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Premiere Pro Editing – Scaling, Resizing, Zooming and Resolution Loss of Footage Clips
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[Devinda Fernando] “(which is about 160GB per 1 hour of footage for 2K), when compared with H264, which is approx. 16GB for 1 hour of footage for 2K) – the comparable scaling for the R3D would be roughly 10 times that of the H264…?”
Well. No, because the size of the file doesn’t matter in scaling. You might have 160 gigs of shitty, noisy, high ISO, maybe compressed (as it can be) RED footage that will look terrible when you scale it up and on the other hand you have 16 gigs of well compressed (by the footage’s terms) H264 that will look pretty nice even if you scale it up a bunch.
You can get all mathematical on this but the best way to scale footage is scale it to the point where it still looks good to you or the client. If it looks terrible then don’t scale it that much.
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Well you certainly have a point about Noise, but I was trying to compare Apples to Apples here… That’s why I said 160GB of 1 hour of footage for each scenario… So assuming proper lighting and no Noise, then would that be the case, or does higher ISO automatically translate into less detail in the image?
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To interlope quickly, this is the a great article: https://library.creativecow.net/galt_john/John_Galt_2K_4K_Truth_About_Pixels/1
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Hah, thanks! I THINK it’s true, at least from a perspective of a guy who is not a programmer or software engineer…just a longtime user!
Your summary is just about right. The only correction I’d point out is that compression in video is more tied up with changes to the frame over time, rather than jpeg-like blocks within the image (though there is some of that, too). With the All-I-Frame stuff you’re working with, that’s not an issue, but regular h.264 IPB compression hinges on key frames.
Think of it like this: a key frame is a fully detailed image, and then the compressor takes over and records the changes in the image for every frame since the key frame. So you have less information because it only stores data about what’s different from the key frame. The amount of compression depends on how many key frames per second are being used; All-I-Frame compression has a key frame for every image, so it’s less compressed. On the other end of the scale, when you compress something for web streaming, you can sometimes end up having a key frame only every 96 frames. You can see why the detail tends to break down a little.
There is, of course, compression on even the I-Frames of your DSLR footage–the color space is 4:2:0, for example, and it’s 8-bit.
But the bottom line is that Tero’s comment is right–your eye is a good indicator in a case like this. Civilians will usually not be as sensitive to these kinds of things, but sometimes not–my boss is not a videographer or photographer, but he’s got a really good eye, even if he doesn’t know the tech behind it.
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Fantastic article Richard… Thanks for sharing… it will probably take me a week or more to actually digest all that info in there as its quite complicated and more scientific than I am used to.
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*** but regular h.264 IPB compression hinges on key frames. ***
Yeah, I know the mechanics of IPB, which is why I usually avoid using that setting. Actually the 2K RAW info is useful because I wanted to shoot a feature film, which would be shown on the Big Screen, which means I have to convert the finished product to 35mm film. For budget reasons I was hoping to get away with DSLR Equipment, but I think now after this discussion that it would be infinitely better to spend the extra money and go for the Red Camera equipment and get the 2K RAW output to work with. I would love to use 4K but my editing systems would just not be able to handle the size of the files. I was thinking about using 4K for some takes where it would save time by not having to take the Close ups and Mid shots because I could just pan and scan around the 4K frame in editing, and not lose any resolution on the final output .
Anyway this discussion has been most fruitful and I thank everyone for their input.
Cheers.
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No problem. I’ve read it dozens of times and still find new and compelling information every single time. Here’s more of the same https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gqq8QKMmtYg
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[Devinda Fernando] “Anyway this discussion has been most fruitful and I thank everyone for their input.”
I would be remiss if I didn’t stop you right here to ask “Why are you transferring to film?”
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Because the Movie Theaters in this country have Projectors that show film on 35mm reels.
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How does theatrical distribution work in that country?
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