seeking codec / color space advice to achieve clean compositing

I'm a drummer, audio editor and cameraman about to buy an HD camcorder, new 17" MacBookPro, 24" Apple LED display, Final Cut Studio 2, either Shake or After Effects for compositing and software training to create kids HD videos with lots of compositing. I have the luxury of a few months to learn the software to get up to speed.

I haven't decided on a camera and am considering AVCHD Canon HF11, a Canon 5D MArk II (H.264), and the Sony EX1 (MPEG2 4:2:0). I'm aware I can transcode the files from the compressed files of any of these cameras to ProRes, then edit & composite. I'm seeking advice from seasoned editors / compositors about if there's a huge end result quality difference in working with 4:2:2 ProRes files captured directly from the uncompressed out of a camera (telling me if I need to purchase an AJA ioHD). Having really clean composites is my goal, while spending as little on camera (and possible AJA ioHD), to retain more of my budget for audio gear. Thanks, Pete.

The more information you get, the better your composite and color correction. Yes, shooting ProRes 4:2:2 from the get go will get you a MUCH CLEANER key than transcoding 4:2:0. And much more color to work with in color correction.

The amount of difference will astonish you. HDV 4:2:0 falls off pretty fast.


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Pulling a key off chroma-subsampled footage can be an infuriating, depressing experience. Using 4:2:2 isn't the end of the world, but it's a pain. Going with 4:2:0 or 4:1:1 or any of those will make you question your career choice on a daily basis.

The thing to remember about the 5D is that it is not a suitable camera for capturing sync sound. The 5D records only 30p, which would be lame even if they did it right. But they don't. The frame rate off that camera is exactly 30 frames a second, not the NTSC standard of 29.97 frames a second. So if you want to use that footage for anything other than making Quicktime movies for playback on a computer, you must conform it to 29.97 before using it. That will cause any sync sound you recorded to drift out of sync, unless you also conform the sound by changing the sample rate.

And that's before you even get into the heavily compressed footage the camera records.

The 5D is not a good choice for shooting moving pictures. I hear it's great for stills.

If I were you, I'd do the math to decide whether it makes sense to buy a camera at all. If you're shooting VFX, it might be considerably more cost-effective to rent a Red or something for your shoot days. Especially if you're doing this for a profit.

I'm a big Panasonic fan so i'd recommend the HMC-150. Great chips, great lens, shoots AVCHD on SD cards which are cheap. The codec is 4:2:0 color space but it's far better quality then the long-GOP MPEG-2 of HDV-XDCam etc.

It also has HDMI out which when you combine with a cheap capture card like the Intensity from BlackMagic allows you to capture straight off the chips to whatever high end codec you want. Not sure what you're compositing is but if its studio based, this is a nice way to go.

Pete-

One important note here, tho I think from the way you wrote your original post you understand this.

You can capture ProRes, or any other codec, directly from the camera. But this will be an advantage ONLY if you do this live on the set. If you record on the camcorder THEN play that back into your edit system, no matter how you do it you have already compressed the footage and introduced artifacts.

-Vance