Re: APR 422 or 422HQ for DSLR footage?

A documentary I edited was shot on the Canon 5D MKII in 1920x1080 25p (H.264).
I converted all footage to Apple ProRes 422 and imported that into FCP7 to edit with.

On completing editing I exported an Apple ProRes 422 master file (same codec / resolution as my timeline).

Now the colorist is requesting Apple ProRes 422 HQ and suggesting I simply change the timeline settings to APR HQ and re-export.

Two questions:

1. Is APR HQ overkill for color-correction if the original material was shot on DSLR H.264 or should I have converted to HQ before editing?

2. Will exporting/converting my APR 422 timeline to APR HQ actually improve quality? Surely it can't add information that isn't there to begin with?

Thanks in advance for any advice / explanation.

Suzanna

Hi Suzanna,

To answer your questions:

1. In theory ProRes HQ is overkill for DSLR H.264 unless you want to apply large stacks of effects or color corrections to the clips. If this is required, ProRes 422 HQ will better withstand generation loss caused by stacking filters and effects.

2. No, it won't improve the quality at all. But it will provide a more solid format for color grading.

Best wishes,

Ronny

Hi Ronny,

Thanks for your swift reply.

Just for clarification for my particular situation:

Will converting the APR422 master to APRHQ make it HQ and therefore a more solid format for color grading?
Isn't that rather like copying a VHS to a Betacam?

Thanks again,
Suzanna

Hi Suzanna,

In a way, it is. When you copy a VHS to another VHS and then to another VHS again you will lose a lot of quality. But if you copy the VHS to a Betacam and you copy this Betacam to another Betacam you will lose less quality. ProRes 422 is quite solid, but ProRes 422 HQ will withstand more generations.

Actually your best workflow is not to make a ProRes HQ copy from the ProRes 422 master, but to export your FCP X timeline to ProRes 422 HQ and hand this to the colorist. When his work is done he will have to make another copy of the color-corrected video, and working in ProRes 422 HQ will cause less generation loss.

Best wishes,

Ronny