I own a Canon XHA1 and I have an EX3 on the way. If I put the EX3 in SQ mode and shoot at 30p, will I be able to create multiclips with my XHA1 30p material in FCP? Thanks.

Nathan,

It should work - FCP just wants the multiclip video clips to be the same format.

However, what you might want to consider is shooting the EX3 in full HQ 30P mode and then transcoding the XHA1 video to XDCAM EX HQ 30p with Compressor, so you'll be able to work at full resolution. I've got an XHA1 and an EX1, and that's what I do - although I shoot 1080i mostly (I use the EX1 for wide shots, and use the XHA1 for close-up).

The difference in quality between the EX1/3 and the XHA1 is noticeable, so you're better off (IMHO) to shoot in the highest quality to start with.

Thanks Brent... I've sent you a follow-up question off-list about doing this in Compressor. Your post is very helpful.

--Nathan

I've got a similar setup and also transcode the Canon stuff to XDCAM EX for multiclipping, it works really well. Do it as suggested in Compressor, or just export from FCP, either way works well. I've yet to shoot at the lower quality HDV setting on the EX3, don't see the point.