Raw vs ProRes: Can You Tell the Difference?

Do you need to shoot raw? Is ProRes proxy awful? Let's find out.

I'm a hybrid-style shooter with a love of photography but a heavy emphasis on cinematic video. My opinions are based on a 10+ year career of producing video content professionally but that doesn't mean my suggestions are always right for every production or individual. There's plenty of room to disagree and approach projects from a variety of different perspectives.

My Current Gear Picks:

[paulthompson]

In my experience Proxy just falls apart the minute you push anything in color correction. Of course properly exposed and lit footage are practically indistinguishable. But if you're trying to craft a look for your film, you might want more room to play. Please don't shoot in proxy, and though I don't have much experience with grading BRAW, I'd always recommend getting as much data as possible.

[chungdha]

If this video wasnt inside edit preview and showing in 1080 would see more difference as footage of 4K have much more difference and seen in other people who have done comparisons between the different Prores sizes.

[nicholasboule]

i love 12:1braw but i do notice a difference in motion and details in motion like trees against a sky or water in 3:1 vs 12:1

[Nick-K]

I've always used Prores cause my editing software took forever to do BRAW.

[criticalpoint]

I own the BMPCC 4K and my Q0 BRAW is very soft when compared to any ProRes, even PXY. And by the way, ProRes PXY blows out of the water BRAW 12:1 in terms of sharpness and it's even smaller in size.

[jsarahina]

I use BRAW because I can recover my highlights

[NataliaRoberts-szuc]

Super helpful! Thank you! Been shooting BRAW because that's what was done before me, but don't have the budget to buy more harddrives and am looking for the right solution without sacrificing quality. Love this test video!

[charlesbcraig]

So I’ve always assumed the braw is what made the color so good. However, looks like all of those codecs get the great color science?

[Meteotrance]

Im not an apple software and hardware user and i have black magic Design hardware and software on PC so BRAW is more flexible for my workflow and let me use the full dynamic range of my camera, if i need to export on other software there the ACES open color and open EXR option also i can do some kind of DCP package or H265 and H264 export in MKV or MP4 for reading proxy .

[ryanvideooo]

If it raw plays just fine in Premiere how come it is not playing back very well when you press the space bar

[tylercarroll]

Exactly what I needed to hear. Thank you

[cferracini]

That's what I keep telling my boss... We deal with social media! Why do you want cinema quality for social media? If I don't see the difference as the video editor, the client and client's clients won't notice either! So he is just wasting google drive space and making me suffer unnecessarily

[tilemachosmanos]

Hey Stronz! Thanks a lot for the great video and all the info you give us. Just a brief question. In case of greenscreen and Ultakeying, would you also use whichever codec too?

[fybrk]

me watchin a 12 bit sample, on an 8 bit platform, on a 10 bit screen... where's the problem?

[rccg-tog-sa]

Wow
I have watched lots of videos to be able to actually determine the difference and which works best for our situation. But your video is the best, well articulated and explained in direct simple terms.
Thank you.

[falkodietzel]

I can't decide between the bmpcc 6k and the new Fujifilm x-h2s
can u help me? will the pores 422 on the fuji be good enough for me when I wanna color grade? or will there be a big difference between a cinema camera and a hybrid? I like that I get image stabilization and autofocus with the fuji. I like a compact size, perhaps I wanna travel with the camera.
fuji has:
better battery life, image stabilization, autofocus, prores HQ ?,
black magic:
Braw, ND-Filters...

Not sure wich camera has the higher bitrate/quality...

[Hectorlopezoficial]

Great stuff bro I find myself using braw 12:1 more often, can you tell us which LUT did you use ? Or did you apply a REC 709 then a Creative LUT

[alessio]

very interesing video. Work in prores on premiere need less powerful hardware respect to work on braw on davinci?

[maxresdefault]

In this setup, I probably would've had trouble identifying an iphone 5 from an arri Alexa.
I need to know how much I can rescue a poorly lit shot.

[swiissjoker]

Dude...you're a Young Liam Neeson