View Full Version : What does the Canon XF300 driver name files?


Larry Cohen
April 25th, 2012, 08:23 AM
Hi,
I'm noticing something interesting happening when I directly import my shooting from the card in my Canon XF300.
Final Cut Pro X (10.0.3 / latest LION on my MacBook Pro) imports natively, perfectly. All the clips go in the event file, everything works perfectly.

But I noticed, FCPro X "names" the files in the Events folder all with the date/time naming protocol!

Hmmm . . . for 10 years, FCP 7 (and before) always named the files with the same 'number' the camera assigns the clips. So in the Finder bin, all clips had the name as a number. Now . . . the clips all have the Date/Time as a name.

Interestingly, that can be changed using the Batch renaming feature in X - but on the TimeLine, if you don't rename the files first - they always have that Date/Time name, NOT the actual clip # name the camera assigns it.

Is this normal? All you others out there - importing files directly from the camera - does FCPro X name them using the Date/Time protocol - or am I the only one! :)
Thanks,
Larry

Vincent Couillard
April 28th, 2012, 04:30 PM
Hi Larry,

(This is an automatic translation from French)
FCP X can read metadata from MXF Canon. But, by default, it displays the date and time. To view the original title of the rushes, it's very simple. You have to select the clips in the FCP X browser, show the inspector (info), click the bottom right of the window on the small wheel, choose "apply the custom name" and "original name from the camera." That's it! It is not necessary to rename files.
Vincent
(I hope the translation is correct)

Larry Cohen
April 28th, 2012, 05:49 PM
Hi Vincent,
Thank you very much for helping on this question. Interestingly, the answer is virtually perfect English! I'm impressed with the translation!

Thank you for confirming what we were thinking. I see you are quite correct in changing the clips to the original file names. We just have to do it BEFORE editing them to the Timeline. But at least you are confirming what we saw! Thank you very much. Interestingly, my answer comes all the way from France! (I guess?)
Larry

Rodrigo Fajardo
April 28th, 2012, 11:58 PM
Hi guys, do you know how to set a permanent name for each CF card? some times i have to shoot up to 5x32GB cards and when you connect all at a time in a computer there is no way to know which is which in the finder (in a mac). i would like to make a copy for all at the time because a regular CF reader takes 20 minutes to transfer a 32GB card, and the other day i tried to back up 5 cards at the time and it was a real pain. All CF have the same name.

Vincent Couillard
April 29th, 2012, 11:30 AM
Hi guys,

Larry, I write short sentences. The translation is better.
FCP X requires new habits. We must do things before editing : select sound tracks, choose the roles ...

Rodrigo, to change the name of CF cards, you should use Canon XF Utility. In the "File" menu, you choose "Create Virtual Media" by giving the name and location you want. Then you select all files from your CF card and you do a "drag and drop" on this new virtual media.

Sincerely,

Vincent (from France)

Rodrigo Fajardo
April 30th, 2012, 07:02 PM
Thanks man, thats good but i guess it would be nice that the camcorder give a unique name to each CF so when in a computer each CF will have a different name. In CF cards you can see that clips are continuously numbered card after card, so if you look inside there will be no clips with the same name in different cards.

When many cards are connected at the same time to a computer all those appear like Canon XF. I think there are many things up to be enhanced in this digital environment. Procedures should give no place to mistakes or misunderstanding. There would be nice to have some kind of Digital library software from Canon so we can save XF files in HDD's and keep the right track of our raw shots. I guess we all used to have a closet with tons of MiniDv sorted in some way, but working with files is kinda different.