Canon EOS E1 Video Plug-In for Final Cut Pro

[David Chapman]

I have the page bookmarked so I can check the latest updates/plugins for Final Cut. So far, the latest is 2/3/10.

It's interesting that Glu Tools have taken down any reference to their log and capture plugin that Matt Jeppsen interviewed at Cine Gear 09. Canon bought the plugin? We shall see how similar it is... whenever Apple adds it.

@Chris: Of course he got it from here! This is where all the other bloggers copy/paste their news from!

[Robert Esmonde]

Anyone know what the true position is - is it really not until March? Isn't there anyone from Canon who can give a definitive statement?


EOS MOVIE plug-in for Final Cut Pro
Canon develops EOS E1 video plug-in
Monday, 8 February 2010 14:00 GMT< Previous Next >
Canon has announced the development of the EOS E1 plug-in for Apple's Final Cut Pro video-editing software. It will enable EOS 5D Mark II, 7D and 1D Mark IV users to log and mark videos with timecode, reel names and metadata before importing into the software. A free Beta version of the plug-in will be available to download for testing in March 2010.

Press Release:

from DPreview.com
Canon develops EOS E1 video plug-in: Digital Photography Review

London, 8th February Month 2010 – Canon today announces the development of a plug-in that will enable quicker and easier editing of EOS MOVIE footage in Final Cut Pro. A free Beta release of the plug-in will be available to download for testing and evaluation in March 2010.

‘EOS MOVIE Plugin-E1 for Final Cut Pro’ is being developed to provide an even smoother workflow for EOS MOVIE users who edit using Apple’s Final Cut Pro software suite. The plug-in will enable the ‘log and transfer’ of video footage from Canon’s EOS 5D Mark II, EOS 7D and EOS-1D Mark IV Digital SLR cameras – all of which offer full 1080p HD video recording.

The plug-in will convert EOS MOVIE footage to Apple’s high quality ProRes 422 codec at approximately twice the speed of Apple’s standard conversion. Additionally, users will also be able to add timecode, reel names and metadata to footage quickly and easily – further enhancing the experience of EOS MOVIE users when editing their footage.

[Michael Murie]

Other than the initial claims of "available now," March is the first hard date I've seen for this. At last Friday's SuperMeet the availability was described by the Canon rep as "in a short time," which makes me think it's a little further away in the development cycle than just needing to be uploaded to the server...

[David Chapman]

Ah, so they announced that they were developing... not that something was ready to go. No wonder there wasn't anything up on the Apple site. They don't even have a beta ready. Wow.

LAME.

[Liam Hall]

I'm getting very bored of these silly announcements about a possible announcement sometime in the future, though we don't know when. It's childish.

[Chris Hurd]

One company made huge waves when they started doing it; other companies take note and emulate. Instant trend! For better or worse.

[Liam Hall]

Chris, there's a big difference between a dynamic, radical thinking small company like RED with a focus on one part of the industry and a large conglomerate like Canon that has fingers in lots of pies. I own lots of Canon kit, but find their current PR strategy somewhat embarrassing and certainly incoherent.

I should add, that if Canon wish to behave like RED then they should open up their own line of communication with their users and listen to what we have to say.

[Robert Esmonde]

Canon Europe - EOS MOVIE plug-in for Final Cut Pro

[Jim Newberry]

Originally Posted by David Chapman

Ah, so they announced that they were developing... not that something was ready to go.

I got an email that used the words "available now" and "released today," (not developing).

http://www.dvinfo.net/forum/canon-eo...ml#post1482987

[Andrew Holmes]

I too have seen the announcements, but here's what I don't get:

Most, if not all of us, convert the native h.264 files into an editing friendly (Mac) format, like ProRes422HQ. This utility says nothing about doing an ingest/trim/metadata tag AND codec/format conversion also.

So....why would I use it? Don't get me wrong, I laud Canon for providing this free, but if I still have to convert after the fact, I'll at the very least lose any tagging added via the utility, won't I? If so, I'll still use my custom Compressor droplet and convert to ProRes and then go from there.

Am I missing something?

[David Chapman]

If it is a log/capture tool that adds timecode, then essentially we will only be converting the clips we want and then saving the original h.264 in a backup scenario like we would keep tapes on file. Right now, I batch convert everything before I pick through my footage. Trimming the fat before the ProRes conversion will save a lot of space.

I've done some tests recently and MPEG Streamclip does a much better/faster job at transcoding than compressor. I'm curious to test the speed of this utility against that—in a few months...

;-)

[Chuck Spaulding]

Originally Posted by Andrew Holmes

I too have seen the announcements, but here's what I don't get:

Most, if not all of us, convert the native h.264 files into an editing friendly (Mac) format, like ProRes422HQ. This utility says nothing about doing an ingest/trim/metadata tag AND codec/format conversion also.

So....why would I use it? Don't get me wrong, I laud Canon for providing this free, but if I still have to convert after the fact, I'll at the very least lose any tagging added via the utility, won't I? If so, I'll still use my custom Compressor droplet and convert to ProRes and then go from there.

Am I missing something?

Everyone works in different ways, if your a single artisan then being able to import footage through FCP's Log & Transfer is cool. It provides you with the opportunity to rename, categorize, mark ins and out, etc.. That functionality is part of FCP so I'd imagine that this plug-in simply enables you to use that tool.

Andrew, something to keep in mind though, unless your outputting your final project to film you don't need to use ProRes HQ, ProRes LT works great for HD and there is no perceptible difference. There are some exceptions to this for effects but as a general rule if your finishing in HD then ProRes LT is as high up the food chain you need to go.

If it is a log/capture tool that adds timecode, then essentially we will only be converting the clips we want and then saving the original h.264 in a backup scenario like we would keep tapes on file. Right now, I batch convert everything before I pick through my footage. Trimming the fat before the ProRes conversion will save a lot of space.

You can't add what isn't there. If you trim a clip to encode it and then later go back to the raw clip to re-encode it the result will be different.

You can trim the fat while converting in MPEG Streamclip now. But I have not found a way to rename them or add your own metadata. I too find MPEF Streanclip to be as good a quality and faster than Compressor and chances are that this plug-in in FCP will use compressor for encoding.

[David Chapman]

"What we're adding in the workflow is the ability to add timecode. Timecode is actually created from EXIF data that's built into the imagery. So we use the start time from the EXIF... and that gets embedded into the files we transcode"

"This transcodes it into ProRes"

"The reel name is grabbed from the name of the stick [Compact Flash Card] which is particularly important for those of you who want to archive your sticks."

"You can archive your stick to a disk image. That will rapidly make a copy of your footage where you can ease your stick and move on. The disc image will provide as your backup."

All this is straight from the Glue Tools demo at Cine Gear 09. If Canon has purchased this from Glue Tools, then it does add timecode based on the EXIF start time in the clip and worked perfectly in the demo. They were also talking about metadata that would be displayed with the clip in FCP showing aperture, ISO, shutter speed, etc. This wasn't finished with the demo, but they were very confident about pulling EXIF data into the display.

I'd be very surprised if this plugin demoed isn't the same that Canon's releasing. Glue Tools has removed any mention from their news blog about the plugin. It used to be very prominent on the homepage until October/November.

[Michael Winget]

Joseph Bogacz from Canon talked about the plugin and showed a demo too. I believe he mentions adding timecode to your clips. It's worth a watch, if you haven't yet seen it:

MacVideo - Camera Technology - Features - Canon Introduce MPEG-2 Full HD (4:2:2) file-based recording codec

Oh, he also mentions the new MPEG codec (the 4:2:2 50 Mb/sec) that Canon plans to release with their new line of camcorders.

[David Chapman]

Wow, Michael. Great link. I didn't have patience to watch this stream last week, but it's great that this is word for word what I was saying previously. My info came from the Glue Tools demo, but this definitely looks/works the same.