ProRes 444/444XQ is 10bit or 12bit on Ursa Mini Pro 4.6K ?

Hi,

Can anybody tell me if the Apple ProRes 444/444XQ codec on the Ursa Mini Pro 4.6K work on 10bit or 12bit?
I know/read the Apple ProRes 444/444XQ work "up to 12bit" but...??? ... "up or 12bit"?

Thank you.

On the URSA Mini Pro and URSA Mini 4.6K, ProRes 444 and 444 XQ are always 12bit.

Many people shoot ProRes 444 to save space as it may be difficult to see significant differences with the higher bitrate ProRes 444 XQ. I usually shoot ProRes 444 XQ, for the same reason Sir Edmund Hilary climbed Mount Everest: "because it's there."

The other flavours of ProRes are 10bit.

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Yes, ProRes 444/444XQ is 12-bit on the 4.6K.

As a side note to what Rick said, I always choose ProRes 444 when shooting 1080 footage these days unless a client specifies differently. For example a documentary I've shot some interview and b-roll footage for someone was done in ProRes 422 LT because the person didn't want massive file sizes as he doesn't have too much money for storage costs. Otherwise, I think 1080 ProRes 444 footage looks incredible off the 4.6K sensor.

As to shooting UHD ProRes 444 I almost always choose 4.6K RAW 4:1 over it because file size wise the RAW 4:1 ends up being smaller than UHD ProRes 444. And, you get the benefit of RAW then as a result.

Yes, ProRes 444/444XQ is 12-bit on the 4.6K.

As a side note to what Rick said, I always choose ProRes 444 when shooting 1080 footage these days unless a client specifies differently. For example a documentary I've shot some interview and b-roll footage for someone was done in ProRes 422 LT because the person didn't want massive file sizes as he doesn't have too much money for storage costs. Otherwise, I think 1080 ProRes 444 footage looks incredible off the 4.6K sensor.

As to shooting UHD ProRes 444 I almost always choose 4.6K RAW 4:1 over it because file size wise the RAW 4:1 ends up being smaller than UHD ProRes 444. And, you get the benefit of RAW then as a result.

Hey Tim,

What is your thought process on shooting ProRes 444 over ProRes 422? Thanks!

Adam

Tim's right. Raw 3:1 and raw 4:1 are great choices.

One of the sweet benefits though of shooting ProRes applies when your deliverables are HD as mine usually are. You can shoot with the large angle of view of the full sensor readout in windowed mode to record to 2K 16:9 and then in post use the extra pixels to stabilize those micro movements on an HD timeline. Can't do both operations in raw. But if you do shoot in a raw 2K window, you can still stabilize HD in post.


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Hey Tim,

What is your thought process on shooting ProRes 444 over ProRes 422? Thanks!

Adam

My thought process there usually revolves around color grading and getting the most out of the footage. 444 is 12-bit, so that means 4,096 variations per RGB channel vs 1,024 variations per RGB channel, which means a lot more color information is retained. Pretty much 12-bit has 68.72 Billion possible colors vs 10-bit having 1.07 Billion possible colors. And, of course, 444 means there is practically no chroma subsampling happening. That to me is a huge deal as well because it means each pixel is retaining its color information instead of cheating the way 422 does. Also, if shooting green screen 444 and 12-bit are going to help you out a ton.

Chroma Subsampling Info

chromo.jpg (49.19 KiB) Viewed 7848 times

I hope that helps.

Hi all, thank for the replies, i asked this question because Blackmagic Design CEO Grant Petty says on press conference (2 March) :

..."can/he records high quality 12bit log RAW or easy manage a ProRes files IN 10bit"...


video name: Press Conference - URSA Mini Pro and DaVinci Resolve Panels
TC: 36:10


Thank you.

Grant was trying to say succinctly what we understand he meant... "if you don't mind gobs of data filling your recording media card in a few minutes of recording, you have glorious 4.6K 12bit raw and 12bit ProRes at your fingertips, but if you live in the real world where time and space are constraints, you can record in beautiful ProRes 10bit colour such as ProRes 422 HQ." So no contradiction of what Grant said, but now you understand the true meaning.


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Hey Tim,

What is your thought process on shooting ProRes 444 over ProRes 422? Thanks!

Adam

My thought process there usually revolves around color grading and getting the most out of the footage. 444 is 12-bit, so that means 4,096 variations per RGB channel vs 1,024 variations per RGB channel, which means a lot more color information is retained. Pretty much 12-bit has 68.72 Billion possible colors vs 10-bit having 1.07 Billion possible colors. And, of course, 444 means there is practically no chroma subsampling happening. That to me is a huge deal as well because it means each pixel is retaining its color information instead of cheating the way 422 does. Also, if shooting green screen 444 and 12-bit are going to help you out a ton.

chromo.jpg

I hope that helps.

Tim,

Thanks for taking the time to explain that. VERY helpful to me moving forward. I think on my next shoot I'm going to shoot some 444 to check it out. I'm also finally learning Resolve.

Adam

Hi all, thank for the replies.

Adam and Amer, no problem! I'm glad to have helped.