Colour Correction Advantages of Transcoding to ProRes/Cineform VS native AVCHD?

Retrospective

Retrospective

Well-known member
Hi,

What is the colour correction advantages of transcoding to ProRes or Cineform? The colour space of 4:2:2? Or colour correcting native AVCHD is sufficient enough but it would only be 4:2:0?

Help me understand if there's any advantages of transcoding to ProRes or Cineform besides the easier editing, RT playback, etc...

I am more concern about retaining as much as details and colours as possible.

Thanks!
John
 
An edit with just straight cuts and no color tweaks or effects (and your machine can handle it)- raw AVCHD is best. But a cuts only edit? Rare...

I can tell you that cineform files can be pushed farther than raw AVCHD because of the 4:2:2. Is it a night and day difference- maybe not. I put a gradient on a shot with a blue sky once, and with the AVCHD, I could see small blocky artifacts. Now my nose was 3" from the screen. The average viewer might not see it unless you pointed it out.

But what really stood out was when I tried to key some footage. With the raw clip- even my friend could tell the difference. A "jaggedy" outline with much more "bleed" on the actor- that was much much less apparent with the cineform clip.

In addition to it being easier on the machine, going back and forth between NLEs is better with a cineform clip. I like to edit in Vegas Pro- render to a cineform file- then bring that into Premiere for CC with Colorista (not avail for Vegas)- then out to Encore.
 
Thank you for your clarification Edweirdo! I do a lot of VFX and I am trying to find the best workflow for my needs.

Thanks,
John
 
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