Recommended color correction plug-in for FCP X? HyColour Pro? Color Finale? Hawaiki?

[Noam Osband]

I want to get my color correction as good as possible. I do doc work and usually don't color grade much. I was trying to choose a plug-in for color correction in FCP X and was trying to decide between HyColour Pro and Color Finale. I was leaning towards HyColour Pro cause that seems more geared towards color correction, but I wondered if any here had any thoughts? Perhaps go instead for Hawaiki AutoGrade?

[David Dixon]

All of these are good. They have very different interfaces and toolsets. Are you accustomed to using traditional color wheels? Then you might prefer Color Finale. Hycolour is very powerful yet I find it more accessible if you are not expecting color wheels. Auto grade is not a full blown color editing tool but focuses more on color correction.

I don't really understand why there is not a tool in FCPX like the old FCP Classic one-click color correction, but there isn't. And these third party apps don't really provide that either. AutoGrade attempts it, but I just find that you still have to adjust things after using the Auto part.

I use Hycolour and love it. You probably should download trial versions of each to find the best fit for you.

[Nate Haustein]

White Balance 2 Plugin from FCPeffects.com is also pretty good for quick adjustments. Lots of useful sliders like Green/Magenta and color temperature. Also has the eyedropper tool for a quick adjustment. You can usually find a coupon for 50% off or so - I'd recommend it.

I wanted to like Color Finale, but the interface wasn't quick enough for everyday use. I didn't really like that it opened another window for the controls. That being said, the individual vector adjustments were nice.