FCPX to DaVinci & h.264

Question

Level 1

8 points

FCPX to DaVinci & h.264

Hey,

I'm working in FCPX and am taking video that was shot on a Canon 600D (H.264) into DaVinci Resolve. I know that colour grading h.264 isn't great, what with not having much dynamic range, but I've read around that I can take a ProRes version of my timeline into DaVinci giving me more to work with.

1) Is it worth it upscaling to ProRes? How much range am I really getting?

2) If it is worth it, what's the best method to roundtrip this?

Any help is appreciated.

Cheers

Final Cut Pro X

Posted on May 13, 2016 2:31 AM

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Answer 1

BenB

Level 6

13,312 points

May 13, 2016 10:07 AM in response to MParkerWood

Depends on how much you need to push the color grading. If you're pushing values enough, then creating the project in FCPX, using Optimized ProRes files would very well be worth while. If you're not pushing values all that much, H.264 originals should be fine.

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Answer 2

MParkerWood Author

Level 1

8 points

May 16, 2016 1:17 AM in response to BenB

I'm doing a very basic grade for a promo (shot in outdoor sunlight), so I don't really need to push the values that much to be honest.

I'm using curves mainly to grade, and I'm having to move them by a fraction because any more and it changes considerably (and badly). When I use curves in Lightroom (admittedly I use RAW or 35mm in that) I have more room to work with.

Honestly, the video themselves look fine as it is, it just needs slight tweaking to make it less flat and to bring out the colour. I just thought that taking it into ProRes will be more beneficial for the project I'm doing.

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Answer 3

Beh1994

Level 1

13 points

May 16, 2016 2:22 AM in response to MParkerWood

Hai there,

Honestly you don't have to bring to Resolve for this. From what you are saying, basically you can just increase the contrast and saturation in FCPX itself.

For the question of H264 to ProRes, the reason why we have optimized media in FCPX is that it's easier for FCPX to work, but not that the dynamic range will become better when you convert H264 footages to ProRes. The quality is just going to be the same.

And even round-tripping to Resolve, Resolve will not read your timeline as ProRes but the original file, which is H264. Unless you purposely link them to the Optimized files on your own in Resolve, and there will be no difference between H264 and the ProRes.

H264 will always stay what it is, never think that convert from H264 to ProRes will make your files better. Is just a matter of working on the timeline will be much smoother with Optimized files. Even when you export, FCPX will not use the ProRes, it will automatically link back to the original media, which is H264 to export.

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