4K to 1080p workflow

[Tim Park]

Hi guys,

I'm going to work with the footage from GH4 (internal 8bit). Some shots are UHD 23.98, and other are 1080 60fps. I want to make a project 1080p 23.98fps.

And I don't know what is the right way to prepare 4K. 

I mean there are two variants:

1. 4K 8bit > Denoise (with NeatVideo) > Dither > Downscale 4K to 1080p 10bit Prores 422 (with Convert V2) > ColorGrade 
2. 4k 8bit > Downscale 4K to 1080p 10bit Prores 422 (with Convert V2) > Denoise (with NeatVideo) > Dither > ColorGrade 

[Deadcode]

3. 4K 8 bit > Colorgrade > denoise > dither > downscale

Colorgrading can introduce some artefacts on the footage, the denoising should be your last step for best results. And it's not necessary to denoise all of the recorded footage, you can save a lot of time. 

Try all 3 variants and update the topic with your findings.

[dhessel]

you would want to denoise after down scaling, the noise adds dithering and removes banding. It will give you smoother gradients if you leave the noise in before down scaling.