Advice on quality and format

Gareth Rockliffe · Feb 18, 2016

Hey Guys. I'm looking for some help regarding quality and format. I've been shooting ProTune in 2.7 at 60fps. I import into Final Cut Pro. When I drag the clip into the timeline I get asked about what format I want to proceed. I have chosen to keep the setting as the original 2.7 at 60FPS with the idea if I want to digitally zoom I would have the quality ready for final output via Compressor at 1080p. However, when I go to the crop tool it automatically crops into a cinema/letterbox format (which I like). Is there a way to keep a 16:9 format so I can do digital zooms then output at 1080P? I also add a touch of sharpening, however, I don't think the footage looks that great. Any thoughts on workflow would be greatly appreciated. This is the first time I've edited above 1080P so I'm treading new territory!

13nikos62 · Feb 18, 2016

Gareth Rockliffe said:
Hey Guys. I'm looking for some help regarding quality and format. I've been shooting ProTune in 2.7 at 60fps. I import into Final Cut Pro. When I drag the clip into the timeline I get asked about what format I want to proceed. I have chosen to keep the setting as the original 2.7 at 60FPS with the idea if I want to digitally zoom I would have the quality ready for final output via Compressor at 1080p. However, when I go to the crop tool it automatically crops into a cinema/letterbox format (which I like). Is there a way to keep a 16:9 format so I can do digital zooms then output at 1080P? I also add a touch of sharpening, however, I don't think the footage looks that great. Any thoughts on workflow would be greatly appreciated. This is the first time I've edited above 1080P so I'm treading new territory!

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If you import your footage into a 1080p timeline, you can digitally zoom in on a video clip by up to 198% before any visual loss of resolution becomes evident. Then export out at 1080p.

Gareth Rockliffe · Feb 18, 2016

13nikos62 said:
If you import your footage into a 1080p timeline, you can digitally zoom in on a video clip by up to 198% before any visual loss of resolution becomes evident. Then export out at 1080p.

Thanks mate, appreciate the help.

erikgraham · Feb 19, 2016

What kind of Mac are you using?
Do you an external drive? A RAID even? How much RAM?
Just asking because it impacts workflow. For example, if you have an external RAID then shoot in 4K and optimize footage on import to ProRes 422. But if you don't then edit in GoPro's native h.264.

Gareth Rockliffe · Feb 19, 2016

erikgraham said:
What kind of Mac are you using?
Do you an external drive? A RAID even? How much RAM?
Just asking because it impacts workflow. For example, if you have an external RAID then shoot in 4K and optimize footage on import to ProRes 422. But if you don't then edit in GoPro's native h.264.

I'm using a desktop 3.7 GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon E5 and16 GB Ram I'm also using Drobo five bay with 5T drives with accelerator. I've been importing to GoPro Studio so I can get rid of the fisheye easily. I don't see a way of doing that in Final Cut. Also I don't see a choice for format import in Final Cut just an import option, do you mean I can change to ProRes when I drop the video into the timeline...or do I have to figure out how to do that in Compressor...I've only used that for exporting from Final Cut. Thanks for your help Erik

erikgraham · Feb 19, 2016

There are plenty of plugins for Final Cut that remove fisheye. I use one from CoreMelt.

I don't even have GoPro Studio installed. I import directly into Final Cut.

When you import clips into Final Cut, there are a number of options on the right side. One of them is to create optimized and/or proxy media. Optimized will decompress your h.264 GoPro video and resave it as ProRes, which results in HUGE file sizes. Despite the huge file sizes, ProRes is easier for Final Cut to edit. Adding effects, apply stabilization, etc will be faster. Playback will be smoother. BUT your system can handle GoPros h.264, so I would NOT create optimized (or proxy) media on input.

If I were you, I would import all your footage into Final Cut. Organize it in the Browser. Create a rough cut in the timeline. Then right click on each clip in the timeline, choose reveal in Browser, then right click that in the browser and choose transcode media to create optimized versions of those clips.

That way, only the clips you actual use will be converted to ProRes. It will save you a lot of disk space.

When your done with a project, you can select a library and delete all generated media. That will delete all the render files and optimized media. It will save you a huge amount of disk space. And you'll be able to go back in at any time and rerender everything.

Gareth Rockliffe · Feb 19, 2016

erikgraham said:
There are plenty of plugins for Final Cut that remove fisheye. I use one from CoreMelt.

I don't even have GoPro Studio installed. I import directly into Final Cut.

When you import clips into Final Cut, there are a number of options on the right side. One of them is to create optimized and/or proxy media. Optimized will decompress your h.264 GoPro video and resave it as ProRes, which results in HUGE file sizes. Despite the huge file sizes, ProRes is easier for Final Cut to edit. Adding effects, apply stabilization, etc will be faster. Playback will be smoother. BUT your system can handle GoPros h.264, so I would NOT create optimized (or proxy) media on input.

If I were you, I would import all your footage into Final Cut. Organize it in the Browser. Create a rough cut in the timeline. Then right click on each clip in the timeline, choose reveal in Browser, then right click that in the browser and choose transcode media to create optimized versions of those clips.

That way, only the clips you actual use will be converted to ProRes. It will save you a lot of disk space.

When your done with a project, you can select a library and delete all generated media. That will delete all the render files and optimized media. It will save you a huge amount of disk space. And you'll be able to go back in at any time and rerender everything.

Erik, I can't thank you enough for taking the time to share your expertise. I've actually been shooting video with DSLR's for about six years, but my editing needs have been fairly basic. Your advice will help me get the quality up closer to what I want, especially as I'm expecting the Peau 3.97 any day and I want to squeeze as much quality as I can out of that puppy for my ongoing project this summer The Great American Coastline - New England check out previous work at www.greatamericancoastline.com Thanks again.

erikgraham · Feb 19, 2016

Gareth Rockliffe said:
Erik, I can't thank you enough for taking the time to share your expertise. I've actually been shooting video with DSLR's for about six years, but my editing needs have been fairly basic. Your advice will help me get the quality up closer to what I want, especially as I'm expecting the Peau 3.97 any day and I want to squeeze as much quality as I can out of that puppy for my ongoing project this summer The Great American Coastline - New England check out previous work at www.greatamericancoastline.com Thanks again.

Well check out the GoPro sticky on this site. Bottom line for you with the Peau 3.97 in New England light, I'd use an ND8/PL as your goto filter from dawn to dusk. You might have to go with an ND16 to deal with the reflection off of white boats. Or ND8 and down a stop or two in ev_comp. you'll want the polarizer filming water. Neat trick when not sure how to align the polarization is to use a white iPhone or laptop screen. Go 4K 30 fps, Wide, Protune ON, ISO 400, White Balance Native, Sharpness Low. The footage will look like crap until you correct it in post. But once you do it will look much better than without Protune and an ND/PL filter.