I ran a few export tests with a clip shot at 2048x1152 @ 1724 fps. My laptop is a Macbook Pro 13" M1 with 8 GB RAM, so pretty basic. I picked a 20 second clip and ran an export all these ways (resulting file size in red):
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DNG Sequence 819.6 MB
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H.264 (MP4) 40.4 MB
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H.265 (MP4) 20.2 MB
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ProRes 422 HQ (MOV) 519.6 MB
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ProRess 422 LT (MOV) 220.2 MB
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PXBC Clip 656.1 MB
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ProRes 422 HQ (MOV) - Upscaled to 3820x2160 UHD 1.66 GB
All the conversions took about 4 seconds each except the PXBC Clip (somewhere between 1-2 seconds) and the upscale, which took around 20 seconds. So that’s about 5x normal speed for most conversions, and about 1x for the 2K to 4K upscale.
I also did conversions on a 47 second clip and got ~9 seconds for non-upscales (which is still about 5x), around 4 seconds for the PXBC clip, and right around 45 seconds for the upscale (about 1x again).
I had noticed that the camera currently does not have a base/project frame rate, but when you go to export you can choose your base frame rate at that point. The ProRes 422 HQ file I tested @24 fps and @120 fps both took the same amount of time to export and ended up the same file size. They just play back at different speeds (@24 maintains the super slow-motion while @120 plays back 5x faster, coming in at 4 seconds instead of 20).
So, with all that in mind, it looks like exports are not very intensive at all on Mac silicon at least. My laptop is almost the most base version possible as far as processor and RAM are concerned and the exports were fast and the fans didn’t ever spin up.
One thing I’m not sure about is how to export in a LOG color space, as the exports with the Contrast and Saturation settings at 0 have a Rec709 look to them. I can turn those two down anywhere from -1 to -100, but going all the way down doesn’t look like a LOG image so much as it does like sucking all the color and contrast out of a full 709 image. I could have sworn we were told the camera records in a LOG color space, but maybe I’m mistaken.
