I had to go yesterday at night to test the new firmware that enables raw in Blackmagic Design Pocket Camera. Did a few shots in both formats and a lot more just in raw. I will edit it later today.
I must say I don’t see much difference when shooting raw at night. Camera shoots raw with slightly lower exposure that ProRes. I shot everything at ISO 800, 180º shutter on Schneider-Keruznach Variogon 1:2/18-90 at f/2, but you can see the is slight exposure difference between the files.
I graded the clip in DaVinci Resolve.
First two are ungraded in FILM setting.
Other two have standard LOG to REC.709 LUT applied. Then I tried to raise exposure.
In raw it is easy. You can dial it in in raw settings. I raised it 1 stop and 2 stops. On ProRes clip I tried to simulate this by using Gamma. 0.03 on first and 0.09 on second.
Raw file holds the blacks a bit more but otherwise… Maybe the raw file is more prone to moire but it is hardly visible. There is also some strange fringing in the highlights so I can’t say raw is much better if at all when shooting underexposed at night.
If you wan’t to decide for yourself you can download the files and play with them.
raw (207MB) vs. ProRes (90MB) – right click and download
I must test it in daylight conditions with lots of light. And I hope editing of raw footage in Final Cut Pro X will be added soon.