PorkChop
07-08-2009, 06:06 PM
What kind of benefit I will have using native red files in the editing phase, using Final Cut Pro, Premiere or Avid? And... may I lose quality or definition if I convert the native red files into a different format? Thank you for the answers! :smile5:
Craig Parkes
07-08-2009, 06:48 PM
The only benefit you may have is an easier conform process - depending on your finishing tools, and 'possibly' an easier grading path, depending on your platform for finishing.
As you can't render back out REDCODE you will be finishing to another format anywa - but REDCODE provides the most latitude in terms of colour grading compared to almost any other format (except say 16 bit Tiffs or maybe a proper lin - log workflow with DPX's, which is hard to achieve).
However, those uncompressed Workflows have significant overhead in terms of HDD speed requirements (whereas comparatively working with Native REDCODE has significant overhead in terms of CPU requirement.)
If you are finishing to HD, there is a lot of advantages (speed, space etc.) to working in an intermediary format, such as Prores or DNXHD.
Or if really quick editorial turnaround is required, where you don't really have the time to transcode, working with the proxies (especially if you are shooting in 4kHD mode) can be totally viable.
If you do want to edit in another format, but need to go back to the R3D's later on in a conform, then you will need to have your conform workflow sorted out - be it Rubber Monkey, Crimson Workflow, Clipfinder (not a full conform but at least generates a shotlist and has good batch rendering capabilities) or an EDL/XML workflow to a more powerful finishing system (Such as Scratch, Baselight etc.)
It really depends on your editing platform (Adobe has apparently quite good native support, but I am aware there may be some 'gotchas' in Premiere), Final Cut has Native Support but I think in most cases if you are looking at finishing in HD then Pro-Res transcoding may be your better option, and in Avid you will HAVE to transcode so it's a bit of a moot point.