.

[livemusic]

I have been using Topaz to slow 30fps to 60fps for A TON of clips on a big, long event video. When I first used it on my late 2019, fully loaded MacBook Pro it was extremely slow. It took like an hour or more for a 4 second clip. Well, I now have a fully loaded M2 Studio Pro and it takes less than a minute for most. I haven't used it for upres yet. Having the ability to slow the footage totally saved and made my project into something I never could have achieved otherwise. I'm sold!

[intheblues]

Anthony's channel is awesome folks, give him a sub!

[DeltaXMusic]

incredible footage brotha. thanks for diving into it

[ChrisGower]

9:22 the odd thing about that footage is that it sharpens the lower res main in-focus subject, as it should, but then it also sharpens the background, despite it being blurred due to shallow depth of field. So it actually alters the aperture you selected when you shot it. Other than that, it's all actually really impressive, but that was the one where I realised why it looked so strange.

[TYWorldAI]

I love this guys personality soo much... Dude makes me laugh so much 😆

[TheEverythingMan]

Haha at least you know I watch til the end

[aldolega]

I bought it just so I'll have the opportunity to say "ENHANCE!" when I'm editing 😄

[GlenAndFriendsCooking]

Yeah... but can it re-create the frames my GoPro Hero 10 / 11 didn't capture because the firmware glitched?

[kimwood]

I use Topaz. The one thing that I think the company does wrong is that the updates are not free. If a new and improved version comes out, you are out of luck unless you pay for it. Come on Topaz, get with the times. If I am paying $150 for a program, I expect unlimited updates. Call me crazy!

[colinblin]

When I wear my toneh t-shirt while taking photos and videos, I will state "Enhanced with Camera Conspiracies"

[TomScryleus]

*Just so you know, the 7680fps is actually interpolated on the huawei. (from 1920fps, which is impressive still).*

[tsegulin]

I work in vfx and 35 mins or 10 hour render times are not that uncommon for more involved shots. I would imagine Topaz is recent software so I expect it would take advantage of multi-threading and graphics hardware support, so the render times may just reflect the complexity of the task.
3:47 - bricks are sharper, bike and logo on pants appear sharper but edge ringing around big kinetica sign
5:24 - This is a mostly static shot. I see popping in the motion smear at the end of the wingtips, and blurring and distortion at the edge of the fast moving wing trailing edges, otherwise sharpness and interpolation are very good
8:17 - hands passing over cars. I don't think this is commercially acceptable. I would be looking to increase direction blur at fingers or failing that to replace fingers and track cars - fairly involved and a lot of work. Where everything is moving in the same direction the interpolation and uprez works well. where things moving in different directions cross paths (like fingers over bg buildings) it breaks down somewhat.

I wonder how well this kind of enhancement would hold up with bluescreen / greenscreen footage?

Should 'enhanced by Topaz' be proclaimed when footage is treated this way?
Footage has been 'enhanced' for years with techniques ranging from 'bleach bypass' in Eastmancolor or adding a 'Technicolor look' in digital without that being explicitly stated. Frankly with the kind of colour post control we have these days, quite a lot of what makes it to release may well have been significantly but invisibly enhanced. I think that horse may have already bolted. Should Topaz be singled out? Certainly advertising a camera for sale without explicitly stating its footage had been enhanced this way would be dishonest - possibly to the point of litigation.

Finally 'The Topaz Deception' is rather a double entendre.
It initially suggested to me that you meant Topaz was deceiving potential buyers by not delivering what it claimed, but I see you are using it to say that Topaz is being used in a different kind of deception. If the ambiguity of the title was designed to pull viewers in, it worked on me.

Looks like a potentially decent addition to a vfx or editing toolbox, depending on price and required resources.

Thanks for the video.

[Finite-Tuning]

Yaaay, finally 👏. Welcome to the Topaz family. Cheers 🍻

[rocheuro]

hi there! this is one of the best topaz samples I have seen on the web. really good job my friend!