Blackmagic Forum

Filming a music video in Honduras in a few weeks. Leaving my URSA Mini at home and opting for my BMPCC4k instead.

Will be filming a lot of beautiful landscapes: Palm trees, sunny skies, mountains, villages etc...

What's the better BRAW codec to use: Q0 or 3:1 (or could I even get away with 5:1 with no visual difference)???

I'm certain this has been discussed so open to shared discussions in other threads...but I'd like straight forward answers with supporting dialogue...but not long drawn out debates please...

Josh, is it possible for you to shoot some tests before you go? I think you may find frames similar close to home. Then you might make the choice yourself.

A fixed ratio such as 3:1 has the advantage of giving you predictable recording times for your media, but given what you have described, I don’t think that’s an important criteria as you will have the opportunity to manage your media as required when shooting.

BRAW Q0 is roughly equivalent to 3:1 but will take less space when the frame has lots of sunny skies. It will take more space potentially when shooting lots of detailed content but in village scenes and other situations you may want to capture all the detail possible.

I don’t think you can go wrong with either choice and Q5 or 5:1 may also work well for you. I tend to use the highest quality codecs for important work and choose Q0. Others shoot a great deal and get good results with Q5. Try both at home.

Thanks much, Rick! My next question is:

Should I really consider bringing my URSA Mini 4.6k for the extra 2 stops of DR....

Just got a P6K and already shot 2 music videos with it. Constant bitrate 5:1 was more than enough dude. Graded it in Davinci and was able to get FANTASTIC grades.

Josh, if you can manage the two cameras, might be a good idea. You have a good idea if your scenes will need those two stops.

The theatrical production I shot mid-December does have large variations In lighting and it would have been good to have the URSA Mini 4.6K do the scenes with bright spots versus the regular stage lighting. I handled it in post by changing my exposure two or three stops but the increased dynamic range of the 4.6K would have made it easier.

Then you need to decide which codec to use on the 4.6K if you shoot BRAW on the Pocket. ProRes 444 or CinemaDNG 3:1?

Josh,

I completely agree with what Rick said about Q0, Q5 and 3:1. Personally, I started using Q5 for most projects and have never looked back. Q0 is there for the most demanding work. I see no need for fixed compression ratios.

Given what you will shoot, max dynamic range seems important.


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5:1 is a great catch-all if you have the space for storage. I've notice Q5 to be soft sometimes when I wouldn't expect it.

When I can, I prefer q0 be cause I’m maniac, but for landscape could keep more quality on small dectails. Q0 is near to cdng 3:1 about quality and real dectails (both developed from davinci, I did many and many test).
If you delivery in 4K or need strong crop for fhd I prefer q0, quality over space when not needings.
If your delivery will be fhd q5 is over you need, but with variable compression keep better quality then 5:1 or 8:1.
Ursa vs pocket, two different beast, if you have light ursa, less light pocket. The best both if you can.
I tend to never use fixed compressed data rate until I go lower like 12:1 for some theatrical shooting where I had better result then prores and the advantage of raw



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Agree, Carlo. Q0 roughly can be comparable to 2:1 if the scene is quite detailed or otherwise difficult. So good choice playing it safe as long as the recording card can handle that for the frame rate (24 fps in 4K/UHD no issue). And of course you need the media capacity: If I need it I can record over 2.5 TB without reusing a card.

Storing the Q0 media is a constant challenge on my RAID... but when I have finished a project, I free up the storage on the RAID. At the moment my offline storage is also choked now! I think storage is also one of the driving forces when people shoot 12:1 and to some extent Q5.

JoshMallett wrote:Filming a music video in Honduras in a few weeks. Leaving my URSA Mini at home and opting for my BMPCC4k instead.

Will be filming a lot of beautiful landscapes: Palm trees, sunny skies, mountains, villages etc...

What's the better BRAW codec to use: Q0 or 3:1 (or could I even get away with 5:1 with no visual difference)???

I'm certain this has been discussed so open to shared discussions in other threads...but I'd like straight forward answers with supporting dialogue...but not long drawn out debates please...

As far as I know, music videos do not require that much storage unlike theatrical / episodic shows do.
So you're better off taking the higher DR cam, and if you need to fly something on a gimbal on the cheap the Pocket Cinema as well.. I cannot even begin to speculate about the difference between Q0 or 3:1 in bRAW, as this is a foreign concept to me as CinemaDNG is what I've been accustomed too, that and ProRes.

Oh and best of luck on your shoot.