If you just replace the entire image with a single solid color, you will no longer have any problems with banding, chromatic aberration, softness, coma, flare, or any other number of maladies.

So yeah, you can sometimes fix one problem by adding in a completely different problem.

lol.

this shity solutions make me laugh.

8 bit is 8 bit, its compressed nature brings a look that must be used the way it is.

want more? use 10 bit or higher. As simple as that. the rest is

BULLSHIT.

I've worked in Motion Graphics (as well as film) for years and its a tried and tested technique of masking 'banding' in 8 bit files to add a tiny bit of noise / grain to any gradients.

I'm also thinking in patenting a twisted coil inside a vacuum crystal ball that when offering resistance to electric current gets "HOT" (technical term meaning Hysteric Omelet Transfusion) ... and emits a very pleasant light. I'm thinking in calling it tungsjuana bomb; the thing is, other than subscribing to my website of course, you'll need an arri alexa and 3 virgins to be able to make it work. Did I mention it cures prostate cancer just by using it 5 minutes a day?

Here's a prototype I'm working on

2012

It's so childish how people look for opportunities to kick dirt on Reid no matter what. If the tip helps you GREAT. It won't cost you anything to try it and see. Often Reid is just passing along tips he's picked up. I take a dim view to those who bash a man that puts in a ton of work and actually contributes to the community at large. No one is perfect but we all have something we can add to the community. I know i've actually benefited from many things he's written about over the years. Just a little mutual respect is all that's required. Rant over!

Dithering aka. adding a little noise can fix banding issues, but depending on your delivery channel noise can be a problem. If you delivering low bandwidth MPEG4/ h.264, or your content will be reconverted (like youtube, digital sat/cable) any kind of noise will be interpreted as details. Due to this fact most compressors do their own denoising before compression. Mostly kinda rude style denoising.. So, if you are aiming for a clean look and want to keep noise levels as low as possible I suggest to apply dithering onto a second layer with keyed gradient/problem color range. Using tools like MB Denoiser in the same fashion can also help alot, just don't forget to add at least the amount of noise the rest of your picture contains so it does not stick out.

I found this interesting and somewhat related.

http://cineform.blogspot.com.au/2014/02/quicktime-16-bit.html

And I too hate the Andrew Reid bashing. I don't follow any of them (Bloom, Reid, Laforet etc.) but I do appreciate the info they give. This is pointed at no one in particular. I just see it forum after forum.

I have goo idea. Let's stick to the topic instead of Voldemort discussions.

thanks @rambo that was interesting!

I think we've been discussing this on and off for a long time, and yes, sensor noise (which is then noise-reduced in post) can be very effective at getting rid of banding because the noise is adding dither to the signal before it's encoded by the camera and hence disguises the banding. I'm sure I posted up some examples at least two years ago comparing a noisy original with subsequent noise-reduction against the same shot but with less native noise which had more evident banding. Although it was a while ago, and I can't find them at the moment. In practice therefore, I don't worry about noisy images as noise-reduction can help with both noise and banding.