How to Use Blackmagic Cinema DNG RAW Files With Premiere Pro

For my latest short film project, Final Hit, my DP and I decided to shoot Cinema DNG RAW on the Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera. We knew that we were going to be shooting under high contrast lighting conditions, so acquiring in RAW gave us the dynamic range we needed, coupled with the ability to recover highlight and shadow detail. We could also manipulate the image in post more to our liking.

If you are currently thinking of shooting a project in a RAW format, you will need to think about your workflow ahead of time. In researching options, I came across this video from D.L. Watson. It's a little over two years old now, but the info presented is definitely worth a watch. It's designed specifically for those who plan to use Premiere Pro as their NLE when acquiring in a RAW format.

Although Premiere Pro CC 2015 is now able to handle Cinema DNG files natively, I still think that using DaVinci Resolve to create HD proxies is the way to go. Premiere Pro's RAW control just doesn't seem as robust as Resolve's. Watch the video and judge for yourself.

If you have any tips regarding RAW post-production workflows and would like to share your own approach to the process, please do so in the Comments section.