2023-06-02 06:32:34
Presented in 2007 with Final Cut Studio 2, the ProRes compression format had no other ambition than to make editing more fluid thanks to the use of intermediate files (proxy). The presentation of the ProRes RAW format had therefore been interpreted as a simple response to the “raw” formats of Blackmagic and Red for Final Cut Pro X. Five years later, the plug-ins ProRes RAW might nevertheless establish itself as a “universal RAW video format”.
ProRes is not one, but several lossy compression formats. Its first four variants use chroma subsampling 4:2:2 with 10 bit depth, its last two variants use 4:4:4 downsampling with 10 or 12 bit depth and optional alpha channel, and all offer sample rate encoding variable from SD to 8K. You didn’t understand anything? It’s normal !
Let’s say it allows to create intermediate files, or proxy, lighter and therefore easier to handle than the original files. Editing can be done seamlessly with intermediate files, but when it comes time to release the film, the original media is used to ensure maximum quality. This sleight of hand has drastically accelerated the transition to HD and then 4K.
The fact remains that the compression is carried out following the demosaicing and the processing of data from the sensor, according to methods specific to each manufacturer. The ProRes RAW format encodes the raw data from the sensor to leave the demosaicing and processing to the editing application. These operations require greater power, but the machines of 2023 are a thousand times more powerful than those of 2007.
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ProRes RAW is not exactly a “raw” format, as it still compresses data, even in its HQ version. Apple, however, assures that “Visible compression artifacts are very unlikely with ProRes RAW and extremely unlikely with ProRes RAW HQ”. If it was quickly adopted by Avid, Adobe, Atomos and Assimilate, ProRes RAW remains in competition with the “raw” formats of Blackmagic and Red.
Apple seems to want to jump this obstacle with its new architecture of plug-inspresented in the spring and detailed in the latest revision of the white paper dedicated to the ProRes RAW formatpublished in preview par Petapixel. THE plug-ins ProRes RAW allows manufacturers “to provide their own line of ProRes RAW processing to take advantage of the unique characteristics of their cameras, sensors, optics…”. During editing, the user can choose between the processing proposed by the application or that proposed by the plug-in.
Apple might have spoken of “profile”, but it is otherwise more ambitious. With those plug-ins, “ProRes RAW can be seen as a universal RAW video format” :
Each manufacturer can provide their own processing instructions, in complete confidentiality, by writing a simple plug-in ProRes RAW showcasing the quality and personality of their cameras. ProRes RAW becomes, in fact, the support for their personalized processing.
ProRes RAW is a unique RAW video format that can convey the unique characteristics of any combination of camera, sensor, processing, and optics. ProRes RAW simply delivers the raw values from the sensor with optimum quality and efficiency, and the plug-ins custom take care of the processing.
In other words: Apple wants to succeed with the ProRes RAW format and the cameras which Adobe has not quite succeeded with. DNG-format and cameras. Canon and Atomos offer déjà the first plug-in ProRes RAW for EOS R5, R5 C and R6MII systems recording to a Ninja V, V+ or Shotgun Connect. Apple offers a new SDK integrating the plug-ins, which will of course work on macOS, but also on Windows and Linux. Remember that ProRes formats are not open sourceeven if they are documented and free.
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