Red MX 4K Anamorphic Resolution in Resolve?

[Pablo Villegas S.]

Hi, I just shot a promotional with a RED MX with Kowa 2x anamorphic lenses. It was shot on the 4K Ana Resolution.Anyone knows what's the pixel resolution I should set the timeline? I'm gonna do two copies, one in 1920x1080 with black bars at the top and bottom, but I also want a full frame(without black bars) one, for Web, like Vimeo...Which resolution should I set my timeline for that one? And where do you set the pixel aspect ratio in Resolve? Thanks in advanced.

 

[David Mullen ASC]

Depends on if you want to leave it squeezed, because once you decide you want to finish it unsqueezed, you have to decide whether to expand the number of horizontal pixels by 2X or reduce the number of vertical pixels by 2X.

 

[Pablo Villegas S.]

Thank you David... I want it unsqueezed.

I have seen seen a few Vimeo videos that are anamorphic and are full 2.40:1 without black bars.

But it I don't know what resolution they are.

I guess my question is, in what resolution does the Red MX shoots in 4K Anamorphic? And what's that resolution unsquezeed?

I would like to leave the vertical resolution as it is

Thanks again.

 

[David Mullen ASC]

The image is squeezed when you shoot with 2X anamorphic lenses. So to unsqueeze it, you have to decide whether to uprez it horizontally only by 2X to unsqueeze it or downrez it vertically by 2X to unsqueeze it. That will determine the resolution of the unsqueezed file. As for putting it on Vimeo without black borders, that's just a matter of how to make the file for Vimeo, you make make a 16x9 (1.78 : 1) video with black borders to get a 2.40 image, or you can just make the proportions of the video 2.40 since it's not going onto a TV set. Broadcast HD video has to be 16x9 (so 2.40 needs a letterbox) but stuff for the internet doesn't necessarily have to be.

Look at this discussion:
http://www.reduser.net/forum/showth...t-anamorphics-on-the-mx-and-the-possibilities

I think 5K ANA mode recording on the Epic MX is 3296 x 2700 pixels, which is a 1.22 : 1 ratio squeezed, so 2.44 : 1 unsqueezed, which means at some point in the process, you will probably be trimming the sides slightly to get to 2.40 : 1. If you want a 2.40 : 1 image, then you'd be trimming that to 3240 x 2700, which means to unsqueeze it, you can either go to 6480 x 2700 or 3240 x 1350. These are the numbers I get just with a calculator, I'm not sure the industry practice here in regards to the conversion / unsqueezing.

At this point, you may or may not want to change the dimensions to some industry standard like 1920 across (HD), 2048 across (2K), 4096 across (4K), 3840 across (UHD). Not sure it matters for Vimeo but I guess they'd want 1920 across (1080P), so you'd create a file that was 1920 x 800 pixels for Vimeo.

 

[Pablo Villegas S.]

Thanks again MR Mullen.

They want a 1920 x 1080 version, that will have black bars on top and bottom, I have no problem setting that up on Resolve, I'll just choose a 1920 x 1080 project and select the Clips aspect ratio as Scope.

But they also want a 2.40:1 version for Web. I don't know what custom resolution to put in the project, I don't want it to be enlarged, I want it to be the native, unsqueezed resolution.

Reading your link, I found out that 4K on the RED MX sensor is 2816 x 2304... So I guess I'll do a vertical squeeze and set it to 2816 x 1152. You can also do a horizontal unsqueezed to 5632 x 2304, but I don't see the advantage of doing that.

Thank you very much!

 

[Marc Wielage]

Bear in mind that scope resolution for DCP delivery in theaters is 2048x858:

http://unravel.com.au/files/Unravel_Resolution_CheatSheet.pdf

Home video resolution for 2.40 would be 1920x800, but some distributors prefer to have 1920x1080 matted. The top and bottom are 140 pixels each, which is the default matte in the Color -> Output Blanking settings.

The best answer is to ask your distributor for specific specs on how they want the files to be prepared. I would strongly suggest that you shoot a camera chart so that you can positively verify that the framing is exactly right when unsqueezed in Resolve for color-correction. My belief is that you get better results working in the native resolution and then downsampling to 1080 for monitoring and delivery purposes, but not everybody believes this is important.

 

[Pablo Villegas S.]

Thank you Marc!