Workflow help needed (ML raw + ACR + Resolve)

Started by soloflow, September 25, 2014, 10:58:11 PM

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soloflow

First of all, pardon me for asking same questions I know been asked before. Reason is there is so many contradicting advice and also there's new software every now and then.

Background
I'm a hobby photographer who in the later years more and more only graded my photos in ACR instead of Photoshop to save file space and speed my workflow up. So I'm very familiar with ACR and have a lot of nice presets I like. Now with my 5D MK II I've become more and more interested in videography. I've read a lot of articles the past week so I'm beginning to understand things roughly.

My current workflow is:
1) Using ML raw module
2) Convert footage to CinemaDNG using RawMagic (for mac)
3) Importing footage into resolve using BMD Film.
4) Placing 3D Lut "BMD Film to Visionlog raw 64" on the first node
5) Placing a grading preset lut such as Osiris "M31 - log" on second node

Thing is, it's either my sample footage or me using bad settings somewhere cause I feel the presets turn out pretty bad. And a lot of questions arises:

Q1) I've read a lot of articles about using Visionlog as profile in ACR but when importing the DNG's into Resolve it doesn't seem to make any difference. The DNG files seem to be imported without any consideration to XMP data? So what's the use? Is it for those batching DNG's to JPG's before importing? Or do After effects bring XMP data in the import and that's why some do it?   

Q2) Cinelog vs Visionlog? Any reommendations?

Q3) Should I use Osiris log luts or their Rec.709 luts?

That's all for now, would be very thankful for any pointers.

/Björn

Thomas Worth

You're correct to use the "BMD Film" setting, but the problem is that it assumes output from a Blackmagic Camera. From what I understand, these cameras use some type of log curve to pack their data into 12 bits efficiently. The output from RAWMagic doesn't use a log curve. So right away, by using BMD Film with Magic Lantern footage, incorrect assumptions are being made by Resolve because I'm fairly certain the RAW output from Canon DSLRs is, for all intents and purposes, linear (Alex can perhaps confirm this). That pretty much invalidates any LUT, if accuracy is a factor. Regardless, this is the only setting in Resolve that renders CinemaDNG files from RAWMagic properly without discarding a bunch of picture information.

Now, that doesn't mean you can't select any random LUT and get something that looks okay. People do that all the time. It's just not "correct" in that it is not properly transforming log data into linear data as designed. And since it's not correct, then why bother with a LUT at all? Why not just grade the footage yourself to get the look you want? That's basically all that's happening anyway when you cycle through the LUTs in Resolve. At that point, you're just doing the equivalent of Magic Bullet or Instagram or any photo filter app. It may look cool, but there's no regard for technical accuracy. That's why I rarely use them.

I'd just pick a LUT you like, and stick with it. You can try downloading some LUTs designed for other cameras and see if they give you the look you want. Unfortunately, there's no right way to do this yet, since as far as I know there's no specific setting in Resolve for Magic Lantern footage.

soloflow

Thanks Thomas for your reply. All the technical aspects is a bit above me but I think I understand the important stuff. I'm not going to match my ML-raw's with other videomaterial som perfect accuracy isn't a factor for me (at this point). However I'd like to get a good base that serves well for aplying different color grading LUT's such as for example Osiris pack.

Obviously making your own custom color grading would be best. Problem so far is that I find the way of color grading inside DaVinci very difficult, coming from only ACR (and photoshop) grading. So I'd like to kickstart the color grading process and put most effort into actually shooting video footage.

For now I'm ACR grading my DNG's instead (which is very easy for me) and batchprocess to jpg's, but unfortunately I get flicker problems with that workflow. :(


Frank7D

To avoid flicker in ACR, leave the recovery and fill light sliders on 0 (maybe blacks too; not sure).

soloflow

Ok so this should be a good workflow if I want to grade with ACR:

1) 5D mkII ML Raw fotage (Camera profile doesn't matter since it's raw)
2) Convert raw video to DNG's using RAWMagic (using 1792 and 5D mk II camera profile)
3) Grade in ACR using 2012 process and leaving highlights and shadows intact.
Should I use Prophoto color profile? I'm assuming best quality is to upscale files to 1080p at this point? Also I reckon it's better to apply sharpening and grain in premiere/after effects?
4) Convert DNG's to Maximum quality JPG's embedding prophoto profile?
5) Import image sequence in whatever edit program I decide to stick with
6) Edit, Apply sharpening and any grain
7) Render output movie

Any objections?

johnwangphoto

I just start to shoot Magic Lantern raw video on Canon 5D MarkIII. For the post work, I just wonder what is the main difference between color grading the footage in Photoshop Camera Raw then import the sequenced jpeg or tiff clips to FCP X verse do that part in Resolve 11 Lite?

swinxx

Resolve is judt faster if you have a fast gpu. And it has a different workflow. In my opinion its the best you can get. And its free ;)