One very common question on the internet is: When will Final Cut Pro X support Blackmagic’s RAW camera format? 

While the true answer to that question is one only the suits at Apple and Blackmagic can answer the folks at Color Finale are introducing Color Finale Transcoder. While not direct import of BRAW it will be a Final Cut Pro extension that will facilitate much easier handling of raw media as you can transcode camera original RAW footage through the extension into a more FCP friendly format, presumably ProRes.

This useful tool is coming soon. You can join the beta now or preorder it for $45.

It’s important to note Color Finale Transcoder isn’t just for Blackmagic RAW but also other unsupported RAW formats like ARRIRAW and CinemaDNG.

Other RAW formats?

We'll be adding more formats if demand is sufficient.

— Color Finale (@ColorFinale) March 30, 2021

You may be asking: why would you buy a separate tool to transcode something like Blackmagic RAW when you could just use Resolve to transcode BRAW for free?

I think ease of use is the primary reason as there is something to be said for a workflow that stays put in one NLE. And you can access the RAW settings before transcode.

you can instantly preview the raw files plus adjust the settings of BRAW, ARRIRAW and CinemaDNG media in Final Cut Pro with the Color Finale™ Transcoder extension.

— Color Finale (@ColorFinale) March 30, 2021

I’m wondering the details behind what you can transcode to. I asked that to the Color Finale folks via Twitter but as of this writing they haven’t replied.

Nice idea.

What are the format choices to transcode TO upon using the Color Finale Transcoder? Of course ProRes, but all flavors? Anything else?

— Scott Simmons (@editblog) March 30, 2021

I think it’s a very safe guess Color Finale Transcoder will transcode to ProRes but the question is to what flavors of ProRes. I would assume all of them with the hope that ProRes Proxy and LT are on the list as you could transcode to ProRes Proxy for offline editing and then finish in Resolve with the camera original Blackmagic RAW clips. That’s assuming Color Finale Transcoder carries all metadata through the transcode including timecode and file name. I would be shocked if it didn’t.

It’s great to see the Final Cut Pro architecture allowing for tools like this to exist, and do so at a reasonable price.

And what about that other inevitable question you may be asking? When will Resolve support Apple’s ProRes RAW?

Again, a question for the suits and executives. But we do know Color Trix won’t be making a similar tool for Resolve.

Thanks for your kind words. We don’t work on Resolve products sorry.

— Color Finale (@ColorFinale) March 29, 2021