DNG Sequence Blurry at High Resolution

[Paul Jay]

Set your project settings at HD and your bmd playback settings as well.

[Paul Golden]

The project is a 1080/24p project and BM prefs are set for 1080 as well…

[Rohit Gupta]

Resolve does not support the DNG files (these files contain multi-resolution images in the same file). Only CinemaDNG files are supported by Resolve.

You can convert to DPX or TIFF or any of the other supported file formats.

[Paul Golden]

Hi Rohit

I’m really curious about the difference between DNG and Cinema DNG files. In the Finder, these files appear to be identical and are handled the same in Adobe Camera Raw (as well as Photoshop, After Effects etc.)

The files I’m testing are originally Canon CR2 Raw files from a 5DMk2. I’ve then converted them using Adobe DNG Converter 7.3 to a DNG sequence. There are various options for lossless/lossy, embedding Jpeg previews and which version of ACR the files are compatible with.

When I bring them in, Resolve can see them and play them back, but in the Metadata Clip Details screen, the files are showing as 256 x 171 pixels (hence the blurriness) at 8bit (not 16).

Can you point me to the technical reason why DNG is not compatible/comparable with Cinema DNG and if there’s any method to convert them properly? Is it more involved than header information or is there a more fundamental difference? I’ve been scanning the web for details…

Thx

[Tim Fraser]

I’m having the same problem when I use a sequence of DNG files, resolve only brings in low 256×171 frames when the dng resolution is 3872 x 2592 pixels.

Help please!

Tim

[Paul Golden]

Are you using a DSLR raw sequence converted to DNG sequence using Adobe DNG Converter, like I am?

[Tim Fraser]

Hello Paul,
Following is copied from a post I just made on EOSHD:
———————————————-
I just took delivery of a Nikon V1 which does 30 frames of 4K raw storing each as Nikon NEF files using it’s electronic shutter.

I used Adobe DNG Converter to convert all 30 frames into a sequence of 30 DNG files.

CinemaDNG can exist as a sequentially numbered sequence of DNG files in a directory. To prove this I downloaded the Autumn1 files from https://www.ikonoskop.com/workflow/
and it load into Resolve 9 lite without problem and shows the correct resolution of 2048×1092-16b and of course looks great. I notice that Each AND EVERY DNG file is 3,288KB.

Interestingly when I look at the file size of my Nikon NEF files they are all slightly different sizes but all close to 10,300KB. After converting using Adobe DNG Converter, Each file is again slightly different size but all are about 11,700KB. Maybe I have answered my own question, but how to convert my NEF files to a consistent DNG sequence?

Here is an example of a V1 Sequence, using RAW files, but using tools other than Resolve ;-(
https://vimeo.com/61774105#

I can’t wait to overcome whatever problem I have to get the Nikon output into Resolve!!

Tim

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[Paul Golden]

I don’t think it matters if the file sizes are slightly different, because even if the frames are RAW, there maybe compression algorithms at play that alter that. You can also create compressed RAW files using the DNG Converter.

My guess is that Photo DNG and Cinema DNG are very similar but that Cinema DNG has different metadata controlling preview etc. Either that, or Davinci Resolve does not know how to interpret Photo DNG sequences.

Are there any other applications that use Cinema DNG for grading or playback? For example, Speedgrade? I saw a link that claims to: https://blogs.adobe.com/VideoRoad/2012/10/on-cs6-and-cinemadng.html

[Tim Fraser]

Got this helpful reply from Blackmagic support on their forum:

Re: 4K raw showing in media browser, imported – 256×171-8b o
Fri Mar 22, 2013 8:38 pm

Resolve only supports CinemaDNG files.

Standard DNG files have multiresolution support, and if you put one of those in Resolve, it will usually see and report the lowest resolution. Resolve does not support those.
Dwaine Maggart
Blackmagic Design DaVinci Support

[Tim Fraser]

I have since batch converted the NEF sequence to TIFF and Resolve imports that at full resolution which is better than no import at all, but all the same I’m disappointed not to be able to have graded 4k RAW files for such a small outlay even though the subject might usually be my grand daughter!