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Question about exporting after color grading.

I hired a colorist to work on my short and I sent him a copy in DNxHD format, like I was told to on a previous thread, cause you preserve more quality that way. However, when the colorist gives it back to me, should he also give it to me in DNxHD or will that lower the quality putting it in a DNxHD format again?
 
If you don't want to lose any quality he could give it back to you as an uncompressed format - but that will result in a very large file and you've said before you don't have the drive space to work with uncompressed. Next best option would be to have him give it back to you in DNxHD.
 
Okay thanks. Well even if I got the footage back I still plan on doing something with it. How much quality loss do you get while making a second copy of DNxHD? Would it be as bad as H.264?
 
It's a lossy editing codec so it's a somewhat safe bet you're going to lose some information, though it can depend on the encoder/software being used and whether it'll make a difference and it'll also depend on what the next step(s) of the process are. To what bitrate you should be using will also depend on what happened to the footage in the grading process.

This also assumes you're not stupid enough to go from a high bitrate 10 bit DNxHD to a lower bitrate and/or 8bit DNxHD.

Is there any reason you're doing the donkey move of giving the grader an incomplete project?

Any reason you're not having your grader do the finishing?

Would it be as bad as H.264?

No. And definitely not as bad as if you exported it in the h.44 format. Is there a reason why are you wondering if it'll be as bad as something else? Are you happy to settle for "Less bad" than the alternative bad?

Workflow.
 
DNxHD is designed as a post production format and is intended to hold up fairly well across multiple generations. H.264 is a delivery format that is designed to maintain visible picture quality at low bitrates - it's not intended for, nor particularly well suited to, maintaining quality across multiple generations. So stay away from h.264 until it comes time to deliver your finished project - either online or on blu-ray.
 
It's a lossy editing codec so it's a somewhat safe bet you're going to lose some information, though it can depend on the encoder/software being used and whether it'll make a difference and it'll also depend on what the next step(s) of the process are. To what bitrate you should be using will also depend on what happened to the footage in the grading process.

This also assumes you're not stupid enough to go from a high bitrate 10 bit DNxHD to a lower bitrate and/or 8bit DNxHD.

Is there any reason you're doing the donkey move of giving the grader an incomplete project?

Any reason you're not having your grader do the finishing?



No. And definitely not as bad as if you exported it in the h.44 format. Is there a reason why are you wondering if it'll be as bad as something else? Are you happy to settle for "Less bad" than the alternative bad?

Workflow.

I didn't give the grader an incomplete project. The project was complete. I gave him a 24 bit one. Well the export in Premiere Pro asked me how many bit, and I selected 24 since I read it was a good option.
 
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