Hey Guys, so I just got myself an Inspire 2 w/ X5S and I will be using it quite a bit for filming before editing my work in FCPX.  If I bought the ProRes key, what difference would I notice when I import into Final Cut?  (Other than the 5.2k)

Hi! I have both licenses, and the difference isnt significant in any way. I personally like Prores codec even more than Cinemadng, atleast if you're not after raw format. Prores gives you great detail and good low light quality. You can also record 5.2k in Prores

I bought the ProRes license and have used it for multiple flights. However, unless you need the 5K resolution or are going to do some heavy post-production work, I wouldn't buy it. I bought mine because of the possibility of some commercial work. Even then, I found that some prospective customers want H.264 or H.265 because the end result will be highly compressed and they won't be doing much color grading/correcting. Don't get me wrong, it looks great and is nice to not have to transcode to an editor-friendly format but the files are huge (actually limited to 4GB each but there are MANY 4GB files) and the end result for my content is not that much (if any) different. I take H.265 files from my X5S and transcode them to ProRes with Brorsoft before using them in FCPX. In Vegas Pro 14 I have it create proxy files to edit with.

Anyway, I'm definitely not bad-mouthing the ProRes solution but it adds quite a bit of cost to the equation and may not garner any additional benefit. It depends on the intended use of the files.

Cobra44Magnum Posted at 2017-4-20 05:27
I bought the ProRes license and have used it for multiple flights. However, unless you need the 5K resolution or are going to do some heavy post-production work, I wouldn't buy it. I bought mine because of the possibility of some commercial work. Even then, I found that some prospective customers want H.264 or H.265 because the end result will be highly compressed and they won't be doing much color grading/correcting. Don't get me wrong, it looks great and is nice to not have to transcode to an editor-friendly format but the files are huge (actually limited to 4GB each but there are MANY 4GB files) and the end result for my content is not that much (if any) different. I take H.265 files from my X5S and transcode them to ProRes with Brorsoft before using them in FCPX. In Vegas Pro 14 I have it create proxy files to edit with.

Anyway, I'm definitely not bad-mouthing the ProRes solution but it adds quite a bit of cost to the equation and may not garner any additional benefit. It depends on the intended use of the files.

That is exactly what I wanted/needed to know. Thanks brotha. I'm gonna hold off, indefinitely. Maybe one day but no time soon.  Anyway, thanks again.

Cobra44Magnum Posted at 2017-4-20 05:27
I bought the ProRes license and have used it for multiple flights. However, unless you need the 5K resolution or are going to do some heavy post-production work, I wouldn't buy it. I bought mine because of the possibility of some commercial work. Even then, I found that some prospective customers want H.264 or H.265 because the end result will be highly compressed and they won't be doing much color grading/correcting. Don't get me wrong, it looks great and is nice to not have to transcode to an editor-friendly format but the files are huge (actually limited to 4GB each but there are MANY 4GB files) and the end result for my content is not that much (if any) different. I take H.265 files from my X5S and transcode them to ProRes with Brorsoft before using them in FCPX. In Vegas Pro 14 I have it create proxy files to edit with.

Anyway, I'm definitely not bad-mouthing the ProRes solution but it adds quite a bit of cost to the equation and may not garner any additional benefit. It depends on the intended use of the files.

If you are not using the licenses and are using he X5S camera, would you be recording only to the SD card? I was wondering if the SSD is still needed when only using the non-Prores codex etc.

Thanks for any comments you can add.

Rich

Yes, you would record only to the SD card and would not need the SSD inserted. You can also leave the SSD inserted and turn off recording to it in the camera settings. I don't have my drone with me so I can't provide a screen shot but the screen has 3 parts once you have the SSD inserted. The top part lets you select items that are common to both SSD and SD recording. Below that the screen is split in 2 with the SSD settings on the left and the SD settings on the right. There is an option to turn off recording to SSD on the left. Unless I find out that the SSD has a noticeable difference on the battery life, I will probably leave it inserted even if I'm not using it. The SSD is very light so the weight probably won't affect it much. It will also use some battery power just to run the electronics but, again, I think that would be negligible.

RgrDat Posted at 2017-4-20 06:47
That is exactly what I wanted/needed to know. Thanks brotha. I'm gonna hold off, indefinitely. Maybe one day but no time soon.  Anyway, thanks again.

You're welcome. Glad to help.

I did not buy prores codec. Instead I convert Inspire 2 videos to ProRes with a professional program.

Prores is a much stronger codec compared to h264 and contains more information, hence the file size difference.

One thing this means is that you can grade it a lot more in post.

If you want to shoot Dlog for example:  With h264 you will probably find that the footage contains unwanted noise after you grade or drop a LUT on it.  With Prores this will not be so much of an issue.

You can get good quality footage from h264 but you really need to shoot it how you want it. If you need to alter the colors or brightness in post then it can become difficult. Too much grading will cause the codec to fall apart and start to show noise or macro blocking fairly quickly.

Prores however has a lot more room for grading which means that you can alter colors, brightness etc a lot more before you begin to experience noise.

This is why higher end productions require Prores or Raw. So they can grade the drone footage to match the other cameras used in the edit.

There are a lot of clients who do just want h264, mainly for the file size. There are also others who employ me mainly because I can provide Prores or Raw. When this happens I know they are serious in creating a fine production.

If I'm shooting for myself I always shoot Prores or Raw because I love to grade it in post. I also have a load of hard drives!

Unfortunately converting h264 to Prores after the shoot won't make any difference in regards to image quality. The images information needs to be recorded into the codec straight from the cameras processor. It may be easier to play and edit if your using a Mac but will grade about the same as h264. I stand to corrected but this is my experience.  

For me it's worth the price. If you don't grade your footage and have clients who don't enjoy having an hours worth of footage given to them on a large hard drive then it's probably not. I can tell you that the quality is much better and if you want to get into higher end projects then it's a great benefit.

Hope that helps