Nikon D7100 12-13 Dynamic range test???

[joe 1008]

OK, 10-bit 422 is easier to work with, but it is actually easier to develop a 14-bit-linear RAW camera, so it may be what we get first. Plus, this is my dream, and I can dream whatever I like, so it also includes super-powerful computers and software that makes editing and compositing RAW clips a breeze. There, problem solved.

At the speed technology advances, I suppose that within two years you will wake up with a smile.

A bit off topic: What do you think about codecs like Cineform RAW? Is that an easier to handle shortcut to RAW?

 

[Samuel H]

CineForm RAW is insanely awesome. It saves a lot of space, while destroying very little information, and playback is around 10 times faster than DNG, realtime or nearly so on a fast machine, with no need of a redray or anything like that. It would be my preferred workflow for BMC and 5D3+RAW videos, except for the following BIG probem: GoPro debayering options are good, but not nearly as good as what Adobe or Resolve have. If you load CF-RAW clips to AE, the GoPro debayering is used, and you lose a lot of IQ (http://www.similaar.com/foto/blackmagic-workflow/index.html). If you load CF-RAW clips to Resolve, you can use the Resolve debayering, so the image is sharp... but it has a horrible green cast that is not easy to get rid of.

If GoPro added a debayering option as good as the Adobe one, CF-RAW would kill most of the pain of the RAW workflow without any kind of IQ tradeoff.

 

[joe 1008]

Wow! I didn't know that you made such a profound experience with CFRAW! Thanks for the link, very instructive. I ran some CF-files through a noise reduction filter in Photoshop, especially CF Advanced 1 and 2 came much closer to your preferred file. I know that was a very crude test but maybe that's hinting to a way to smoothen the CF files and get rid of their color fringing without loosing too much detail.



Edit: It seems the upload of the images here has resulted in a high JPEG-compression and therefore reduced image quality. Anyway, I think I'm totally off topic now...

 

[Samuel H]

Well, there are some major Hollywood films that used that debayering, so it's not as if it is unusable!
But I made this tests for a VFX-heavy short, and the artificial color fringing made it an easy decision: when you have to key nearly every shot, you want clean unprocessed edges.
But yes, if Slumdog Millionaire won the Oscar for Best Cinematography using CineForm RAW...

 

[joe 1008]

OK, Samuel, got your point. In the end we're living in interesting times.