cr2 or nec as raw reference for location scouting

[Arun Kumar Pandey]

Hello there,

I was just curious if somebody tried to shoot location hunting reference with canon raw .cr2 or nikon raw .nef and later bring it to grade in resolve and create a look. Primarily a close reference for shooting on arriraw or redraw later. I am aware things like dynamic range and colorspace would come into play but has any body tried it?

[David Mullen ASC]

Sure, people take photos on scouts all the time and grade them to show what a special look might be like but it is only a rough reference -- in these cases, working from a raw still image would be more flexible than from a jpeg. It would not be applicable in any direct way to later raw files from your cinema camera. Can Resolve even debayer Nikon raw files?

[Robert Houllahan]

I was hoping that Resolve 11 would be able to bring Cr2 files in natively (I shoot some timelapse stuff) but it does not seem that they made that happen at BMD yet, so unfortunately you will have to convert the Cr2 or Nef files to 16bit Tiff or similar to get the advantage of higher bit depth in Resolve.

[Arun Kumar Pandey]

Ideally, one can take alexa or epic on location take stills on it via sd card days before the shoot. Later use those files in resolve lite(or similar non professional di envoronment system ) create various looks. Pitch it to the director and artdirector to finalize.

 

Carrying a DSLR with Raw capabilities and nearing the same function would be a lighter gear to travel with core crew.

 

I hope in time, something might be developed for the funtionality needed.

 

Googled this http://www.nullmedium.de/dev/cine/ ..........seems a step forward in the same direction

[Robert Houllahan]

The app looks like something to use for RAW shooting timelapse stuff, thanks!

[Arun Kumar Pandey]

Thanks David and Robert to have roped in.

Its been three or four months of getting into resolve, LUTs, Calibration, DCP space for me. The mentioned application is surely made for timelapse pipeline. Of whatever i have gathered sRGB is a gamut which nears DCI p3 and surely more than 709, now if i take stills in RAW and bring it to resolve there are many variables including colorspace, dynamic range that should be taken care of to even make this exercise fruitful. This might help in assuming a look and later on deriving the look from motion picture RAWs.

I searched on net to figure out similarities or dissimilarities between Stills RAW and Motion Picture RAW but couldnot find it. As of now doing it as a test would be something that could clear off doubts, if this process can help in setting the look in a motion picture production pipeline.

[David Mullen ASC]

Sure, you can set looks using a DSLR, you just can't use them directly when you switch cameras, anymore than a look applied to footage from a Red camera converted to RedLogFilm can be applied to an Alexa shooting Log-C, even though both are similar log formats -- ultimately you have to create looks using the final camera system. So what you are talking about is more of a preview system and as I said, people do it all the time, shoot stills and color-correct them to show the director certain looks.

[Satsuki Murashige]

If it's just for scouting and sharing stills, I would prefer to use a dedicated photo app like Adobe Lightroom. Way faster to import, tag, edit, render, export, and upload than it would be to use Resolve.

[Robert Houllahan]

The big advantage of a DSLR Raw file is that it's usually 12-bit instead of 8-bit so you have the full DR of the sensor to work with, if you have a CMS like LightSpace you could theoretically make a transform LUT to roughly match something like a 5D to an Epic or Alexa but it would still be approximate. Most Colorists I know don't use a pre transform LUT (i.e. Alexa Log to 709) before their grade (myself included) because it limits creative choices and you can use the full range of the camera and fit it to the color space you are targeting without a LUT.

[Arun Kumar Pandey]

Hi there,

after few days of R&D, figured out a path for the desired functionality.

1. Shoot Stills in RAW with your desired Cameras (Nikon.nef, Canon.cr2)

2. Use Capture One to Convert these RAWs into Cinama DNG. Adobe DNG converter doesnot take care of the header read by Resolve.

3. With RAWs being converted to CinemaDNG all features of Dynamic Range of RAW and full capability opens up in the Clip Controls including WhiteBalance, Highlight Retaining, Setting Color Space etc.

 

Now, of whatever i have read on DXO marks and Imaging rating sites stills RAWS have good dynamic range similar to Movie Cameras RAW. And hence may be helpful in creating an approximate look.

 

But still i wish if Resolve could debayer these RAWs natively and ACES could include IDT's for these Cameras too.

 

At peace as of now. Will do some more tests and post as i gain confidence in the process. :rolleyes: