I'm shooting raw video on my 5DMK3 and the footage is simply astounding! I love it! Never going back to 8bit compressed video again!
Since I'm a PC user, I have a slightly different work flow from what I've seen other people doing. The main reason is because I like working with Prores and that's not an output option in Premiere on Windows. This workflow works for me so far but I wanted to get a second opinion.
1. Convert RAW file to DNGs using RAWanizer. (4-8 hours)
2. Open DNG sequence in After Effects and apply color profile. (15 minutes)
3. Export as uncompressed AVI from After Effects. (2-4 hours)
4. Convert AVI to 36Mbit Prores (Proxy) and 185Mbit Prores using ffmpeg. (2-3 hours)
Average hours spent = 8-15 hours to get from raw to color corrected prores.
And that's before I even start editing the video!
I have an i7 Quad, 16GB RAM and a 512GB SSD and this process takes over a day to complete because each step requires you wait for a long time before proceeding to the next step. You have to babysit the process all day long basically. Kind of prohibitive if you have a day job. Any suggestions for improving this workflow?
Try converting with the mlv viewer into pro res and then grading.. you can skip that uncompressed avi too and use an intermediate codec like cineform or dnxhd, might combine your steps 3+4
One of the reasons I love doing color correction in camera raw is due to the latitude of dynamic range that the exposure lever gives you. I can take seemingly underexposed footage and as long as I don't blow out the highlights, I can bring out the darks with Camera Raw exposure. Are you saying I retain that same latitude after it's compressed to prores or another similar codec? Or are the darks in that seemingly underexposed shot going to get clipped in prores and turn into a blocky mess? That was my main concern, that I wouldn't retain the same depth in the blacks if I did the correction on a prores file rather than the set of dngs. I'm no snob and I'm not counting pixels, If it's damn close that's good enough for me. Just need to make sure I get the most out of my footage.
Are you able to use dynamic link with your After Effects/Premiere (like with Production Premium)?
If so, you can work with proxies in Premiere and then substitute dng image sequences in After Effects for grading and final output.
Thats a super long workflow. I've been doing mine similar to this guys tutorial. Its on mac, so the raw to dng process is diff but everything else is quick. He does skip the proxy step. I've been skipping it too. its a bitch to edit that way because of the file size, but so far I'd rather just spend the extra time in premier tweeking the clips/transitions than taking the extra time converting and then editing in premiere
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AOcf1a6FI4k
Cinema DNG, cinema DNG !!!!!!!!! How are we focusing on other workflows by now?! :D
i dont know, if thomas worth is still updating his "RAW Magic" app..(mac)
It's a lot easier with a Mac because you can convert directly from AE to prores. This is not possible in AE on a windows machine so the extra step of converting from dng in AE to lossless avi is required to get the footage in a video format that can then be compressed into prores. I have yet to find an alternative.
Quote from: tonybeccar on February 13, 2014, 05:42:02 AM
Cinema DNG, cinema DNG !!!!!!!!! How are we focusing on other workflows by now?! :D
will look into this, have read some info about it.