Canon XF300/XF305: A lot of native MXF-files

[Ivan Pin]

Part1. Canon XF305 mxf-files from an Italian forum:

1. AA026401.MXF
2. AA026501.MXF
3. AA027001.MXF
4. AA027101.MXF
5. AA027301.MXF
6. AA027401.MXF
7. AA027901.MXF
8. AA028101.MXF

Filming was done at 1080 25P.
Default setting, except Detail -3.
Cam on tripod, manual focus, manual exposure, white presets 5600.
Time - at about 19:00.

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Part2. Japan site: Canon XF300 Full HD video samples

Zip-archives with MXF-files.
1080 60i, Default setting.

Warning: Archive 0001-1.zip is broken.

[Tans Mark]

Ivan, thank you for sharing these samples.

[Tom Bostick]

thanks!
do you know what the bitrate of these are?

[Ivan Pin]

Tom,
Sony XDCAM Viewer shows 50 Mbps bitrate on all MXF-files.
The player is free and can be downloaded here: PDZ-VX10 XDCAM Viewer Version 2.30 (PC ONLY)

It can show some metadata: Video format, Bit rate, Frame rate, Max Gop, Timecode, Audio format, Camcorder name, Date, etc.

[Augusto Alves da Silva]

I had the chance to test the 305 during a weekend and was really impressed with its performance. Exceptional quality at 1080 and 720 very good slow motion and amazing lens. There are some things I still don´t really like. The first one is the sensor size vs DOF. After working the last year with huge sensors I find it hard to work without the really shallow DOF. Another thing I didn´t like was the delay caused i think by the IS that makes it a little hard to control the pans. The last problem was the codec. Really difficult to edit in FCP, EDIUS etc...I even bought calibrated Q but I gave up after one full day/night of editing. I will get back to it in a while. But one thing I noticed was that its 50mbs codec easily beats the Sony EX-3 at least in my humble opinion. A camera to get in a near future to replace some older models. Still the price it´s a little off the charts compairing with the price vs quality ratio of the DSLRS.

[Peter Moretti]

This is why we need a real shoot out between the EX and the XF. These picutres are so much better than what Alister posted in his quick test of the XF. And his EX pictures are so much better than what have been floated around here as EX examples.

[Nigel Barker]

How should I import these files into Final Cut? There appears to be a "Canon XF Plugin for Final Cut Pro" that is supplied on disk with the camera however I cannot find this plugin online anywhere just a reference to it here Installing and Uninstalling Canon XF Plugin for Final Cut Pro The only downloadable software for this camera that I can find is the "Canon XF Plugin for Avid Media Access" Canon U.S.A. : Professional Imaging Products : XF300

[Nick Wilcox-Brown]

Nigel,

and therein lies a problem - one cannot import the MXF clips to FCP without the plugin and that needs the file structure from the card to see the clips....

The workaround is Avid to ProRes and then into FCP, but not ideal.

Nick.

[Nigel Barker]

Originally Posted by Nick Wilcox-Brown

and therein lies a problem - one cannot import the MXF clips to FCP without the plugin and that needs the file structure from the card to see the clips....

A kind person sent me a copy of the "Canon XF Plugin for Final Cut Pro" but as Nick has pointed out it will not import the .MXF files except from off the card or at least from a file structure that looks like the card. I know that if I am using the "Canon EOS Movie Plugin-E1 for Final Cut Pro" but only have the .MOV files that I can fake it so that the plugin is fooled that there is a card by adding matching .THM files but is there some way of recreating the XF card structure? I am not really concerned with what the XF files are like to edit after conversion to ProRes as I am sure that they are just the same as any other ProRes file. I am more interested in the workflow & time taken to convert to ProRes using the FCP Plugin.

[Doug Jensen]

Nigel,

I think I can help with your question regarding the time to import clips native vs. ProRes 422

7 clips
TRT 1:57
50Mbps / 1920x1080 / 30P
Imported driect from CF card via FCP 7.0.2 Log & Transfer

Native (XDCAM 422): :36

ProRes 422: 1:07

So, the conversion to ProRes 422 doubles the time needed to import. It also increases the storage requirements by 270%. In a split screen comparison of both types of clips, there is aboslutly no difference at all in picture quality. You can't even seen the line where the split is occuring. I see no advantagse, and plenty of disadvantages to using ProRes 422.

[Doug Jensen]

Originally Posted by Augusto Alves da Silva

Really difficult to edit in FCP, EDIUS etc...

That's not what I have experienced. Whether I import them as ProRes 422 or native, the clips are very easy to edit in FCP. I have no complaints at all.

[Nick Wilcox-Brown]

Doug, Nigel,

Firstly, there is no way that I can see to re-create the file structure - I tried! I'm sure there is someone who can crack it, but I did not manage.

ProRes: Yes, space requirements are huge + the transcode is time consuming. My only thought is this (please feel free to correct me) - MPEG2 is a long GOP format, with, I think 15 frames to render for every cut. ProRes is an iFrame codec and it should lessen the processing power required for edit and then rendering.

I'm sure Alister Chapman or Dan Keaton can add far more to this discussion?

Nick.

[Doug Jensen]

I've been shooting/editing 100% XDCAM for more that four years now (F350, EX1, EX1R, EX3, F800, NanoFlash), and I have no complaints about working with those files. None. There are no noticable rendering delays or other issues that people fear with Long-GOP.

I've played around with Pro Res just enough to know that it would bring no benefit to my workflow, so why would I put up with huge file sizes and longer ingest times? Plus, I think it's always better to keep transcoding to a minimum. Importing XF files as "native" just puts a different wrapper around them. I'm sure Pro Res has it's place in other workflows, but it's not something I need.

[Peter Moretti]

Wonder if the Canon codec is rebranded XDCAM or if there is some significant difference/improvement with Canon's version of 50 mbps Long-GOP 4:2:2 8-bit MPEG-2?

[Nigel Barker]

Originally Posted by Doug Jensen

That's not what I have experienced. Whether I import them as ProRes 422 or native, the clips are very easy to edit in FCP. I have no complaints at all.

That is very good to hear. Previously I was ingesting DV & HDV tapes & currently am converting Canon 5D Mk II H.264 files to ProRes prior to editing so would really like to find a simpler & faster workflow so ideally I would import & edit the native files.

How do you import the native files to FCP? I have never worked with XDCAM files so have no experience of this workflow but a quick Google throws up an application "MXF Import QT" that appears to do the job but at 399 Euros plus sales tax costs about 50% of the price of the complete Final Cut Studio suite! Must I buy this or is there a cheaper option?