RAW Video

I've been experimenting with shooting RAW video recently. Specifically with my Canon 6D DSLR. Magic Lantern unlocked what could be the most important thing for me as a cinematographer getting into a really competitive industry, the ability to utilize the RAW workflow. From what I understand right now, which isn't much, all digital cinema cameras use a raw workflow. RED, Arri, Blackmagic, Sony, etc. shoot raw video, those frames are transcoded, then organized, and from there they can either be converted to proxy footage or slapped on the timeline and a quick LUT for color grading and preview purposes. That's exactly what I'm doing with Magic Lantern's RAW workflow. I shoot with my DSLR, transcode the shots into cinema DNG (A digital negative format), then I experiment with several LUTs, and export as ProRes. During the color grading phase, I have so much freedom to do whatever I want with the image without losing quality. Now, I know that I'm supposed to have a plan on the type of look I want for what I shoot and straying from that by experimenting with different LUTs or colors isn't the most effective way to make a movie, but some times it surprises me how often I find a better look in post-production because of the ability to grade with better quality.
Pros:
-Shooting with a portable camera (depending on the size of the rig it's on and the lens of course)
-Easy to use menu (Canon's and Magic Lantern's)
-Cheap media (SD Cards)
-Large digital sensor (Full frame for me since I'm rocking a Canon 6D)
-Having all the benefits of the photography features
-Crop zoom enables the ability to shoot at full quality using the zoom focus assist (essentially doubling all of my lenses by 100% & 500%)

Cons:
-For the 6D, 1600x640 (2.50:1 aspect ratio) is the max resolution I can get withouth skipping frames
-No Audio (so an external audio recorder is needed)
-Kills the battery quicker than shooting on compressed H.264
-Magic Lantern's software is still in beta, so there's a chance that I can lose the footage because of some random glitch or bug

Overall though, I think that I'll be shooting in RAW more and more.

Posted October 15, 2015 02:19