5DtoRGB after editing but before CC?

Nick Hughes · April 25, 2014

I'm working on a project that is going to require a fair amount of grading and I want to do what I can to make sure it won't fall apart in Resolve. It's already cut together in FCPX. All the clips are still in H.264- I don't usually tanscode my individual clips because I tend to have a ton of footage that doesn't get used (lots of B Roll and multiple angles) and in my mind it doesn't make sense to use up time and hard drive space on transcoding a ton of clips that may not end up in the final cut.

I'm wondering if sending my entire project to 5DtoRGB before importing to Resolve would have the same effect as if I had transcoded them prior to even working with them? Would 5DtoRGB even read the file if I exported as H.264?

I also have another question about noise reduction. I've heard that it is best do any NR before CC because it helps the footage hold up better. I'm wondering if it still makes sense in this case. We filmed a performance inside of a huge oil drum whose only light source was a hole at the very top. We exposed for the bright spots, making everything else quite dark, almost black. There were also some moments where the sun was covered by clouds, making everything dark.

Playing around in FCPX, there is definitely detail that we can pull out of the shadows. Obviously there is going to be a good amount of noise and we're okay with that, but I'd at least like to try and mitigate as much noise as reasonably possibly. Since we'll be adding a fair amount of noise by boosting the shadows, does it make more sense in this case to do NR after CC? Should we do NR in two passes?