Q: In FCP 5 when I colour correct I loose resolutiion

moviemaker peter wrote:

 

So when I colour correct in FCP5, I loose resolution. Is there any way I can get it back?

How are you doing the color correction?

Have you rendered the color correction on the timeline?

If you have rendered, are your sequence settings set to render at 100% resolution?

moviemaker peter wrote:

Can I process video from a black magic camera? How is this captured from an external HD? What is the process for bringing it into FCP for editing?

The method you want to use depends, I believe, on which exact version of FCP5 you have.

If you go to the Sequence Settings Pane and on the General tab click on the Compressor settings drop down menu, do you see Apple Pro Res listed as a choice?

Basically you want to convert the Black Magic files into a format that is edit friendly to your FCP5 software. Once converted, you import those converted files into your edit.

MtD

If by "it" you mean losing resolution it depends on what you mean by "losing resolution"

Click on a source clip in the Browser to select it. Once selected, type Command + 9 to see the item properties for the clip. Either report those item properties here or take a screen shot of the item properties and post that screen shot here.

Next, click anywhere in your timeline. Type Command + 0 {zero} to see your sequence settings. Either report those sequence settings here or take a screen shot and post that screen shot here.

It might also be helpful if you could post a screen shot of a frame before/after applying color correction to see the "loss of resolution" you are seeing.

MtD

Shift + Command + 4 and then drag the cursor over the area you want to capture.

When you have the screen shot, compose a reply and use the little camera icon above in the toolbar:

MtD

OK, thanks for the screen shots -

1) Your settings all look good.

2) If the darker of the two images you posted is the original, and if the brighter image you posted is  the result of applying color correction, the resultant grain apparent in the corrected image is just the consequence of having to bring the level of the dark picture up to acceptable levels. The original is severely under exposed, and bringing the level up in post is just revealing the sensor noise present in the image that is normally masked by correct exposure.

There is no solution to this within FCP, if you absolutely need the shot you can consider third party software such as Neat Noise Reduction:

https://www.neatvideo.com

(embarrassingly bad web site, terrific product) but, in addition to the expense of buying the plug in, it is very time intensive to render. It can do wonders in certain situations.

3) Convert your BlackMagic footage to the same settings as your sequence, then import them into FCP for editing. Should work seamlessly.

MtD

Blackmagic cameras shoot RAW (a series of PICTURE files) and ProRes. FCP 5 doesn't work with ProRes...that support came with FCP 6.  You'll need to convert the camera files to DVCPRO HD, which is a shame as you are losing a lot of information doing that (ProRes is full raster 10-bit, and DVCPRO HD is 8 bit thin raster), but if you are using FCP 5, that's what you have to do.