I have come onboard late to a project shot on a 7D and no one is able to tell me if the footage has been transcoded to ProRes nor which audio files (recorded on an external device) match up with which video files (the file names certainly don't indicate it).

My main question is, do I have to transcode? And, how would I know if it's been done already?

I edit on both Windows and Mac in both Premiere (which I own on both platforms) and Final Cut.

All of the footage imports just fine into all three NLEs (PPro Win, PPro Mac, FCP), which leaves me confused:

If it imports into Premiere in Windows, it can't be ProRes, right? But if it imports into Final Cut, it must be ProRes (or something else) right? I was under the impression that Final Cut couldn't handle native 7D files.

Anyway, I have started editing the files as they are (prior to syncing the audio files as well) but am wondering whether the smart move is to transcode first.

Regards,

-- John.

It does not have to be ProRes for Final Cut to edit it. If it's working in Windows I don't think it is ProRes tho. Likely it is still in it's native H.264 from the 7d and will be much easier for Final Cut to edit if you transcode to ProRes.

Okidoke. I've edited for about 15 hours straight in Premiere (both on Windows and on my MacBook Pro) without any delays and not a single crash or freeze. Everything's going smoothly, which is why I thought it might already be transcoded. Is that just because Premiere can handle the native files better than Final Cut? Or would I see a performance increase in Premiere too if I transcoded? Though I'm not sure I could ask for any better!

Can you not just check the media properties? What about the file extension? Does that give you any clue as to the type of file?

What version of Premiere are you on? CS5 will work very well with the native footage on a well-spec'd machine but other versions will struggle with it.