prores 422 hq vs prores 422 vs prores 444

[Richard Harrington]

Anything beyond 422 (not HQ, not 4444) is OVERKILL

You also have no need to work with color if all you want to do is fix white balance. Look at the Cow Podcat library for how to use the 3-way color corrector or check out our advanced title on FCP color corection.

With all of that said…. dont make more work than needed.

Richard M. Harrington, PMP

Author: From Still to Motion, Video Made on a Mac, Photoshop for Video, Understanding Adobe Photoshop, Final Cut Studio On the Spot and Motion Graphics with Adobe Creative Suite 5 Studio Techniques

[Omar Itani]

i’m sorry, i meant the default is 4444. 444 isn’t a option. There’s just 4444, 422 hq, 422, 422 lt, 422 prime, and apple intermediate codec.

okay so Richard what format do you recommend then? 422?

Also, what would i be doing in order to take advantage of 4444? (just wondering)

PS i was also going to match the color of all my scenes because i shot in different lighting

thanks

[Lance Bachelder]

You can create ProRES 444 by turning off the Alpha Channel (that’s what the 4th 4 is) but it is an overkill format for transcoding DSLR footage unless you’re working on theatrical feature but then you’d have a different workflow anyways.

I use ProRES HQ for everything – hard drives are cheap and I like having the HQ when I start color timing whether in FCP or Color. I disagree with any DSLR user who says all you need is standard ProRES or LT.

Like Richard said you don’t need to go into to Color but it is a nice tool to use and I prefer Color to just timing in FCP. That said Magic Bullet Colorista II is a GREAT tool to use inside FCP, much more powerful than the 3-Way and has an easy-to-use Auto Balance tool to help with white balance issues.

Lance Bachelder
Southern California

[Omar Itani]

What are the benifits of working with 4444?

[Lance Bachelder]

4444 gives full color bandwidth on all channels plus an Alpha Channel which is need for graphics, fx and compositing work. I cannot see a visual benefit to using 4444 vs. 422 HQ when transcoding DSLR footage. But if you are shooting green screen stuff you’d probably want the extra info for keying.

Lance Bachelder
Southern California

[Omar Itani]

o thanks Lance!

[Richard Van den boogaard]

4444 output from a DSLR? Not in any current breed… unless you have a RED One/Epic or an ARRI Alexa, you’re not getting RAW out of your camera. If anything, you’re transcoding a 4:2:0 8-bit to a 4:4:4 10-bit file format. That’s like taking a RAW still from a printed JPEG. Sure, you can play around more in post, but the colours were never recorded properly from the start.

Richard van den Boogaard
Freelance cameraman • Glidecam Operator • Editor • YouTube expert

[Richard Harrington]

422 HQ is OVERKILL.

422 is more than adequate for material.
With that said… I typically edit native and only transcode finished sequence to 422 (if then)

Richard M. Harrington, PMP

Author: From Still to Motion, Video Made on a Mac, Photoshop for Video, Understanding Adobe Photoshop, Final Cut Studio On the Spot and Motion Graphics with Adobe Creative Suite 5 Studio Techniques

[Lance Bachelder]

Dumb statement – stick to writing books.

Lance Bachelder
Southern California

[Richard Harrington]

Lance..

You say stick to writing books like I don’t actually make video for a living. I have spent a long time creating video and working with formats. I also am pretty good add analyzing tech and testing things thoroughly.

In fact I was one of the first 10 people picked by Apple to be certified as an instructor for FCP.

Converting footage shot on a DSLR to HQ or 4444 is a waste of time and disk space.

If you’d like to prove otherwise… feel free to run the tests I have… put the stuff through scopes… analysis and more.

Of course… I guess I don’t really know what I’m talking about. Writing 28 books, producing 4,000 podcasts and managing 7 years of NAB conferences…. I guess I just do video as a hobby these days.. Oh wait… I run a production company.

Don’t be such an ass.

Richard M. Harrington, PMP

Author: From Still to Motion, Video Made on a Mac, Photoshop for Video, Understanding Adobe Photoshop, Final Cut Studio On the Spot and Motion Graphics with Adobe Creative Suite 5 Studio Techniques