Is it possible to edit T3i footage in Final Cut Pro 7? What hoops do you have to jump through to get the footage onto the system?

Yes, of course!

It's been a while since I updated my FCP 7 in order to ready it for EOS import -- but I think it involved the EOS plugin?

Depends on how you want to edit.

I use a great "Free" utility to batch convert my 7D H264 to ProResLT for editing in FCP7

You can get it here - Squared 5 - MPEG Streamclip video converter for Mac and Windows (http://www.squared5.com/)

I second using MPEG Streamclip. It's an awesome program.

After copying the folder of files to your Mac, open the folder.
Sort by file type. [You can ignore the .TPM files they are just jpeg thumbnails]

Select the .mov clips you want to convert [I select multiple clips at once] and then open them with MPEG Streamclip.

Choose Export to Quicktime. In the options window, choose Apple ProRes 422
Quality 100%
Uncheck Interlaced Scaling

You can then edit the generated Prores file in FCP.

You guys are awesome! Many, many thanks! Appreciate it greatly!

Same as John & Chuck... MPEG to Pro Res and FCP will eat it up. Works very well.

I find the Canon EOS plug-in for FCP's Log and Transfer the best way. It makes timecode from the time the file was recorded. This is especially valuable when you have multiple cameras. Just make sure their clocks are the same and you have a close to the same timecode reference. Also with the Log and Transfer you can have it append the date of the footage to the filename. This is also very useful for sorting things out later. When you use MPEG Streamclip (which I love by the way) you lose this valuable Metadata.