I am new into 4K editing, shooting on a Panasonic G7. The workflow, I understood, is really simple: Import the 4K footage into FCPX, leaving files in place and creating proxy files. I am editing on a MBP. Then in the end of the editing process export, with the original footage selected, to a 1080p final product. So far no problem at all. Really quick.

But what happens if I crop? If I crop a 4K clip up to 200%, there should not be any difference noticable on a 1080p timeline or final product. But I am cropping the clip on a 1080p timeline, right? So, I am actually cropping not a 4K-clip but a 4K-clip converted on a 1080p timeline into a 1080p-clip. I can immagine that I got something wrong. If not the whole idea of 4K would be useless.

Actually my cropped shot was not looking good any more. May be that was the focus. If you crop a clip, the shot must be 100% in focus, if not, cropping looks bad.

I did the same shot with the AVCHD 24p mode and used the genious ETC mode, which is also a way of cropping, and that looked far better.

Any suggestions?
Thanks a lot
Lucian

Hi Lucian,

We do this all the time. Import the 4K footage in FCP X and create a 1080p project. Then just export the 1080p timeline from your edit.

When you drop a 4K clip in a 1080p timeline the clip will NOT be converted to 1080p, it will keep all its native resolution. This means you can reframe and scale the clip on the timeline without losing any quality at all. Of course, if the clip is out of focus scaling it up will certainly not make it look any better.

Best wishes,

Ronny

Hi Ronny,

thanks for this info. So there is no need to create a 4K timeline, good to know.
Yes and the focus will be the problem, when it comes to cropping, especially when you shoot documentary stuff. Will be more aware of this than ever ;))

As I am the only camera on this current film project, I thought a 4K camera could be helpful, to create sometimes closer or simply different shots when editing. Looking forward to work with these new options.

I also saw that Twixtor works straight forward in proxy and after exporting and reimporting the clips, they easily convert into the 4K original shot again.

What I was not really happy with, was the stabilization. I did a few tests and it looks like the image was "floating" around. Any way to get it more stable?

Best to you Ronny
cheers
Lucian

Stabilization is a tricky thing. The FCP X stabilizer is very good, but it's not perfect for every kind of shot. When the FCP X stabilizer produces unwanted artifacts, I often turn to Lock&Load from CoreMelt. Sometimes I get much better results with this, sometimes not. The same goes for the Warp stabilizer in After Effects or the Stabilizer in Motion. None of them can deal with every possible kind of shaky footage, and on a few occasions no stabilizer in the world will be able to correct your shot without producing unwanted side-effects.

Best wishes,

Ronny

Hi Ronny,

today I did the test again, daylight, in focus (but handheld ...). That looks much better on the crop. But there is noise on the dark/brown part of the pot as you can see on the attached files. Why is that? Should not be there. ISO 200, F 5.6 (the export file is a 1080p), in-camera settings is cinelike D, contrast -5, Sharpness ), Noise reduction -5, Saturation 0. Iknow the Noise reduction is on -5, this is done, so the image does not look too electronic mushy. Would you recommend to apply Neat Video when you do cropping? Anyway the noise is already there in the larger shot too.

P.S.: I just noticed I cannot attach the video file, but only 2 frames. I don't know if this is sufficient to see the noise ...
and now I can see that the files are too large to upload on this message: 434K and so I cannot send them :((

Cheers
Lucian

Hi Lucian,

You said that you were creating proxies for editing. To check the real video quality you need to switch to Original/Optimized and set the Viewer to Better Quality. Do you still see the noise using these settings? And do you see the noise when you leave the image at full size (not cropped or scaled) ?

Best wishes,

Ronny

Hi Ronny,

yes, I see, that was the point ;(( I have the noise only when the viewer is set to proxy.
So sorry for this "Early-Saturday-Good-Morning-Error" !!!

Cheers
Lucian

Glad you sorted it out, Lucian. Making mistakes is the best way to learn (-:

Best wishes,

Ronny

Gracias! Will give the others a try.
Lucian

proxy media exists just to help take pressure off your system while editing. Before you share (export) media, be sure to switch back to Optimized/Original media in the viewer by clicking the View button, and selecting Optimized/Original under the Media heading.

Switching back will ensure that your exported file will be of the highest quality. If you don’t do this, you may notice significant file degradation on the final product, and that’s not what you want. Besides, exporting is easy if you choose an encoding method that takes advantage of Intel’s Quick Sync Video.