Real world use of RAW video on DSLRs?

[Malcolm Debono]

Raw video has it's uses. It can't really be just good or just bad. I for one rarely use it, and in fact I've only just began experimenting with it recently as I'm aiming to use it for a short film which I'll be producing soon. I definitely wouldn't imagine shooting weddings & events in raw.

My point is that it really depends on what you're doing. This can easily be compared to cars: having a sports car can be wonderful, but I'd rather get a 4x4 if I'm driving on rough terrain.

[reddeercity]

Yes, but you still need to know how to drive a 4x4 

[olancollardy]

The real world use of RAW video on DSLR? For me this has been an every-shoot decision for me. I've had the RAW hack since August last year and I have only shot h264 just once for a mission/time critical piece!

I don't necessarily shoot for the "extra" flexibility in post, for me it's more the sharpness and detail. Once you shoot RAW, you definitely can't go back to looking and loving your h264 shot just because you know it could be better. I must say changing White Balance in post is a massive bonus because you can change the look of your work easily with that.

I recently shot this using the ML RAW hack and everyone finds it mindblowing that it was shot on a DSLR!

[hjfilmspeed]

Bottom line if your a cinematographer, you most like will love RAW and wont ever go back.

If your an event videographer that only does coverage, probably not going to like raw for that.

And if your caught up in the megapixel hype, get a 4k cell phone or what ever, not a 5d3 with full frame sensor and 1080p RAW video.

The 4k will not impress me unless we all have 40 foot screens in our house.

From my perspective, after editing h.264 for so long with endless frustration, ML gave me a new camera to work with. I much prefer taking my time with my footage and finessing it to my liking.

but to each his own

Yes content is key but if i had a choice, i would record my content in raw.

[reddeercity]

Bottom line if your a cinematographer, you most like will love RAW and wont ever go back.
If your an event videographer that only does coverage, probably not going to like raw for that.
And if your caught up in the megapixel hype, get a 4k cell phone or what ever, not a 5d3 with full frame sensor and 1080p RAW video.
The 4k will not impress me unless we all have 40 foot screens in our house.
From my perspective, after editing h.264 for so long with endless frustration, ML gave me a new camera to work with. I much prefer taking my time with my footage and finessing it to my liking. but to each his own
Yes content is key but if i had a choice, i would record my content in raw.

+1

[amyenb]

Of course there is a real world use for RAW. I've been using it for around 3 months now for music videos and short films.
I still use H264 for weddings because you don't have the time to concentrate as much on each shot when every moment happens so quickly on the day. I would love to be able to shoot a wedding in RAW.
Once you actually take the time to understand how it works and learn the workflow it becomes second nature and easy.

[daisermac]

I have been using ML Raw since it came out. Even took the camera with me for the summer holidays:

(+) the sharpness is breathtaking
(+) color is breathtaking
(+) your sky comes to life (instead of burning away)
(+) dark scenes retain detail
(+) ever tried noise reduction on h264 footage? Welcome banding. In contrast, raw is very noise-reduction-friendly.
(+) focusing in h264 with sharpness=0 is hard. much easier using sharpness=7 (no effect on the image)+focus assist
(+) once you hit a "stable" nightly build, reliability is very good (keeping in mind the pitfalls)

(-) reliability is (naturally) not perfect - you may loose one or two "key" scenes
(-) you have to invest in storage, again and again
(-) you will need a laptop and harddrives to take with you, running somewhere all the time in the background (offloading and converting)
(-) your family will hate you for spending time in front of a laptop during the holidays
(-) you need lots of batteries and at least three 64gb cards (you can't always offload when you want to)
(-) if you try to use an EVF to see the faces of your kids instead of their hair, then ML is not optimized for that

In addition, dualiso and MLV+sound have been great leaps forward. Thank you ML-Team and everyone providing helpful answers on this forum!

[DavidSh]

Hi guys,

First of all, Thank you guys here on ml for this great raw feature.

I'm David, new member on this forum, and follower after the forum for a year now.

As much as i tried to figure how stable shooting raw 1920x1080 24fps on the 5dm3 i didn't find any answer for the major question -  Real world use of RAW video on DSLRs?

are they still pink\corrupt frames on the 1920x1080 24fps 5dm3 ?

I shot my last short film on the 600d two years ago http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2194016/ 
now i have the budget to shoot the next one...
I can afford myself to rent an arri alexa or red or to buy the new bmcc 4K. But of course i fall in love with the ml 14 bit raw on 5dm3.

the sound is not important for me...
I really tried to figure this out by reading all posts at the forum back and forth but i didn't find the answer. is it reliable as a 1920x1080 24fps camera on a  narrative set or not?

Thanks for reading
David

[Midphase]

Yes, the 5D3 is the most reliable of the bunch by far.

After shooting raw for the better part of last year, I have yet to experience a single corrupted frame.

Tomorrow I'm shooting a narrative short film on two 7D's which we have extensively tested in raw for almost 2 months, once again I don't foresee any issues.

The most important element of shooting raw is to budget for a DIT on your shoot. There is simply no way around it, you will need a person full time on the set whose sole job is to manage, convert, and backup all the incoming footage.

But yes, once and for all, ML is a stable solution for most situations. The exceptions would be docs (where you interview people for sometimes hours), weddings (why add all the extra work for yourself?), and ENG.

Now stop procrastinating and go out there and shoot!

[Danne]

I, d say shooting raw 24fps is a safe bet. Even 25fps. As suggested I have not recorded a single corrupt frame on my camera. Be careful though and se to it to stop the camera before the card gets full. But even so there is solution to most situations in this forum.

[DavidSh]

Thank you so much Midphase and Danne...
It was very helpful.

[austinmarti]

I have shot and completed one music video in RAW thus far (way back in June 2013), and am now working on my 2nd and 3rd music videos in RAW (just shot recently).

RAW is absolutely glorious when it comes to using it for music videos and short film type work.

Something run and gun like a wedding would not work out well in RAW because of the sheer amount of time you need to be shooting.