Sony FX3 - ProRes RAW vs Internal Recording

How does recording externally in 12-bit ProRes RAW compare with the internal 10-bit compressed codecs? A detailed comparison, takeaways and recommendations.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS:
0:00 - About ProRes RAW
1:33 - Outdoor Example 1 - Highlights and Colors
3:11 - Outdoor Example 2 - Skintones, Contrast & Saturation
3:48 - Outdoor Example 3 - Dynamic Range & Skintones
5:01 - Sponsor
6:24 - About The Lab Tests
7:29 - Lab Tests - Color, Contrast, Saturation & Skin Tones
10:18 - Lab Test - Noise Reduction
12:18 - Dual Base ISO
12:38 - Takeaways & Conclusion

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[Chaelaz]

Having the option for the better RAW quality is important for those that need it. Great comparisons.

[nicholaiexe]

Great video. Idk if my experience is helpful, but as a VFX artist, prores raw and footage without denoising in general is better for what I do. Integrating VFX and CG into footage is much easier when you can properly conform footage into aces simply because of the fact that there's more detail to work with. The in camera denoising is just low quality, there's posterization artifacts and as another commenter mentioned, there is also temporal denoising at higher isos. For most projects shooting raw on the fx3 isn't necessary, especially when there's no or minimal vfx, but on projects where there's time, budget and processing power to work with it, i think it should be used.

[BernardLau]

best video comparing the two I have seen so far. Thanks for the hard work 👍

[robinbaldrian]

Fantastic comparison Josh! Thank you for putting this together for us, you are awesome.

Here I am praying for next gen of Sony cameras all comes with X-OCN 16Bit codec.

[arnisbrown]

In addition to flexibility and control over NR, one quirky advantage is that ProRes RAW is often faster to work with than the internal Sony codecs, avoiding the need for a proxy workflow for older PCs.

[wesidefoos]

Really depends on your client. I'm a sports videographer. I film for first grade to Varsity. There is no one looking and noticing that it's not filmed in raw or S log.. the majority of people that would notice it is us the content creator. I shoot with a Sony a6400 and a Sony A7 Sii. Last year I decided to upgrade my lens to a Sony G Master f2.8 70-200 instead of a new camera. Told myself I would upgrade to a better camera this year but decided to go ahead and buy another a 6400 with the Sony G master f1.4 35mm. I shoot 1080 hundred megabits 120p and 4k. Now I am making more money than my 9-5. It comes down to camera skills lighting and editing if you can Master those you can make money.

[matadormartin]

I appreciate these tests thanks Josh. Every time I have decided I'm going to shoot raw I end up defaulting to an internal codec on almost every camera I've ever used. Most notably my C70 which obviously can do 12 bit raw internally at a more manageable file size than ProRes raw, but I never use it for paid work, only ever a couple of passion projects. It's kind of ironic but to my knowledge at least, most people who are shooting raw with more affordable camera offerings are doing it for the fun of it, not because it provides any tangible benefits to their professional lives. I bet I still end up messing around with raw again though, ha. That's life.

[LDLCGO]

Actually, regarding noise reduction, internal 12, 800 iso does some bad temporal noise reduction that has ghosting and trails, at least on the A7S3. You can check this by recording at 12, 800 with a high shutter speed to avoid motion blur in a dark scene and panning around. You'll see these artifacts, especially in dark areas. This makes it impossible to stabilize shots at second base iso with catalyst or motionflow. My solution is hooking up the ninja v in raw mode. It disables temporal noise reduction for the internal recording as well, even if the ninja is not recording. :)

[DJILLEE]

I’m pretty sure the shift in color and contrast can be explained by legal vs full. For some reason I’ve noticed that the Sony cameras output legal and the atomos records full. I bet if you were to use a legal to full conversion lut that they’d match up almost perfectly.

[ForestCinema]

My finding on cameras within the past 4yrs is that when they have 10-bit LOG codecs with good bitrate, you really don’t need raw. The sensors are all running their ADC at 12-bit, and the LOG curve does an excellent job of holding that 12-bit sensor data within the 10-bit container without losing any info. Raw can look DIFFERENT, or have different color science, but on a pure technical level of data loss, there’s almost zero difference. If you always find yourself custom white balancing, maybe raw has a small advantage there, but I always treat my cameras like a film stock, and stick to either 3200 or 5600K.

[tptrsn]

Thanks for doing this Josh! That raw reminds me of the incredible beauty that comes out of the 5Diii with Magic Lantern on it so it can pump out raw. It's amazing, but such a work flow, and no modern advantages like good autofocus and whatnot. Sort of makes me want to get an FX3 at some point...

[ratadeldesierto]

really great video! it might be interesting to do the same tests for the different internal compressions (I, S and HS)

[trail.squatch]

Thank you for the NERD info! I hate when people just talk and talk and don't SHOW. Earned another subscriber! PS. I am a Fuji still shooter, do you think the FX3 is still worth it today, at almost the end of 2024...?

[DigiDriftZone]

Gerald Undone did some testing and came to the same conclusion that you cannot get any more dynamic range by shooting raw vs 10bit SLOG3 at high bitrate. As for colours, try XAVC HS which has slightly different/punchier colours with a slight shift to green and better skin tones.

[KenFlanagan]

Much appreciated and comprehensive. I think i must have missed the point that prores raw locks you out of davinci. Apologies if i did. For social media work no one will notice the extra coloyr but they will notice the lack of sharpening and NR thta they see all the time from so t cameras on youtube posts. There is a reason why they are so popular for youtube. And the turnaround isn’t usually justified for raw if it isnt blackmagic and resolve native. For professional work and especially multi camera or multi source wb and the ability to nail colour to spec is often more important especially for colour sensitive client products. Also pushing the image in terms of grade and look isnt something most clients need but the use of film emulation’s definitely benefit from a higher bit depth and raw. With these sort of straightforward images the differences arent really being tested. When you shoot mixed source lights with multi cameras typically an a cam like an fx9 or fx6 then having a raw image to match and adjust is very useful. That said for most youtuber social media users it’s important not to underestimate how much the internal camera codec is doing to help out. NR sharpening and lens distortion are very good examples that people shooting sony especially underestimate. Again no surprises that the creator shot in raw but thats an 80 million dollar feature and not a 2 minute social media post. Horses for courses obviously. Thx for the continued excellent and thoughtful posts.

[konefunecycle]

No need Atomos, no need prores raw HQ. I did many tests with and without the Atomos and I can say, everything is on the grading; The color science of the FX3 is fantastic! It's not the Atomos will bring more in the image, except the sharpest like you said because it's a 12-bits. For the color balance, can be adjust 100% same. Good work here! Thanks

[Jazzmarcel]

first video that convinced me that prores raw is actually better!👍🏾

[secondsofglory]

This comparison is what i was looking to see and everybody says you have more color information to work with on the prores raw. But nobody actually shows how far you can push the files till they fall apart in terms of color. That is actually what i want to know. Can you make an episode about heavy color correction comparing both file types? You only showed sooc files without any color adjustment and no film luts applied. I m having an anamorphic rig and because of many lens elements, the colors are way off on the chart. So i have to bring them back and the internal footage falls apart before applying any film lut. Will the prores raw save me ? And how much will help?

[soocmedia]

Thanks for doing this, I was interested in finding out how they differ.