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H264 (Canon 5D mkII codec) footage….
Hello All, this is my first post on this forum. I have been a photographer for 17 years and have just started shooting video using DSLR’s after a client asked me shoot some case studies for them. The quality from these cameras is excellent as many of you probably already know and it doesn’t take long to get into the hundreds of GigaBytes of footage. This brings me to my question: After i’ve converted my H264 (Canon 5D mkII codec) footage to Apple ProRes 422(LT) and backed it up, is there any reason or benefit in keeping the H264 footage from the camera.
cheers, Adam.
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4 Replies
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Working with digital files, I like to think about the raw footage as the “tape”. In a tape workflow, I wouldn’t through away my tapes after I captured my footage, so neither would I delete my raw source files in an all digital workflow. Back in the olden days, I had my capture scratch and everything was all backed up, but I also knew I had that raw tape master on a shelf somewhere if all else failed. And besides, you never now if you will need to work with a different codec at some time in the future, and its best to convert from your original source files rather than from files that have already been converted to something else (in your case ProRes 422(LT).
Richard Keating
Editor, Co-Creator of ScreenLight
“Centralized Video Project Collaboration”
http://www.screenlight.tv
Blog: blog.screenlight.tv -
External hard drives are so much cheaper than tape, so unless the footage isn’t worth keeping, just backup the card structure to an archive external disk.
By converting to ProResLT, you have a good edit codec for the web, but if someone wants to buy footage, you are better off sending a copy of the original H264 plus THM files so they can convert to a codec that better suits their workflow.
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Just to be clear, I was not suggesting that you back up your files to tape. I was just using the role of the tape in a tape workflow to illustrate the importance of your raw 5D files. If you do indeed decide to throw you raw files on to an external drive (as Michael suggests) and shelf it, then that is akin to having a tape on the shelf.
Richard Keating
Editor, Co-Creator of ScreenLight
“Centralized Video Project Collaboration”
http://www.screenlight.tv
Blog: blog.screenlight.tv -
Hi Richard and Michael thanks for the advice, I think I will keep the h.264 footage until the job is complete and client is happy with the finished pieces. It not really footage I can use as stock so I can get rid of it when its all done and dusted.
Once again thanks to you both.
Adam.
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