C100 footage capture advice - FCP7

[Martin Trotter]

Hi all,

What is the best process for importing clips into FCP7 (apologies if this has been answered 100's of times on here!)

fairly new with the C100. I had the XF300 plugin installed on my Macbook Pro and appeared to be able to import footage from C100 SD card using it, but my MacPro Desktop keeps crashing when trying to import footage.

I think i've misplaced the CD that came with the C100, and wonder if I can download plugin for FCP, OR if there is another software I should be using to capture?

Would appreciate some advice on it - thanks

[Peter Chaney]

Download the entire card onto your harddrive and use clipwrap to convert the files to ProRes. The only way you can view the files without converting is by using VLC.

[Martin Trotter]

SO would I be correct in saying that the best workflow for C100 and FCP7 is to just copy the card over, and when ready to work on that footage convert it to ProRes using clipwrap?

[Eric J. Green]

I was able to import footage C100 footage onto my iMac via iMovie but it has some weird issues like the some jumps in the image and blurriness in a couple of the zoom-ins. I'm trying to figure out if this is a camera problem or software/computer problem. Any thoughts?

[Martin Trotter]

right - I used Clipwrap to convert the .MTS clips to ProRes LT, but I've noticed that one of the .MOV files (which was a continuous shot scene and the C100 has split the file) the beginning of the clip has come out with a solid green Screen for the first frame before the picture comes back on - is that normal and how do I correct that?

[Peter Chaney]

Originally Posted by Martin Trotter

right - I used Clipwrap to convert the .MTS clips to ProRes LT, but I've noticed that one of the .MOV files (which was a continuous shot scene and the C100 has split the file) the beginning of the clip has come out with a solid green Screen for the first frame before the picture comes back on - is that normal and how do I correct that?

When you record for a long period of time the C100 for some reason splits up the file but they have the same file name. There is a way to combine the 2 files into 1 by using mpeg streamclip.
As far as the green screen at the beginning of the file that is normal I thought it was a glitch with my files at first but after a few times of using Clipwrap that is normal.

[Martin Trotter]

Thanks Peter, I'm concerned though as I appear to have lost at least a frame in the process here. I'm working on a clip with wedding speeches and when the file splits (and I've started the cut after the green screen appears) it definately loses a frame or two. The groom is swaying and there's a fairly noticeable (to me) jump. Surely this can't be normal when using this camera?

[Martin Trotter]

Haven't found an answer to this so shameless bump here!

Is it normal to lose a frame going by what I said previously?

[Ben Giles]

Martin.

Sorry - I'm a little bemused by this thread and talk about Clipwrap.

You already have everything you need to do this properly, without any missed frames. Bung your SD Card in the slot. Go to FCP 7. Hit Log and Transfer. Point it at the SD Card (called "Canon") and hit return. Go and make a cup of tea. FCP will appear to be doing nothing.

Come back after a couple of minutes. All of your clips will be sat as thumbnails in the L&T list. Select them all (FCP defaults to ProRes 422 transcode from AVCHD - but you can double check in the cog setting, Preferences.)

Your spanned clips should go in without any missing frames.

Now is the time to add any metadata you'd like - otherwise, the clips will default to Clip 1. Clip 2... and so on.

Nothing wrong with that - you can add logging notes in the browser later on, if you want to. Just don't change the clip names directly in the browser, as that breaks the link to the media.

You mention that your system is crashing. Try ditching your FCP 7 preferences and have a look to see if any other camera drivers might be causing a clash. You shouldn't have issues with the L&T process at all. It has been an FCP feature for years and is generally bullet-proof, not withstanding the fact that it doesn't give any kind of "waiting" indicator while it's first looking at the SD Card and generating the thumbnails.

*** ALTERNATIVELY *** use FCP X to ingest your material. It will give all the transcoded clips a UID, based on the time and date it was shot. That's a useful thing for long term storage and retrieval. It means you can store AVCHD as your space-friendly archive format and, should you ever need to restore a project, you can re-ingest the AVCHD with FCP X, move the resulting PR422 clips to your FCP 7 Capture Scratch folder and the clip properties should all match up when you re-link media in FCP 7.

That's one thing I've found very useful about FCP X. For me, it's absolutely and utterly crapulent for editing (and, believe me, I've tried to get on with it and spent £1000 on kit and one-to-one training in the process) - but useful for ingest and grading/captioning an exported Quicktime from FCP 7.

That's the problem with being an old fart and established film editor. There's so much excited bollocks being spouted about FCP X and how wonderful it is, I find myself questioning my own sanity. I'm hanging around for my old friend, Lightworks, which I last used to cut Take That's final live concert for BBC1 in 1994. Rant over - ah, I feel better now.

Hope that helps. Keep trying and let us know how you get on.

Ben.

[Mark Dobson]

Hi Ben,

What's up with you and FCPX? Is it working correctly on your setup or do you simply not like the way it works? Magnetic Timeline, compound clips etc etc ?

I've been using it since it was launched and had huge problems initially, constant crashes, spinning balls and getting used to a new way of working after 8 years of FCP7. Things got so bad that I almost thought of getting Premier Pro! ( Adobe's a bunch of fun at the moment eh ) But I stuck with it and from vers 10.0.6 onwards I've not had any serious issues and now think it is how it should have been at launch.

The biggest transformation for me was to buy the new (2012) 3.4Ghz 27" iMac with a fusion drive and 32Gbs of Ram ( I got tired waiting for the new MacPro) and also get a Gtech Thunderbolt drive. Technically I've now got a really solid and extremely fast set up and feel very confident that I've made a good decision in sticking with FCPX.

Strangely enough, as you describe in your post, I still use FCP7 to capture files onto an external drive. I've never used FCPX to capture files and I edit by referencing files rather than importing them. Don't hesitate to contact me if you have any specific problems that I might be able to advise you on.

[Ben Giles]

Hi Mark.

I gave up on it for the time being a couple of weeks back, just prior to doing the edit of my first C100 gig.

It was seriously slowing me down and constantly crashing. I also find the magnetic timeline a straitjacket - all the stuff I loved after being dragged kicking and screaming from Avid to FCP4, the feeling of being unconstrained, grabbing clips or groups of clips and bunging them anywhere I wanted, like Media 100 used to be.

I guess I developed what the Apple Nazis would call "bad habits" and these just don't work within the constraints of a magnetic "my first pony" NLE. If I could switch off the magnetic malarkey, I'd probably head back - although the constant crashing when I tried to do certain things too quickly was an irritation.

In addition to training, I also bought a new max spec 15" Macbook Pro Retina, G Tech Thunderbolt 8TB drive and a shiny new FCP X Logic Keyboard, so the investment has been reasonably committed.

Once I get this next raft of BBC Academy films out of the door, I might have a bit more time to "play" - it all feels too much of a threat at the moment and I lost weeks of productivity when I first moved to X. We're going to be employing freelance editors on the next batch - it's not as much fun as I thought trying to do everything AND deliver large volumes of content and my bottleneck at the moment is editing, so I don't have the sense of humour I need for FCP X at the mo.

By the way, it's lovely to be reconnecting with you like this, Mark, after so many years. I worked with Mark when I was a 17 year old and he patiently put up with all of my inane drivel back then in 1987. Nothing much changed there, eh, Mark?

Mark's a proper old fart now... :-)

Ben.

[Mark Dobson]

Sounds like you've got a great technical setup with your Retina MacPro and Thunderbolt Hard Drive. I used to use the FCP7 timeline as a sketch pad, throw things down anywhere so I know what you are talking about and I guess the nearest comparison to that way of working is creating compound clips from within the Event Browser.

It's great to have the grand title of 'old fart' bestowed on you and I fully accept the honour of the position!

[Matt Davis]

Originally Posted by Martin Trotter

What is the best process for importing clips into FCP7

There's been many votes for ClipWrap here, and yes - it's one good solution, though I suffered a little hiccup with it earlier this year which weaned me off it.

If I'm not using FCPX, and I have time, I'm loving 5DtoRGB from RareVision, which will do two clever tricks when bumping up to ProRes: it will shift the Gamma to 100% whites (rather than 109%) which, if you're passing on your footage to an editor who's not used to 109s, won't freak them out with 'Clipped Whites'. The second thing, which is pretty darn subtle but has a feelgood factor, is that it takes the rather choppy 4:2:0 chroma and does a bit of scaling trickery on it in the 4:2:2 colour space to smooth things out. It's not 4:2:2 on the cheap, but you get less of the blocky-red horrors.

Yes, I fully admit to using FCPX as an ingest tool for FCP7 too. It seemed the fastest, kindest method for AVCHD. ClipWrap sort of changed that, but there's some strange voodoo betwixt my C100 rushes, ClipWrap and FCPX which means that FCPX bogs down on ClipWrapped clips, but happily sings when it gets to import it from the card.

BTW, I import direct from the card, then back the card up manually. I don't import from the 'disk image', but direct from the card. I also don't erase cards until the job is finished and archived. I had one nightmare job where I had to re-ingest EVERY SODDING CLIP from a 5 day event not once, but twice.

Remember the 3-2-1 maxim - data doesn't exist unless it exists in three copies, on two different media, of which one is stored away from the rest. Edit drive, cloned backup, and original rushes.