ProRes RAW to CDNG convertor

drboffa

drboffa

Well-known member
Maybe this is old news, but I just came across this app that converts ProRes RAW to CNDG, thus allowing you to work with the footage in DaVinci Resolve: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/raw-convertor/id1598580439

The developer has a short video discussing it here: https://youtu.be/5sSMNyzj1sg

I'm not necessarily keen to add more steps to my workflow, or to work with CDNG (ProRes 422 would be great), but this looks intriguing. Has anyone had any experience with this?
 
Yes.Its flawless. You can choose compression ratio and play with raw controls in Davinci. IT DOES NOT WORK WITH ALL CAMERAS. There is a compatibility list.
 
I tested it out (to see if I could get usable raw footage from my FX6 and FX3 into Resolve) but I found it pretty useless for that. It converts your Prores Raw footage into either Linear encoded raw (which is awful to work with, and requires multiple conversion LUTs/OFX plugins to make it workable), or a Blackmagic Cinema Camera encoded Gamma and Gamut - which also requires extensive work just to correct the highlight rolloff and bring the colour science vaguely back inline with how the cameras' native SLOG3/Sgamut3.cine looks.

So (with the Sony cameras at least) It's FAR too much work to make it usable in my opinion. Much better to simply convert to Prores4444 and work from that - at least that will give you predictable results and not screw up your highlights completely.

The developer needs to work in SLOG3/Sgamut3.cine encoding into the software, if he wants to pickup purchases from Sony shooters.
 
Grug said:
Much better to simply convert to Prores4444 and work from that - at least that will give you predictable results and not screw up your highlights completely.
Click to expand...

What's your workflow for converting ProRes Raw to 4444?
 
drboffa said:
What's your workflow for converting ProRes Raw to 4444?
Click to expand...

Currently I'm using FCPX.

I started off using Compressor, but that was a nightmare to get accurate SLOG3/Sgamut3.cine conversions from. So I moved to using FCPX, which is far superior (with a much less painful UI than Compressor), but still has significant issues - like you can't set up a project to export both Prores4444 Masters followed by 2k Prores Proxies automatically (something Compressor would do).

FCPX also has issues with accurately reading metadata when dealing with multiple clips, so if you've captured clips at both base ISOs (like 800 ISO for some clips and 12,800 ISO for others) but exposed your high-base ISO clips at a lower EI to reduce noise and improve matching (I always use 3200 EI for my high-base ISO material), you frequently run into issues where the clips' metadata says they're at 12,800 ISO, but they're actually displaying at 3,200 EI, and you have to select and deselect those clips and just muck around a bit before you can get them properly registered in FCPX as what they are (12,800 ISO clips shot at 3,200 EI). And you have to do all of this carefully, because if you get it wrong, you can end up with your 3200 EI clips, transcoded at 12,800 EI in their Prores4444 form - and that becomes a real pain in the ass for the proxies/editors/colour grade.

These complications with FCPX mean that I have to run off Prores4444 transcodes from FCPX myself (the metadata complications make it too dangerous to trust to assistants most of the time), and then I have to import the transcoded Prores4444 files into Davinci and strike my Proxy files from there (because it's easier than resetting FCPX into a 2k project for proxy exports, and then switching back over again to transcode the masters.

So basically the entire workflow is a pain in the ass, and I wouldn't recommend it to anyone unless you REALLY need 12-bit and the extra bit-depth.

I've just picked up a licence for Assimilate's Play Pro software, and (once I can get the bloody licence activation to work) I'm going to test that to see if it's any easier.

Basically, until we can strike full-res Prores4444 transcodes, and quarter-res Prores Proxy transcodes simultaneously from the same piece of software, and without any great complications in setting up each card to be transcoded as such, the whole process is going to remain painful.

Not to mention we still have to manually rename the Prores Raw clips before we do anything with them, because Atomos apply such STUPID filenaming conventions to the clips they record.
 
Thanks for taking the time to explain the process. I'd agree that it does seem like a remarkable pain in the ass. I just watched a video about Assimilate Play's ability to transcode, so I'd be curious to hear your experience with it.

And I'm glad someone else finds the UI of Compressor to be so awful. I honestly don't understand how something like that comes from the same company that makes FCPX (which generally has a fantastic UI).
 
Once it's understood how Compressor works, it's as easy as it gets.

You choose a setting from the left side of the screen, drop it in the middle of the screen (on your footage) and tweak everything on the right side of the screen; in mostly two tabs, video and audio.

When everything is collapsed or it's new to someone, it's daunting - like many other pieces of software - but once you get to know it, it's beyond simple.

You could actually even add Compressor as a destination (Share --> Add Destination) inside of FCP so you have more control of your exports. Doing this provides you additional flexibility (and you don't even need to open/see Compressor but you're using its engine).
 
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