CinemaDNG question

Hi. Been a while since I was last here. I bought a BlackMagic Camera, started to shoot CinemaDNG and abandoned FCPX pretty quickly for Resolve. Is it still the case that FCPX can't deal with my footage? Will that change after Thursday do you think?
Ta

Lee

To be Honest I doubt it. I also Have a BM Camera, love the 4.6k ursa mini. For raw shoots, I do Proxy exports from resolve and round trip back for color. The reason I doubt it is because when you look at the R3D RAW plugin its designed by RED. BM isn't going o put resources into developing a plugin for DNG for FCPX when they are gearing up more to have Resolve compete with FCPX as an editor. Apple isn't going to put resources towards an area they think should be filled by the Camera manufacturer, even though DNG is technically an open format.

The Ursa and Ursa Mini shot ProRes 4444 XQ which is a 12 bit codec like RAW (other ProRes codecs are 10 bit except 4444 which is also 12 bit I understand). While it's not quite like RAW (settings are still baked in) but it's extremely flexible for most practical purposes. It is lossy but probably nothing one would notice. You may consider it for an FCPX only workflow.

Isn't CinemaDNG a property of adobe?
I don't think Resolve is gearing up against FCPX or any other NLE. It is definitely adding more editing tools for finishing. It I think it will in a similar stage like Smoke.
If it is we will be seeing some more grading and color control in FCPX. Yes I believe in the Apple - Blackmagic deal after the EDL of Color.

Back to the topic... why not just use ProRes? I had at least 4 color graders experts told me there isn't much difference when grading between CinemaDNG and ProRes. They adjust and match both formats with a click.
Pretty insane what you can do with a color grade Application. Not the one from Adobe! LOL

This was mentioned to before also from Colourist at Arri. Regarding the Dynamic Range not the flexibility to change ISO and such for RED footage as example.

I'm with Craig and AppleGuru.

First off, I don't think that the added editing functionality in Resolve is meant to threaten Final Cut Pro at all. The NLE in Resolve is track-based and it does not have any of the unique organizing, previewing and editing features of FCP X. OTOH, I think Resolve could easily be used to replace other track-based NLEs in the future. So I see FCP X and Resolve as perfectly compatible applications, not as competitors. We regularly use them together.

Second, why would you make your life complicated using an old image-sequence based acquisition format when you can record in a master-quality and edit-friendly 12-bit codec like ProRes 4444XQ? We have used 4444 with the Arri on several commercials, and some big feature films like WTF have already been shot and graded on 4444XQ instead of RAW. It has been our experience that ProRes 12-bit is easier to handle than image sequences, our grading artists love working with it, and there is no difference whatsoever regarding the final quality of your output. I would advise you to at least try it out so you can see this for yourself.

We live in a constantly evolving world. RAW formats used to be required for high-end projects when there were no edit-friendly video codecs that offered the same high quality and bit-depth. This has changed in the past years. Now you can shoot and grade with video formats the same as you could with RAW but much easier, and if you need to output image sequences of some of your 4444 XQ shots for VFX studios that require this, you can do this right within FCP X.

- Ronny

Ronny hit it again!

I'll back up what Ronny and the others say. We use BMD cameras, and 4x4 like they do. In my experience, I see no reason to shoot in RAW any more.

leeartpatt wrote: Hi. Been a while since I was last here. I bought a BlackMagic Camera, started to shoot CinemaDNG and abandoned FCPX pretty quickly for Resolve. Is it still the case that FCPX can't deal with my footage? Will that change after Thursday do you think?
Ta

Lee

I hope so too, but it hasn't happened yet and doesn't seem like it will...maybe tomorrow's announcement will be different? :huh:

P.S. - You didn't specify which Blackmagic Camera you bought but if its the Cinema Camera, remember you must shoot in 2.5k RAW to get the 2.5k resolution, then can just transcode the RAW files to 2.5k ProRes to keep that extra bit of resolution and dump the RAW's if you wanted to save drive space or something I guess, or just do the round trip with proxies...all the ProRes options on that camera only record 1080p.

So, it seems that the consensus agreement is that the real issue/problem is my choice to leverage the best my camera can do (RAW DNG v ProRes).
I came back in from the cold and hoped for compatability with 10.3 but looks like I'll be sticking with Resolve.

Thanks for taking the time with your replies folks.

Over and out