Support for Canon MXF from xf100 in FCP X?

Thanks, Yostopia. I have written the two addresses you suggest: carecenter2@cits.canon.com, and customerfeedback@cits.canon.com. It's been THREE months now.

Hi altonfromfrederick,

Regarding your problem of whether to take up the Adobe offer for Premiere Pro - I have been a PP user for over 10 years and have recently been evaluating Final Cut Pro X. An anology I thought of is that PP is like one of those huge old American cars that were tough, reliable but quite a handful to drive whereas FCPX is like a BMW coupe - light responsive and a pleasure to drive.

FCPX is VERY different to editors we have been used to but once you master it it is intuitive and fast to use.

The winning features of FCPX for me were the inbuilt clip stabilisation (you have to buy After Effects as well as Premiere if you want this feature) and the fact that FCPX lets you "see" playable thumbnails of all your clips while you are organising your project whereas Premiere just presents you with a long list of filenames.

Hope this helps.

Thanks, Moviemaker,

I just bought Final Cut Pro X about an hour ago. I was convinced by a post here testing the two. I may have to fight the greater fight to import files--until Canon builds a plug-in--but I am convinced I will enjoy the editing experience more and get projects done faster. I also downloaded the XfcpX program mentioned in this thread.

Here's my reply from Canon on a Sunday night (surprising) about the plug-in. The tech first seemed to think the XF100 is AVCHD format, and apologized for "the misunderstanding."

"We appreciate your continued correspondence regarding your XF100.

"I apologize for the misunderstanding. In any case, we have yet to

receive an announcement regarding updates for Final Cut Pro. Currently,

we have no plans on releasing a utility for Adobe Premiere or Final Cut

Express.

"Please let us know if we can be of any further assistance with your

XF100."

This question will be out of place... but hey, you guys are the BEST.

I'm obviously mismanaging my media.

I ran a Disk Inventory and, HOLY CRAP! half of my internal hard drive is used up in these "frame" files:

"Final Cut Projects/Specific Project/Render Files/High Quality Media/GobbledeeGook"

I always start a project by allowing the transcoding to "optimize" and "create proxy" (as opposed to "copy files to FCP folder"). I thought that would keep me running lean and mean, but now I realize the drive is bloated, and FCPX spends most of its time spinning beach balls.

I'm pretty sure these aren't just cache files that can be trashed... they're the actual project.

My best guess to this workflow issue is to get these Projects and Events off the hard drive and reassign the scratch disk to an external.

your thoughts?

Mitch

XfcpX rocks....thank you PikaFoto!!!

I am using "Better Finder Attributes" to change creation and modification date / time to match the original file after running through your utility. Any thought of adding this type of script to your utility?

We appreciate you!!

Hi Mike,

Well - I had hoped the last FCPX update would have enabled Canon to get their stuff together and provide what they should provide - a working utility.... I guess I was wrong. I've actually seen a little income from the paypal link, so I think I can justify spending a little more time on the utility. Now I just need to actually find that time.

Perhaps I can spend some time during December to work on it - no promises though.

The date/time (and getting more exif if possible) is definitely on the list. But atm I am pondering whether I should keep the current flow or if I should take a look at Mac programming and actually write a proper plugin to FCPX. The latter option, while preferable, might take too much time though - I need to take a look at the API's which Apple provide.

Anyways - the point is: the Date/time is on the list, and either way it should be easy to implement (I am thinking of setting the creation time to that of the original files, and modified time to the point of conversion)

Hey

is there a way of getting XfcpX to work without using the XF Utility program to import the files?

I had already copied accross the folders off the memory card onto my desktop as I had to clear the memory cards while i worked. The XF100 was a rental and i have had to give it back now so i cant plug in the SD card again.

thanks

A tip for SuperArmy,

I had a similar problem with XfcpX as I had transferred a lot of footage to my HDD before trying the program. I have come up with a bit of a 'Workaround' that might help you ---> IF ---> and only if the clips are still contained in folders the same as they were on the camera card.

I use ACDSee at the end of the process to remove the last two digits from the filename that XfcpX generates. This makes the XfcpX filenames match those displayed by XF Utility.

Don't forget to donate to PikaFoto as this guy deserves a medal as well as our support for helping us out of the MXF to Final Cut Pro X import mess.

Here is my Workaround:

Procedure to get XF100 clips fromPC to the Mac in a readable .mov format.

Step 1 - Find clips

Identify Canon XF100 footage which is contained in subfolders of a "CONTENTS" folder.

Step 2 - Fool XfcpX

There is a quirk in XfcpX, that it will only recognise footage if it is contained in a folder with a 14 digit name beginning with '2' which is created by XF Utility when doing a Media Backup operation.

XfcpX can be fooled into accepting the footage if the "CONTENTS' folder is contained in a suitable 14 digit folder. eg 20001000000000

Step 3 - Convert the Footage

Using XfcpX, identify the 'Master Folder' using the 'Locate' button. The Master Folder is the one that contains the Backup Media, ie the 2000…etc.. folder.

If correctly located, the Master foldershould appear in the "Cards to Process" field.

Highlight the required "Folder/s" in the "Cards to Process" column. Choose a destination folder and then click the "1..2..3.. Go!" button.

XfcpX creates .mov files that are readable by the Mac Finder as long as "ProAppsQTCodecs.dmg" dated 20Sep2011 has been installed.

They are also viewable in ACDSee.

Step 4 - Rename & Reorganise

Using ACDSee, rename the converted clips to get rid of the last two digits ie "01" from all clips UNLESS they are long clips and really have several parts.

If so leave the last two digits to identify the parts.

To do this in ACDSee, select all applicable files, choose "Batch > Custom" then drag "Rename" to the Actions panel. Delete "Name" from the "Value" field and replace with "Prefix" from the "Source Name" options.

Change to "First 6 characters" and check the result in the "Preview" dropdown window at the bottom.

Check all files to ensure that the last pair of digits are 01 and if all seems OK click the "Run" button on the top right corner.

Move the converted clips to a suitable final location and then move the XF Utilities "Backup Media""CONTENTS" folder into the same folder as the converted clips.

This way the converted .mov clips are available to all mac programs (without metadata) and the .mxf metadata is still available via XF Utilities if required.

Hope this helps.

hey thanks... that looks promising... ill have a go at some point soon and let you know what happens.

hey moviemaker4444 that seems to be working... its processing about 30GB worth do im guessing thats gong to take a while.

Do I need to definatly get a copy of ACDSee ? im sure i can find one if needed.

Thanks for your help!

No - any program that will batch rename a bunch of files will do.

Glad to hear that it seems to be working for you.

Cheers.

ok kl thanks... does XfcpX show a process bar to show how much is done?

would be nice to see how long its going to take 🙂

Movie Maker4444.

I am having issues with the XFcpX did everything that was asked in the program, I click 1,2,3 and it starts processing and doents do anything. just says "Processing" I waited an hour to do a 30 second clip and nothing. I desperatly need help I have a film job relying on this. Makes me so Angry that this is even happening what year is it 1995?

same problem 😟 just doesnt process it