Matching shooting resolution for FCP

[Vince Pachiano]

My daughter has borrowed a Vixia HF G20 from her school's media department to record the Varsity Ice Hockey Team.

The only instruction she got was to film in 1080i so they can edit in FCP
I've looked at the user manual online, but the Canon nomenclature has MXP & FXP, and frame rate of 60i & PF30.
Any suggestions?

Also, any other suggested settings for shooting ice hockey?

[Jay Massengill]

MXP is the higher quality of the two 1920x1080 modes. That's what I would use if she has enough memory available for the length of time to record. That camera also has 32Gb of internal memory.

The camera records all its frame rate modes onto the card in 60i, except for the true 24P mode.

I have only used the 60i frame rate once in all my years of using an HF11, XA10 and XA20. I thought it looked terrible because I was so used to PF30.

PF30, recorded on the card as 60i, has never given me any problems editing in Vegas but I've never used FCP for my own footage so I can't say in this case.

However, if she can't get any additional clarification, I'd probably suggest the 60i mode since that SEEMS closer to what their instruction was.

The other consideration for hockey may be the refresh rate of the lighting that's used in the facility and what that may do to the white balance and exposure.

[Don Palomaki]

Are they also using video shot by others on other camcorders? If so it is generally better to make sure all use the same frame rate and resolution. And as noted above 60i is likely the better option, and should give smoother motion for fast action like hockey.

If she can get to a practice and shoot some practice to get a feel for it. With fast games like hockey it is easy to end up shooting" behind the puck" and missing key down ice action.