Cropping from 4k to 2k

[Derek Van Gorder]

Pardon if this has been asked a million times, but I can't find the answer no matter how hard I look...

What is the preferred method of cropping a 16:9 4k file for use in a 16:9 2k FCP timeline? It's my understanding that the "F" proxy files don't work in FCP, so it's not a simple matter of bringing them in and scaling up...

Red Rushes seems like it has a crop feature, but since it's all done numerically I can't tell what I'm doing. I'm sure there is something very simple I'm just missing here (I'm still a newbie). Please help me out!

 

[jimhare]

RedCine does a great job of this. You can see exactly what's happening and determine the scale or crop of each shot individually.

 

[Derek Van Gorder]

Hmmm, seems like I need further assistance...

I am opening up 4K .R3D files in RedCine, and switching the format setting to 2K 16:9 in order to scale in and get a tighter shot while supposedly maintaining full resolution. However, no matter what output settings I try, everything comes out looking just as bad as if I enlarged the 2K file directly.

I know the resolution is there, I can see it in RedAlert and in the "F" proxy files with Quicktime, so I must be doing something wrong. In RedCine, everything looks blurry, and the output is the same. How can I use RedCine to get a tighter, full-resolution shot from my 4K footage for a 2K timeline?