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alisons96986511
alisons96986511
Participant
March 5, 2021
Answered

Which Apple ProRes preset for final film delivery?

  • March 5, 2021
  • 2 replies
  • 1710 views

Hi all.  I have edited a film natively in Premiere Pro (H264 .mp4) and colour graded it.  I now need to export it for a festival and they want Apple ProRes (max 8GB).  H264 is an 8-bit codec so I think AppleProRes 422 HQ will be a good choice, but given I have graded it, do you think it is worth me considering Apple ProRes 4444?  Thank you!

This topic has been closed for replies.
Correct answer R Neil Haugen

No, as that would have helped as a capture codec but cannot give any added color depth to that which wasn't there to begin with.

 

If you start with 8 bit capture, that's all you ever have through the whole project, really. You can't recreate what wasn't captured.

 

Neil

2 replies

Richard van den Boogaard
Community Expert
Richard van den BoogaardCommunity Expert
Community Expert
March 5, 2021

Like Neil said, you cannot increase the quality by switching to a higher level codec. This is akin to using a DSLR to take a photo of a printed copy. The quality doesn't improve.

    alisons96986511
    alisons96986511Author
    Participant
    March 5, 2021

    Thank you for tthis.  It was the fact that I had colour graded the footage that made me question whether I should choose APR444 but I think I am just altering the colours that are there, I haven't created any extra 'shades' as it were!

      R Neil Haugen
      R Neil Haugen
      Legend
      March 5, 2021

      Exactly. When we do color/tonal work, we take what is already there and stretch values here to compress values there. We can't add new values, new data. Just change where the RGB references to where the current pixels are mapped to

       

      It's why originally capturing the clips in higher bit-depth can provide such immediate image quality boost. Because we have more pixels than we must to have a smooth image in gradations, we can do much more pushing things around before we can see artifacts and banding.

       

      But once captured, you're only working with what's already there.

       

      Neil

      Everyone's mileage always varies ...
        R Neil Haugen
        R Neil HaugenCorrect answer
        Legend
        March 5, 2021

        No, as that would have helped as a capture codec but cannot give any added color depth to that which wasn't there to begin with.

         

        If you start with 8 bit capture, that's all you ever have through the whole project, really. You can't recreate what wasn't captured.

         

        Neil

        Everyone's mileage always varies ...
          alisons96986511
          alisons96986511Author
          Participant
          March 5, 2021

          Thank you, that is very helpful!  Just wanted to be sure 🙂

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