Well, in an unexpected turn of events I'm now no longer using MLRawViewer for exporting to ProRes. Basically, I ran into a bug where it seems that individual audio slip data and In-Out export points are ignored during batch export and as I have better things to do than sit in front of my laptop and choosing the next file to render I started looking into things a bit deeper.
I discovered on this forum that MLRawViewer uses ffmpeg to render ProRes 4444 and that doesn't actually render as 16bit but 10bit (I checked on ffmpeg's website). I know the end result will probably be 8bit but throwing away billions of colour data before grading didn't fill me with joy. This on its own was enough for me to re-think my workflow and as of yesterday I've been trying out MLVFS, opening the cDNG files directly in DaVinci Resolve 12 Lite and creating timelines within Resolve that I can render as many times as I like - for example I could render ProRes 422 Proxy files for quick editing and then re-render as ProRes 4444 XQ for final output.
So far it has been quite a steep learning curve (and a slow one as I don't have a very powerful computer for running Resolve, but it doesn't need to be as I don't need to be able to play things in real time) but here's what I've found so far...
1. MLRawViewer's built-in LUTs are excellent. Being able to export as S-Log2 or Log-C is so easy. Opening cDNG files in Resolve however is a bit of a color management nightmare to the uninitiated (me). Having said that, I think I've got things sorted now:
- Resolve Timeline: Rec.709 Gamma 2.4
- Resolve Colorspace: BMDFilm
- 3D Input LUT: BMD Film to VisionLOG LUT (not as good as S-Log2 in my humble opinion but this is the best LOG starting point I could come up with, although this may change as I learn more about Resolve)
2. Resolve is slooooooow to work in on my mid-2010 MBP i7 with 8Gb RAM / 2TB SSD / 512Mb NVidia GFX, but that's to be expected judging by the specs posted on BlackMagic's website that you actually need to run things (and I guess that some of the speed loss will be due to MLVFS?). Luckily all I need to be able to do is create timelines, put clips on there, grade and render.
3. The image quality is superb (I'm not sure why people say that the debayering is rubbish in Resolve?). I rendered out a clip with the closest colour grade I could make in Resolve to match a clip which was exported from MLRawViewer and then graded in FCPX and I can categorically say that grading the native RAW cDNG files in Resolve produces a far superior result than files that are graded in FCPX from 10bit MLRawViewer ProRes files. You seem to be able to "push" the levels far more before the image degrades. Makes sense really.
4. My Resolve project will contain several timelines with clips that have been trimmed so that only the needed parts are rendered - saving disk space. You can also align audio to the clips.
5. A proper render queue. You can add as many timelines to the render queue and render out individual clips with any name you like which is one of the main features I was looking for so that I can just press "start render" and not have to be there to open another file when one is finished rendering.
6. The whole workflow process takes longer than pressing "E" on MLRawViewer, but in my opinion it's worth it because you can grade the footage before you even start cutting (if only to colour balance) and not have to grade in FCPX meaning that FCPX will be more responsive as it won't have to render LUTs or colour corrections, just edits. When I've finished my edit I can go back to Resolve and do a proper grade and then simply re-render and replace the initial MOVs. (If I could play things in realtime I wouldn't even need FCPX or to render out the clips at all!)
Personally, I'm glad that MLRawViewer experienced that bug as I wouldn't have looked into this solution (or discovered that the ProRes files it produces are only 10bit) as I believe that although a little bit more time-consuming (due to my system specs) it is far more flexible in the long run.
Having said that, MLRawViewer is still an indispensable tool and I still stand by my initial statement a few days ago and that without it, shooting RAW would be a chore. Just being able to view what you've shot in realtime by sticking your CF card into your laptop is absolutely fantastic and I shall be using it in conjunction with MLVFS & Resolve for the foreseeable future I'm sure, just not for exporting from MLVs.
Cheers,
Mark.
