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CinemaDNG, Apple ProRes 422HQ or Apple ProRes 4444XQ.

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I'm trying to find out if I'm going to record video in CinemaDNG, Apple ProRes 422HQ or Apple ProRes 4444XQ.

I'd like to hear what you're doing and why.
 
I know you are going to receive numerous opinions. I performed a significant amount of testing and could not detect any difference between 422HQ and 4444XQ.

Prores 422HQ recorded on the SSD was clearly better than 4K on the SD card. The difference was substantially apparent in terms of eliminating muddy compression artifacts in low light areas.

I prefer shooting 5k 422HQ widescreen Prores. The workflow is very efficient. Offloading the SSD is fast, and editing in FCP X is very smooth and efficient as well since Prores is native. D-Log is preferred and I keep the exposure slightly toward the right to eliminate noise. File sizes are more reasonable than 4444XQ, however I do record to a large RAID.

Frankly I enjoy spending time in post, where at minimum, I always sharpen, correct lens distortion and color grade. Again Prores is handled very well by FCPX.

I have not tried Raw, and for the most part, I’m pleased. A larger sensor with less noise may be in the future. I suppose there will always be something better on the horizon.

In conclusion, you have to judge for yourself. Hope this helps.

Barry
 
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I don't own an Inspire 2, so my reply is not based on direct experience.

In general, though, ProRes 422HQ is of high enough quality to satisfy almost every customer. And if it is not, then the customer will request raw or XQ.

I am still flying an X5R, where my only choice are 60mbps compressed or raw. I always choose raw. But if I had the choice, I would pick 422 as the perfect trade-off between image quality (95% of what raw gets you) and work flow (reasonably-sized files, easy editing, etc.)
 
I know you are going to receive numerous opinions. I performed a significant amount of testing and could not detect any difference between 422HQ and 4444XQ.

Prores 422HQ recorded on the SSD was clearly better than 4K on the SD card. The difference was substantially apparent in terms of eliminating muddy compression artifacts in low light areas.

I prefer shooting 5k 422HQ widescreen Prores. The workflow is very efficient. Offloading the SSD is fast, and editing in FCP X is very smooth and efficient as well since Prores is native. D-Log is preferred and I keep the exposure slightly toward the right to eliminate noise. File sizes are more reasonable than 4444XQ, however I do record to a large RAID.

Frankly I enjoy spending time in post, where at minimum, I always sharpen, correct lens distortion and color grade. Again Prores is handled very well by FCPX.

I have not tried Raw, and for the most part, I’m pleased. A larger sensor with less noise may be in the future. I suppose there will always be something better on the horizon.

In conclusion, you have to judge for yourself. Hope this helps.

Barry
Thank you very much for your reply. I'm also inclined to use ProRess 422HQ (5280 x 2160).

I work with Windows 10 PC and with Adobe Premiere Pro CC 2017.
 
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I don't own an Inspire 2, so my reply is not based on direct experience.

In general, though, ProRes 422HQ is of high enough quality to satisfy almost every customer. And if it is not, then the customer will request raw or XQ.

I am still flying an X5R, where my only choice are 60mbps compressed or raw. I always choose raw. But if I had the choice, I would pick 422 as the perfect trade-off between image quality (95% of what raw gets you) and work flow (reasonably-sized files, easy editing, etc.)
Thank you very much for your words. I'm very grateful, it's always great to be able to take advantage of other people's experiences on the photographic.
 
Just as a side note for preimrere users, you can also create proxys after ingestion if you would rather only generate them for the clips you think that you will lose. The only time that I shoot DNG is when I am in a difficult light situation where I know that I am going to have to do a lot of pushing and pulling of highs and lows in post.
 
I know you are going to receive numerous opinions. I performed a significant amount of testing and could not detect any difference between 422HQ and 4444XQ.

Prores 422HQ recorded on the SSD was clearly better than 4K on the SD card. The difference was substantially apparent in terms of eliminating muddy compression artifacts in low light areas.

I prefer shooting 5k 422HQ widescreen Prores. The workflow is very efficient. Offloading the SSD is fast, and editing in FCP X is very smooth and efficient as well since Prores is native. D-Log is preferred and I keep the exposure slightly toward the right to eliminate noise. File sizes are more reasonable than 4444XQ, however I do record to a large RAID.

Frankly I enjoy spending time in post, where at minimum, I always sharpen, correct lens distortion and color grade. Again Prores is handled very well by FCPX.

I have not tried Raw, and for the most part, I’m pleased. A larger sensor with less noise may be in the future. I suppose there will always be something better on the horizon.

In conclusion, you have to judge for yourself. Hope this helps.

Barry

Thanks for your thoughts, what is your preferred way to correct lens distortion of 422 in FCPX?
 
SanCap,

I've tried a number of distortion plugins for FCP including Alex 4D and frankly none of them worked. Since Im shooting widescreen Prores 5k, all of the plugins seemed to create two humps rather than correcting the distortion. The best solution surprisingly is built into FCP -- Fisheye under the Distortion Effects. It works rather well.

Hope this helps.

Barry
 
SanCap,

I've tried a number of distortion plugins for FCP including Alex 4D and frankly none of them worked. Since Im shooting widescreen Prores 5k, all of the plugins seemed to create two humps rather than correcting the distortion. The best solution surprisingly is built into FCP -- Fisheye under the Distortion Effects. It works rather well.

Hope this helps.

Barry

Thanks Barry, I was hoping that you would give me an earth shattering new workflow :) I have been using the same effect which does work fine but I am always looking for another way.
 
Thank you, SanCap. Unfortunately, I've tried a lot of distortion plugins and none worked. The result was a bimodal hump that was unacceptable.
Glad we've arrived at the same conclusion.
 
422HQ is all we use since getting I2 in January, perfectly good for us. HQ has no perceivable advantage to my eye 90% of time. Raw is a pain only needed if you have very high contrast image where you might need to recovery high lights.

Hope this helps...
 
Thank you very much for your reply. I'm also inclined to use ProRess 422HQ (5280 x 2160).

I work with Windows 10 PC and with Adobe Premiere Pro CC 2017.
Hi. I am still trying to find a solution to importing fragmented ProRes files into Premiere on a Windows PC. Media Browser will join the 4GB files in other formats, but what do you do for ProRes?
 
Pilots, I have so much to learn about the video side of the aerial platform. I am an experienced (old) still photographer wishing to work more in video for my clients. I have an I2 x7, using Premier. I have not yet purchased the ssd or the pro licenses, but could do this before the end of the year to reduce my bottom line for taxes.
a. Which license would you recommend?, and
b. Is there a book, tutorial, etc. that you would recommend for me to get more up to speed?
Thank you for your reply
 
I know you are going to receive numerous opinions. I performed a significant amount of testing and could not detect any difference between 422HQ and 4444XQ.

Prores 422HQ recorded on the SSD was clearly better than 4K on the SD card. The difference was substantially apparent in terms of eliminating muddy compression artifacts in low light areas.

I prefer shooting 5k 422HQ widescreen Prores. The workflow is very efficient. Offloading the SSD is fast, and editing in FCP X is very smooth and efficient as well since Prores is native. D-Log is preferred and I keep the exposure slightly toward the right to eliminate noise. File sizes are more reasonable than 4444XQ, however I do record to a large RAID.

Frankly I enjoy spending time in post, where at minimum, I always sharpen, correct lens distortion and color grade. Again Prores is handled very well by FCPX.

I have not tried Raw, and for the most part, I’m pleased. A larger sensor with less noise may be in the future. I suppose there will always be something better on the horizon.

In conclusion, you have to judge for yourself. Hope this helps.

Barry
I agree completely with BarryBittmen. I am a professional editor and davinci color grader and I have done extensive tests for me the massive file size of the 4444XQ is not worth it. In fact although you can sometimes see a tad of difference in the scopes I have never seen a difference in the image quality and would definitely recomend 422HQ. Unlike Barry I edit in Premiere and the work flow with both Premiere and Davinci is flawless. That all aside DNG raw is hands-down the best especially shooting in challenging/big light differences ie. backlite foreground and bright sky and clouds. That’s were the Raw and the extended dynamic range really pays of. That said it can be a pain in the *** to color grade and it doesn’t play well with most editing software. You have to either grade it first in a program like Davinci and then export it or convert it to Proress first. Again if a $50,000 shot was on the line I would always shoot DNG, but for most of us mortals 422HQ is all you need.

My 2 cents.
Merry Christmas and safe flying!
rmb
 

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