NAB 2012 is squarely in our rearview mirror and I'm just beginning to catch up on a lot of the NAB 2012 videos from around the Web. One series that caught the eye of the wannabe colorist in me was a look at several software-based video scopes from Tao of Color Grading. In these videos, the first of which is shown above, Patrick Inhofer gets the scoop on some very affordable scopes, especially when compared to old-school dedicated hardware appliance scopes. I use the Blackmagic Ultrascope at work and it's a great tool but not customizable. That's where the $99 ScopeBox from Divergent Media comes in, as it's extremely customizable and allows you to save your own templates and window arrangements. Hamlet VidScope-Plus is a PC software scope I hadn't heard of. Scopes are still important if you're doing broadcast work or want to judge color by something other than your eye and that uncalibrated display you might be editing with.

Patrick shot these NAB videos using the Padcaster, a crazy all-in-one production solution using an iPad. It might have looked crazy seeing these things on the NAB show floor but it just might be the ultimate tradeshow production tool. Shoot, edit, upload all on one device. I think I want one. For more videos, visit Patrick's Scopes channel on YouTube. To watch the nearly two dozen videos shot at the show by Digital Cinema Society's Jim Mathers for StudioDaily, visit the archive link here.