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X5R Workflow Notes

No,
To get the raw footage out of an X5R is a two step process.
A bit of education.
A non raw footage capture by the camera is on the fly transformed from ones and zeros into viewable footage. You pop the card into the computer et voila, your footage is ready to be edited. The price you pay for this convenience is after the camera sensor captures the footage ii sends it through an algorithm (manufacturer) who decides what your footage should look like, compresses it and writes it to the card.
The raw footage capture by the camera sensor bypasses (to a point) the algorithm and writes unplayable data to the card.
The data on the SSD needs to be interpreted (transcoded) into viewable footage for editing.
Sorry for the verbiage above.
So after you captured data on the X5R SSD you insert the disk into the computer and start the DJI utility (CineLight) to transcode the data into editable footage.
Within the utility there is a bunch of choice to transcode the footage into non raw format (ProRes for example.) I would suggest that if you want to benefit from the flexibility of raw to export the footage into DNG sequences (which as you know are a bunch of Jpeg images)
At this point, you need a software that can read DNG sequences and play them like video clips. FCPX is not, at this time one of them. All FCPX will do is read these images as unlinked images.
There is a handful of software which can handle DNG sequences and interpret them as video footage. Adobe After Effects and Premiere Pro, Avid (I think) and DaVinci Resolve (free and paid version).
I would suggest to you to try DaVinci Resolve, the free version. It handles DNG sequences beautifully.
From there you can export the DNGs as ProRes footage which plays very nicely with FCPX. To note, DaVinci Resolve has also a very robust editing module which can take your footage from ingestion to delivery.
I hope I did not loose you but there is so much confusion about raw footage that I thought I could shed a little light.
Feel free to ask more questions.
 
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Thanks for the long explanation! I think you misunderstood me. I know how raw works and how to correctly import it... this was more a theoretical question how FCPX handles an imported DNG sequence (which is not a bunch of jpegs btw but a bunch of DNGs, to be more precise). In fact I don't want to work with ProRes but directly with the raw files (and I'll use Davinci Resolve for that)

I just saw that FCPX was able to at least display each individual DNG, but I wasn't sure if it just displays the DNGs internal jpeg preview or is able to parse the DNG raw information. In this case, creating a compound movie would make sense.

But apparently (you explained it in your first answer), FCPX just displays the image sequence without being able to get all the raw information out of the photos. So even if I would create a compound video out of these DNGs, I'd just create a bad low-quality (jpeg-based) video without any exposure information.
 
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Sorry I misenderstood your question
You would still get the high resolution images in FCPX, but they might need to be color corrected. One at a time unless compounded as you know.
What you loose is access to the metadata
 
No worries!!

What you loose is access to the metadata

With metadata you are referring to the RAW data, right? So color correcting the compounded file would result in bad quality compared to directly working with the DNG sequence in Davinci Resolve.

I am really looking forward to getting my X5R. Thanks a lot for all your support!
 
No worries!!



With metadata you are referring to the RAW data, right? So color correcting the compounded file would result in bad quality compared to directly working with the DNG sequence in Davinci Resolve.

I am really looking forward to getting my X5R. Thanks a lot for all your support!
I think in essence you understand it but when you work with a DNG file, you have a bunch of images which are of the quality the was captured by the camera sensor regardless of how you preview it. I am not sure why you bring up the lower quality in FCPX.

So what are the differences
A raw sequence has really two ways to color correct it
1- you access the instruction attached to the file itself and the sequence will retain any color correction regardless of the software used as long as it can read DNGs sequences.
2- Color correction in FCPX can only be read in FCPX.

Your result should be very similar with either method of color correction. Things you can't do with #2 is changing ISO and color balance at the file level for example.
 
I think in essence you understand it but when you work with a DNG file, you have a bunch of images which are of the quality the was captured by the camera sensor regardless of how you preview it. I am not sure why you bring up the lower quality in FCPX.

So what are the differences
A raw sequence has really two ways to color correct it
1- you access the instruction attached to the file itself and the sequence will retain any color correction regardless of the software used as long as it can read DNGs sequences.
2- Color correction in FCPX can only be read in FCPX.

Your result should be very similar with either method of color correction. Things you can't do with #2 is changing ISO and color balance at the file level for example.

Regarding my comment with the lower quality (I am sorry if I got somehow lost in translation) I was referring to this concept:
Embedded jpg in the RAW file?

Most of the raw files carry a low-res jpeg to enable computer programs without raw capabilities a preview functionality. And I had the impression that FCPX wasn't interpreting the actual photo data but just the preview jpeg file (within the DNG container). And therefore I was referring to "low-quality" (as for example overexposed areas within a jpeg file are just white - and lost all the data behind the overexposure.

Sorry for all the misunderstandings, I hope that I could clarify it a little bit more ;-)
 

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