How to use MJPEG in Premiere without banding (Mainly Windows Users)

[Snowbro]

Andrew Reid made a detailed blog post, on the banding induced by trying to use the MJPEG codec in Premiere Pro, 3 years ago (still not fixed). He suggested to convert to ProRes, but I prefer Windows and I was unable to find much on making it work flawlessly. Andrew's 2015 post https://www.eoshd.com/2015/01/is-adobe-premiere-to-blame-for-banding-in-8bit-dslr-footage-canon-1d-c/. I actually had tested a conversion to ProRes in Davinci Resolve 15 & Final Cut Pro X, from my MacBook and I noticed more IQ loss on every codec of ProRes I tried vs Avid (shrug). 

Here are the differences I found: 

Non-Converted 

 

Converted 

You can see a major difference in the sky when desaturated with a curve adjustment. The images were compressed within the forum, so it might be somewhat harder to see, but the original files are quite dramatic. 

Quick Steps:

1. Use Davinci Resolve 15: I used the free version which only allows an export at 3,840 x 2,160, but you can use a wide aspect timeline or use the paid version. 
2. Install Avid Codecs: http://avid.force.com/pkb/articles/en_US/download/Avid-QuickTime-Codecs-LE
3. Export Settings: I noticed much more banding in anything lower than DNxHR HQX 10-bit. Also do not have data levels at "Full" this will ruin your gama. 

You should retain nearly all of the quality from the original video files, by using these settings. Let me know if you have any other questions.