Adobe Adds SpeedGrade CS6 to Its Bundles

Adobe SpeedGrade CS6 is a color grading software program that used to cost upwards of $20,000 when it was sold as a professional stand-alone package from Iridas. But following that company purchase by Adobe, SpeedGrade is now included with the CS6 Production Premium, Master Collection, and Creative Cloud bundles, or sold separately for $999. Using what Adobe calls the Lumetri Deep Color Engine, SpeedGrade allows you to perform professional color grading on your video footage either in its raw format or as an edited composition derived from Premiere Pro CS6.

This program is aimed at high-end professional video editors, film producers, and filmmakers. It is generally more advanced than what is needed by most video editors using a basic three-way color corrector plug-in with a non-linear editing system. But if you want amazing color grading for your footage and edited projects, and don't mind a bit of a learning curve to achieve it, then SpeedGrade will definitely make your day. With SpeedGrade, you can add masking, vignettes, and even color grade 3D stereo pairs. Clearly, Adobe is aiming for a more sophisticated video production crowd with the entire CS6 suite and this tool is an enticement for those in the know pulling in customers from Final Cut, and also from Avid.