Digital Motion vs. Film or Video
Video: HD or SD has a limited color workspace compared to film or RAW media. It’s best to do as much coloring before recording or transcoding to a video format, as you will be limited afterward. As technology moves ahead, video will likely be a delivery format, not something to shoot. Exceptions will be projects where color is not critical, like industrials and live television. For historical reasons, 30 fps will continue to slice the frame in two interlaced fields making life, and graphics work, tougher.
Film: Has a much wider latitude which allows for detailed color correction in transfer to video, or timing to print. It is mathematically logarithmic, like our eyes, and responds the same way. It is expensive, does have scratches and dirt which need to be cleaned up, along with picture float. That said, film is currently the best color solution and is the best choice when budget allows.
Digital Motion (RAW Digital Stills): A hybrid of the two, it’s a series of still pictures in a progressive frame format (not interlaced) recorded digitally. It’s also relatively cheap. Most record a RAW format which, like film negative, has a wider color range before being transcoded to video. The RAW format is the information from the sensor stored per the vendors compression scheme. It is monitored on most cameras by a quick video conversion as the RAW is stored. Color decisions can be made after the fact, and most software applications have updates to handle the raw formats in their own ways.
Transcoding: Most digital cameras shoot a format that is not easy to with, either because they are in a raw, un-color-corrected format intended to give the colorists a wide range of options, or because they are compressed to small video files that can fit on media (ie compact flash cards, P2 Cards, etc) on the cameras. Transcoding simply means to copy the file to a usable file, and in most cases takes a few hours for a days shoot. Nothing to be afraid of. Generally analogous to film transfer.
