DaVinci Resolve ProRes Raw (CDNG) Color Grading Workflow | SDR 

This has become my favorite way to work with CDNG files converted from ProRes Raw. Although converting isn't ideal, I still feel like I am working with a completely different camera. Let me know if you have any questions!

I have been looking for this information for MONTHS! Finally found this video. Thank you SO much. Gonna totally transform my workflow.

Excitedly waiting for the color-managed/HDR workflows!

This is great, Sydney. You are a CDNG master! More, please, for Sigma FP users.

Wow i have seen this video pop up in my feed and never check it out tel now this was a really big help

This video deserves a lot more views

so helpful and perfect timing.

Very useful video. I got all the answers I was looking for.

I'm the guy who complained about SSD bottlenecks. Now I am using your approach exclusively. What a difference! A $1500 Z Cam to Ninja V is producing drastically better footage than a new $4500 Canon camcorder. Thanks Sidney!

Another GREAT tutorial Sidney... one of the few RU-vid channels where I learn something new every time I watch! Thanks for taking the time. One question. I'm shooting on a E2-S6 and recording on a Ninja V. I could record RAW... but then there's the conversion process to DNG to be able to work with it in Resolve. I'm working on a PC. So, my question is... wouldn't it be better to record in DNG and how would I set up the camera?

Thanks a lot bro great insights

Thanks so much for this. I have a project I'm wanting to shoot using ProRes Raw w/ my GFX100s. Going to get the converter and do some test.

Great video. One question. Are any adjustments made in Node 2 in the second method?

Nice work.

Hey Sidney! Love your content and work ethic! Are you still offering the elite color correction classes? I'd love to sign up, but I can't seem to find a link that works. Thanks :)

Oohhhh my god, I do Timelapse in DNG and I think that thanks to your video I have finally managed to get da vinci to provide me in a simple way, get better starting results.. thanks

im planning to get a ninja v for my a7siii, so im going through videos about prores raw for days. i found some sample footage, but when i do it with you first methode i got weird artifacts in the higlights, am i doing something wrong? or is this because of the compression(5:1) i choose in the raw converter?

Great tutorial!! been scouring the internet for weeks for such information. Currently shooting on iPhone 14 prores raw 422 hq codec and this may be the answer to my struggles on da Vinci. I just have one question regarding luts. You used the da Vinci film looks , but I would like to use the sony cinema line luts (as they are free and I like the look of s-log footage), what would you do different in camera raw colour space or the corresponding cst after (around 11:50) .

Nice tutorial need more thanks so much bro

Thanks for the video, great one since I been looking on how to grade, dng files, since I have a Siga FP camera, I have a curiosity, at minute 8:50, you started the color grade and you did it, after the second Color Transform node and not in the middle of the two, and in when you did the skin tone, you didn't go from the alpha of the parallel to the layer node, for the skin adjustment in the layer node, time 9:48. Once again thanks.

GREAT 👍

I noticed something quite interesting today using ProRes RAW. I CANNOT use Final Cut. I just cant. I've been on resolve for years and I do not plan to move away. I use RAWConverter to convert my ProRes RAW from my FX30 to CDNG to use in Davinci Resolve. But after the conversion, Davinci has no idea if its in legal or HDR anymore. So the clips I record that looked fine on the Ninja, are now super blown out (and would be entirely unusable if it wasnt RAW) but since it is RAW, I turned down the gain, and then the exposure just a tiny bit and not only was it back in legal range for r.709, but there was no noise??? I found that really odd. But I was wondering why my ProRes RAW shots that get converted to CDNG always come in WAYYYYY over exposed. So I went back out, switched out of PQ mode (as everyone says you should monitor on the NinjaV...but I dont deliver for HDR) and went in R709 instead, and the shots came in exactly how they looked when I was shooting. Very interesting - and ofcourse noise was in those shots as there normally would be. Again, I think this is because im converting the files so Davinci has no idea what to do with it to make it legal. But I Thought that was interesting to share that if you record ProRes and use a RAW coverter to work in Davinci, monitor in PQ, with a little knowledge on how to use the RAW tab to bring the clip back to legal range - I feel like I just completely removed the need for noise reduction completely. Here's how I set up my resolve for this (because I found this very interesting to share) Davinci YRGB Color Managed Input Color Space: ARRI Logc4 / ARRI Wide Gamut 4 (its RAW, you can say your input is whatever you want lol) Timeline Color Space: Davinci Wide Gamut 5 / Davinci Intermediate Timeline Working Luminance - SDR 100 (since everything I do is in r709...for now) Output Color Space: R709 / Gamma 2.4 Camera RAW Tab: CinemaDNG Full res. Project Highlight Recovery (on) Camera Metadata As Shot Black Magic Design Black Magic Design Film I import the CNDG clips, theyre so insanely blown out, I take the clip into the timeline, go the my color page, lower the gain to a reasonable setting, then lower the exposure tab a bit more until im within legal range. Then BOOM! Now I just go to town on giving the shot a look! My last 2 nodes are usually a CST r709 to Cineon Log Film then a Kodak Film Stock as my last node. All the nodes before it is qualifiers, tiny bit of tone mapping to recover some shadows if I want to, and then O/T (yes, im a sucker for Orange/Teal...but lately been digging more "moody" looks) and at the end? There is literally no noise. Even pixel peeping I see none. If I want a really sharp image? I just increase sharpness by a small amount...if I dont? I add a tad bit of film grain and it looks FANTASTIC. Yes, quite a bit of a workflow but once you know it - its done really fast and you dont have any NR going on slowing down your PC and your CPU or GPU yelling at you. Very interesting find. Maybe others know about this and im still just a noob XD but I thought this was really cool to share. Just been browsing YT to see how others are exposing for ProRes RAW but realized "Wait, but you convert your RAW to CNDG...your workflow will be different!"

have you converted with assimilate?

Great detail Sidney. Love the look your getting from the Zcam. How did you come to switching between the various log curves. I would have expected to use a log profile based on the camera of RAW format that the video was captured in.

Does anyone know if this conversion preserves timecode?

I don't have the option to change Raw settings. The footage is ProRes 422 HQ

Man bro I have a a7siii and the ninja and because of not understanding the workflow of converting pro res into a format worth grading I’ve been using the ninja purely a monitor but I would love to know if you have a class or one on one lectures great work 💯💯

so much gold! thanks for this video. I'm a little confused about Gamma Tag, and especially working in Davinci Wide Gamut, or ACES. please do make a video on what is Gamma Tag and what should we look up to. thanks ❤

If needed - where do you drop Neat Video in your CDNG pipeline to control noise ?I’d say after the first node. Excellent video btw - subbed !

Hi, I have a question. Putting other adjustments nodes after the CST to Rec709 I think it's not ideal. Woudln't be better making the adjustment before the CST as you will adjust and work still within the Arri gamut? I have watched a video of a professional colorist here on RU-vid and he was suggesting to apply any adjustment before any final colour transformation, and to me it made sense. Any adjustment will be benefit from the wider colour space, whilst the conversion to Rec709 happens at the end. Thank you!

Thank you for this video, very valuable. But I need help with a problem. My videos recorded in Prores Raw have a green tint in the shadows. Anyone else with this problem? I use the Raw converter. My camera is a Lumix S5. Thanks!

Would you setup P3 D60 in the Camera Raw settings instead of decoding using “clip”. I feel like changing the camera raw settings to blackmagic design film then changing it back is counter intuitive.

gracias

Hello, great video! I have a question for you. Currently I use Z6II + NINJAV and I shoot N-Log primarily. What should my workflow be in this case? DaVinci's Camera RAW panel is always greyed out, I can't see how to activate it, I guess my video format is not compatible. I can only use the Project Setting's Camera RAW, but honestly I don't know how to approach this conversions at all. ProRes (not Raw) any good for recording and then working in DaVinci or you suggest another format like DNx? If you any idea, please share! Thanks!

Amazing info here! wow~ A few questions... 1- I thought P3D60 was a color space used just if we were planning to use the footage for big screen.. is that the case? 2- Where I get confused is between ProRess and ProRess Raw... are these two codecs considered as a different way of log? Thank you in advance! cheers!

Great video, any chance you'll share your Davinci managed workflow with CDNG for Rec.709 and HDR?

What settings u put on Color Management tab?

incompréhensible !

Really nice video! But I have a problem or maybe I don't understand RAW at the moment. Why are my clips so unbelievable contrasty after I converted these into .dng files (with RawConvertor? Is that normal? It cant be because especially night shots look just dark. No informations in the dark areas at all.

Sorry, this seems more recent but I have the same Question: I converted a short ProRes RAW clip to CinemaDNG (on my MacBook Pro running Monterey 12) that was shot on my Nikon Z6 that I want to Color Grade in DaVinci (which I have yet to installed on my new ProArt laptop (running under System 11) The output is _000001 thru _000299.dng files - each 8.4MB - so are they meta-files that are imported into Resolve as a “group”??? If not, what’s the next step in processing this - single - video clip?

Hello! Great job! Thank you so much! I tried to replicate your instruction and when I go to color BMDS18.6, camera settings are grayed out. Try to create a new project and in color, the camera settings are grayed out as well. Any suggestions? Cheers.

Any Prores Raw converter to CDNG for Windows yet?

Hi broOO )) Please tell me, in order to start all this, I need to start converting Prores Raw to (CDNG)? If so, how if I have Windows? ANSWER PLEASE THIS INFO EVERYONE NEED HELP US)))))

es 2024 y ahora puedo grabar CDNG con mi smartphone gracias a motiomcam y despues usar exiftool para modificarlo y en davinci resolve ocupe panasonic log

Hello friend! Is this method suitable for my sigma fp camera?

hmm any reason why my color space and gamma is greyed out in the camera raw tab? I have already put the same camera raw settings

Maybe stupid question: In method #1 wouldn't you grade BEFORE the second CST? Most colorists here on youtube teach it this way because they claim your using the full color information when grading and before "crushing" everthing into REC709. Thanks

Hi Sidney! Any idea why I'm getting banding? The footage grades nicely exept that 😵‍💫 Do you think it's a render setting or in the workflow?

To use the camera raw do we need the paid version ?

Method 1: in a scene referred environment you should grade before the ODT (Rec709 transform) not after the CST node. It limits your possibilities (;

shouldn't the color management > time line set to HDR/ WG or something like that?

Is it possible to convert z raw with the same process?

Bruh, why are you grading after the 709 CST?

Hi Sidney! Not long ago I saw your "wonder" video about Raw Convertor (only Apple-friendly^), I bought Mac mini for this purpose and was taken aback to find out that my camera Panasonic GH5S is not supported by Raw Convertor. I dropped a few lines to the developer asking if he is going to add Panasonic in the list of supported camerar. Alas no reply from him... So... You say "this technique works with any ProRes raw enabled camera" is that true???? How can I convert to Cinema DNG if my camera though capable of sending RAW signal to Atomos Ninja V recorder (which records 12 bit ProRes Raw) is not supported by Raw Converter??? Or you know something that I do not know ^)) Thank you! Hope you will address my question. Regards, Mike.

You master in Gamma 2.2 for web/social smart device delivery and Gamma 2.4 for TV broadcast since TVs run on Gamma 2.4. It's not determined by your grading environment...

Я думаю перевести в hdr было бы лучше)

This is all great until you try to edit (okay I've overstated this a bit). A fast processor and GeForce 4090 won't do much good when a super fast SSD bottlenecks trying to process 10s of 1000s of individual CDNG files (testing and it's more the CPU, which I am upgrading). Editing CDNGs is even slower than directly editing H 264/5

rec 2020 apple log> rec 709 gamma 2.4

why are you grading on top of rec 709 color space transformation... that makes no sense

The jump cuts would be less jarring if the background was unchanging.

Hello 👋👋 bro how are you?