ProRes RAW is it worth it? (YES)

Is ProRes RAW worth is? (YES)

Come and hang out, learn and chill with me the at the Film + Music Conference in Fort Worth Texas. Get a 10% discount at check out with "UpHill" code.

I recently viewed a video explaining that ProRes RAW wasn't worth it, and that you can get a better image, or equal to the image, with the internal 8-bit codec from the SONY FS5/FS5II. NOPE.
I couldn't disagree more with the video I saw, and here are some reasons why. No one will ever be able to convince me that 8-bit color space, is better than 12-bit color space. Why you may ask? Because it's not. More color equals more lumens, which equals cleaner and better stops of dynamic range. Ask yourself, how many movies have you seen where they choose an 8-bit color space over a 12-bit or higher color space? Not too many huh. Most movies and television shows are with the Arri Alexa (12bit), The SONY F55 (16bit) or the RED (16Bit). So if you want a more cinematic looking film, the ProRes RAW is the name of the game. Whatever your RAW output is from your camera, ProRes RAW is a an amazing codec to wrap it in. Just make sure the ATOMOS supports your camera.

As you can tell, this was a passionate video for me to talk about and make. So let me make sure I'm clear on one thing. I am in no way knocking an 8-bit image. I love the look of A7 cameras and the internal recorder of the FS5. But when I started adopting ProRes RAW, me and many other DP's, directors, and producers, all started to freak out because we knew this was a game-changing codec. It plays nice on the computer, it has a much more filmic look to it, and it gives me 12-bits of goodness.

-Levi

Follow me on Instagram

...............................................Gear Used.....................................................

Camera

Sony A7Sii

Audio

Mic
Rode NT5 (Great mic for filming indoors)

Preamp (So I don't have to sync audio in post)
Beachtek DXA Micro Pro

XLR Cable (Don't buy cheap, you won't regret it)
Canare L-4E6S Blue Microphone Cable

Lights

Blind Spot Gear Tile Lights and Scorpion V2 lights. (AMAZING)

Tile Light

Scorpion

Diffusion

Rosco Soft Frost

[jaakkotahtela]

The human eye can only distuinguish about 10 million colors. There is some benefit to have more colors but the limit is still below 16 million colors. The MOST important thing with 12-bit color space is that you can heavily color grade the footage and open up the shadows, etc.

[mrnessss]

Your footage is unreal 🙏 Honestly, I think it's some of the best I've seen. I'm committing to learning the RAW workflow.

[melik]

Another awesome, informative video, Levi! Great to hear ProRes Raw is smooth
in FCP. I was wondering (worrying) about that. Thanks for taking the
time to make this. I always learn something valuable from your
channel.

[_STNML]

Does prores raw give you a better file, sure. Especially if you're expecting to do a lot of grading. But "being worth it" also depends on a lot of other factors. Such as viewing audience, where it's going to be viewed, ergonomics, amount of dedicated post work, etc. A lot of the examples in this video are extreme before and afters. Aside from major motion pictures, an experienced cinematographer will produce 8 bit images where the differences are negligible, especially when viewed by 99% of the public audience.

[truthkeeperfilms]

Nikon Z cameras just got the ProRES RAW Update today Woot!

[thatvideoguyk]

Hey bro great video, just a correction, the amount of colours are the same the difference is the you get more shades of colours 👍

[pathosmovies]

i agree that its better than internal 8bit. i disagree that its generally better. h265 10 bit for example is also a great codec and its very efficient. And a lot of cameras can record it
internally. Its also editable in a lot of nles instead of PRAW, which is just editable in Final Cut.

The codec may be good but the circumstances of using it are not.

[sutv]

Just discovered your channel. I wanted to ask you a question that perhaps you know the answer to. I have a GH6 which shoots prores. I often shoot in MP4 4k 1-0 bit 422 intra at 800mbps. Would my i9 machine edit as easily as it would prores codec since they are both intra? I mean is intra the key to smooth editing or is there a lot more to prores other then the intra frame. Please let me know what you think. Thank you. .

[TomasVillegas]

Fantastic video. Thank for the info. I definitely learned something. 👍

[rafaelpires]

I hope Prores-RAW comes soon for Blackmagic UMP 4.6k. That would be great.

[beardogavin]

I think it's an awesome thing they've done, but it kills me that Premiere doesn't have support yet.

[bushgreen]

*Is prores raw lossless in every compression ratio option?*

[teemohnay]

FS5 is a 10bit raw camera (given you either have the mark ii or the mark i with the raw upgrade).

[TheGeoDaddy]

Even with ProRes, still think you need a fast - off laptop (2018 MacBook Pro) External Drive strategy to - both - Keep data off the laptop’s hard drive and keep it looking as if it’s still the local SSD... so I got the QNAP TVS-472XT-PT-4G-US 4 Bay Thunderbolt 3 NAS with 4GB RAM, 10GbE, M.2 PCIe NVMe SSD slots using four Samsung SSD 1TB

[dangerousdragon]

Hi Levi! Great video and nice breakdown of the codec. Just a very strange question, but what cameras do all support the codec? I am more into ergonomics than versatility and would always prefer a camcorder to a dslr and that brings me to a point. Canon recently announced the XF705 which is a brand new camera with internal 4k recording and a 1" sensor (equivalent to 16mm approx). For my ambitions it would be the ideal thing. But now to my question. As the camera has a 12G-SDI out. Therefore would it be possible to attach it to an Atomos Shogun or similar and recording 12bit ProRes Raw? Maybe there is something I did not quite understand about the output but please let me know if it would work :) thanks and keep up great work.

[ExLaburis]

Hi Levi, great video!

I would love to know how do you editing ProRes RAW in FCPX? Do you use Proxy files and how?

[LotharRadscheid]

i am filming with the Canon EOS R and the Atomos Ninja V in 10 Bit, oh man and the different to regular 4K is huge, can´t wait to see and hopefully Canon comes with a firmware same as with the Nikon Z6-7 to film in Pro RES Raw, it is so awesome.

[KeatonWard]

Thank you for this overview. Very informative 👍🏻 also, you have very nice hair.

[jakedfountain]

Great stuff!! I just upgraded to the Sony A7Siii. I also have the Ninja V. If I’m moving towards shooting RAW on A7Siii should I also have my camera set up in SLog 3 for the times I might want to just shoot slog3 and record prores 422 into ninja as backup. If the workflow is similar between Prores Raw and S-log I would want to start shooting in Slog all the time right? Also I have 2 A7iii’s that I will be using as B cameras, do they need to be setup in SLog 3 also to match as best as possible? I’ve used Cine 4 forever and now I have S-Cinetone Profile selected on A7Siii and my A7iii’s are adjusted to match. Curious to your thoughts and advice to work with what I have. Thank u

[sudhig]

I know I'm commenting after 2 years but still I hope I get answer . I heard we don't have option to change WB in post in prores raw as of now from atomos ninja V . So in that case you mean that I can manually tweak as if I have wb control like BRAW using color wheel without quality loss?