Easiest workflow - MLV Canon 5D mark III

[wolf33d]

Hi, 

 

I try to find the best workflow for my 5DIII using Raw MLV. 

For the moment I convert MLV in DNG, then open the DNG in Lightroom, grade it, save metadata (instead of doing a looong export) and open it in After Effects, export Prores, open with Premiere and edit and export. 

It is too long, even if as a photographer I like to grade with Lightroom. Also it's complicated to grade everything at start and not at the end. 

 

I saw the Premiere - Resolve workflow, but Resolve does'nt work fast with my MBPr 13". Also it is as long, even longer maybe than my usual workflow. 

So I did some research and found this amazing workflow : http://www.cineticstudios.com/blog/2014/08/the-easy-way-to-use-magic-lantern-raw-straight-to-prores.html

Basically, you just use  MLRawViewer to convert directly the MLV to Prores 444 (and you can directly apply a LUT such as a flat profile, and change white balance and exposure before converting). Then you open the Prores files in Premiere and you edit in Premiere and do color grading and done.

 

My question is who tried this ? 

Is it as good to use the Prores 444 with flat profile, to grade with film convert on Premiere Pro ? 

 

I am afraid to loose benefits of RAW, but I think as you do the white balance and the exposure, and apply a flat profile before the conversion from MLV to Prores, it's just fine as Filmconver just ads some contrast, color and grain anyway. 

 

What do you think ? 

 

It would save so much space and time !!

 

[QuickHitRecord]

Grading footage in raw is always best, but having a color-balanced, exposure-tweaked ProRes 4444 as a starting point is really, really good. That's how I've been doing it. 

 

It's a good program, as the linked article states. The only reason that I haven't been using it extensively is because BMDFilm color space has become a part of my regular workflow. But if you're not using that, then I can't see a reason not to use MLRawViewer. It's free!

[JBowdach]

Hey Wolf33d,

 

I figured I'd jump in as I wrote the article originally referenced. Many thanks for sharing it here and I'm glad you found it helpful. That ProRes444 workflow retains the majority of the detail (99%) present in the RAW images, HOWEVER you just lose the ability to adjust color temperature and exposure of the raw files. With that being said,  the files are such high quality, these files are such high quality, you can really correct almost any issue you can using RAW files, it will just take slightly longer (taking a few minutes, nothing crazy). On the other end, working with native RAW files requires significantly more storage and renders way slower (1-2 fps unless you have a very fast RAID).

 

Should you want to, you can make corrections to exposure and color temp in MLRawViewer, but I usually just converted the files straight over to ProRes444. You can apply Filmconvert directly to the "flat" ProRes file and start coloring from there. 

 

The only reason you'd want to go through Resolve is if you MUST use the BMDFilm color space, which is what QuickHitRecord had mentioned. While I've also used this method (and recommend it for other uses), it has a couple of additional steps so I did not include that in the walk through. My goal with the article was to provide the easiest method to get the highest quality files so you can get straight to edit and color correction without spending hours on the forums. 

[wolf33d]

Thanks guys. 

 

I did some test and indeed quality is perfect. 
Now I am back from Rome with all my footages, but when I convert them using the "C" key, the conversion stops after 5-10 files. Moreover, the ones converted do not play well in quicktime (big drop frames). 

 

If I test with one file only on my deskopt it works... 

I tried everything (restart computer, change hardrive, export to same hardrive or different one, change settings...). 

 

If someone has a solution I would be glad :)

[JBowdach]

The playback is because the files are such large quality and your diskcpu cannot play them back quickly enough. If you try and play them in VLC or even better in an NLE, it SHOULD play back properly. I also have the EXACT same issue playing back in QT. If its stopping at one specific file, there is likely an issue with that file. If its stopping randomly, I would drop a comment in the MLRawViewr forum, but I've also had some luck pausing and un-pausing the conversion. I recall having some issues where I thought it wasnt converting due to the percentage, so I paused it but when I un-paused it it continued.

 

Hope that helps! 

 

I dont always check this forum, so if you have any further questions and it seems like Im not getting to it, please feel free to comment straight on the article, tweet @cineticstudios, or drop by our facebook page w the question. 

[andyfitts]

Does anyone have a recommendation for how to approximate a BMDFilm color space in post to a ProRes clip shot on a Canon 5D miii?

I would like to shoot RAW but haven't gotten around to it yet, and since I can't use the camera raw setting in resolve with a prores file, I'm trying to figure out how to approximate that.

Been searching for hours on this and haven't come across anything.

[JBowdach]

You essentially need to convert Rec709 to BMDFilm. Look into either Cinelog and OpenColorIO, which will allow you to do this OR if you are simply trying to work with a "log" like image, look online for a video to log LUT.