This might seem like a question for the Premiere forum, but I'd welcome the experience of fellow XF users here before asking there, especially as there has been discussion about long recordings of musical or stage performances, as I have been making myself.

For Premiere Pro users (but this question might apply to other NLEs, I just don't know):

How do you handle the many 2 GB (5 min) clips? Do you just drop them on the timeline and work with them there as separate, artificial clips?

Or do you nest them into a longer virtual clip early, and work with that?

I have not been using nesting, but am thinking that is really the way to go because dealing with a continuous hour of 5 min clips is a hassle and error-prone in many ways.

What's your workflow for XF cameras? Any other tips when working in Premiere Pro? What's suprising to me is that the Adobe docs or books I've looked at don't talk about dealing with the 2GB file/clip limit, unless I've missed it.

cheers

Brett

Wow, I was not aware that the XF cams recorded in clips like that... That's interesting. Since I use PPCS5, I'm interested in hearing about how that all works. I also film some lengthy dance recitals. Last year the spring dance performance was:

2 Main shows @ 4.5 hrs + 1 Pre-School show @ 1 hr = 10 hours of actual filming over 2 days.

I also film an annual Nutcracker performance at Christmas which is a little more tame at 2 hours long.

I've been debating between a a Sony NX5U and the XF100... I think I'm gonna get the XF100.

Your right. I have never recorded over 5 minutes. I just did a test and let it record for an hour and it is a bunch of clips in the folder. In FCP they show up as one clip in Log and Transfer but in Premiere it shows up as a bunch of clips.

you know... Isn't this associated with a FAT32 format issue or something?

page 47 of the xf300 users manual indeed states files are captured in 2GB increments.

Has anyone found a good workflow other than nesting in a new sequence? Does the supplied CD come with a program that would merge the MXF files together in anyway?

Canon has made a bunch of whitepapers for suggested workflow with XMF,

Canon Digital Learning Center - Canon White Papers: Beyond the Manual (http://www.usa.canon.com/dlc/controller?act=GetArticleAct&articleID=1787&fromTips=1#XFWorkflow)

The way I do it is to just highlight the first clip then hold down the shift key and click on the last clip. Now drag the clips onto the timeline and delete unwanted footage from there.