@DrDave if it´s any sharper you can bet there is some sharpening! This is what you can get in a 1080p frame, pretty much.

I have to say, the raw footage looks great. Texture, detail, colors..

This camera will change a lot of stuff.

p.s. this is a specialized tool, if ever that was unclear. I´ll still keep my gh2´s and will most likely get a gh3 when it´s out.

Here is a natural grade I did with only the RAW settings when interpreting footage in AE.

P.S. When I tried to use Resolve B3, it did some weird clipping thing on the footage no matter what I did on the raw input settings. Any grade looked blotchier compared to AE. The footage played smoother in Resolve, but I cant figure out how to get a level image before grading.

The footage looks great! Am I correct though there is no workflow in existing NLEs to deal with the footage -- one needs to first deal with it in resolve, then export and edit in a NLE? Unless I'm reading it wrong the eoshd review seemed to imply you had to grade first, edit second?

I think the approach would be to:

1. Load the footage into an NLE (Premiere CS6) either the DNG or proxies

2. Make your cuts, export an EDL.

3. Import EDL into grading software (Resolve, AE, Color,etc.). Grade cut footage only.

4. Render for distribution or to uncompressed for final teaks back in NLE.

@redbaron - excellent workflow, not too disimilar to what we would do with DPX sequences on 35mm.

Things to look out for, making sure the frame rate is correct when interpreting. It seems like a simple thing, but I ran into a nightmare years ago on a project where an Asst Editor created 29.97 proxies for a 23.98 project as a result some adjustments that were made in AE wreaked havoc with the timeline, when it came time to turn the proxies off and render.

And that's thing number 2 to watch out for - make sure you turn them off when you render, or be sure when you make them to select "best settings" and not "draft" or this will happen.

Super Saturated look rendered from ProRes proxy

And same exact grade rendered from the RAW DNG - notice the difference in sharpness.

But that being said - if you create ProRes 444 (liner off) proxies using "best settings" it won't matter. I had to zoom into 400% to see any difference between the proxy and DNG, and it was a infinitesimal amount of pixel blurring, and even when completely and ridiculously oversaturated and crushed, it still looks beautiful.

@shian What did you use to ingest the DNG and convert to ProRes 444?

Anyone try grading directly in Speedgrade?

@redbaron In resolve, there is a small camera icon on the bottom left of the color tab page. In here you can change the "exposure" slide to bring the range down (or up) depending on the shot.

jb

Thanks @johnbrawley. I did set the exposure, but I was wondering if there's a default LUT or curve added to the raw file on import? It seems like the DNG files from the BM camera default to a higher contrast than what I have seen with raw or Red files.

Cool, that's what I was wondering and didn't understand. Even after the raw importers default settings are applied in Resolve, the color correction tools still utilize the full DR range of the raw file? Thanks so much for your help on here @johnbrawley.

On a related note, how does it feel to have everyone grading and regrading your work? Do you ever look at some of the samples and think "what the hell were they thinking?" ;-)

@redbaron I'm used to it. Directors and Producers have been screwing with my grades since the beginning of time ;-) In all seriousness, you can't get proprietal about it. Thats part of the job. You advise, suggest...It's someone else final decision. I've had series where I don't even get invited to the grade.

jb