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Level 1

48 points

FCP and Canon 5d3 movie footage

Please bare with me while I try and explain my situation.

I am not a video person..but last year, I was asked to film a 'stage show' put on in a local hall by our local Young Farmers Club...because I had a 'big camera' and someone knew I did a bit of still photography.

Since I had heard the Canon 5D 3 was a tool often used for pro videos, I thought , heel why not, I'll give it a go.

Well I did it in Final Cut Express, but there were issues. I was initially going to use just basic iMovie, but for some reason, that I was recommended on one of my questions here to use FCE.

Turned out the trouble with FCE , was that it could not handle the Canon 5D3 files directly, so I had to transcode them, then I think they needed to be done again to go on to the DVD. Either way the final quality was not that great in playback. The people I did it for were happy enough, but I was not, it was a bit blocky , not as sharp as the original footage etc.

I created the whole project in FCE and only then did tI appreciate I had issues. My mate said 'Ah, you should have used FCP X..that is what I use, it handles Canon 5D3 video files directly with no transcoding needed. Unfortunately, as I then found out, there is no way to export an FCE project to FCP X...so the choice was to either do the edit again from the raw camera footage..or leave as is. Since I had spent the best part of 3 weeks doing the edit, doing it again was not an option

So this year, my mate who has gone travelling the world, has told me to use his Mac, with FCPX ...10 .08 . It think it is..maybe 10.0.9.

He is out of contact, so of no help to me.

So before I start again, will my 5D3 footage be able to be used direct import to FCP X?

any other words of advice on the settings to use to shoot and import 1920 ALL-I camera setting I'd guess ? but how about the import and further file handling

I know it is a bit of a vague question, but any pointers would be appreciated.

Many thanks

Neil

Mac Pro (Early 2008), Mac OS X (10.6.8), FreeNAS servers and Other Windoze and Linux machines

Posted on Mar 6, 2015 4:33 AM

33 replies

Neil Paisnel Author

Level 1

48 points

Mar 6, 2015 11:21 AM in response to Luis Sequeira1

Yes,that is what I did last time, the same 'project ' last year. it does enable zoom and pan etc but needs a load of quick memory card swaps and drag and drops from the card to the laptop during the interval.

I am quite 'concerned ' about the lack of bins for sorting clips etc. and this new keyword way of doing things.

been talking to a few mate in my other hobby forum (endless sphere) e-bike forum..it turns out his business is video production...and he and many others have dropped FCP X like a hot brick and have gone to Premier.

Mar 6, 2015 12:27 PM in response to Neil Paisnel

I am quite 'concerned ' about the lack of bins for sorting clips etc. and this new keyword way of doing things.

been talking to a few mate in my other hobby forum (endless sphere) e-bike forum..it turns out his business is video production...and he and many others have dropped FCP X like a hot brick and have gone to Premier.

Try it out and decide for yourself. You should use the tool that best suits your work.

FCP X is different from any other NLE. If you learn how it works, you'll come to appreciate all that it brings.

If you try to force it to be just like old FCP or Premiere, you'll only get frustrated.

FCP X thrives on metadata. Keywords (and keyword collections, and Smart collections!) provide much more powerful organization than bins.

You can use all sorts of metadata - FCP X thrives on metadata.

I won't go on telling you about it because you should just experience it for yourself.

It is a bit unfortunate that you only get to try 10.0.8. You really ought to start on the 10.1.* which brought significant changes.

But still I'd take FCP X 10.0.* over Premiere any day.

Neil Paisnel Author

Level 1

48 points

Mar 6, 2015 11:47 PM in response to Luis Sequeira1

I'll certainly give it a go. but I can't afford to spend $300 myself on an app that I don't 'need for my own use, and will get use once every few years at most. I know there are other ways to get a copy, but steer clear of those as you never know what else you are downloading....but I can't afford Premier either !

Oh well such is life.

10.08 to 10.1...will the upgrade be free? I could probably upgrade it for him

Thanks for all your help. I'll try and get the other Mac this afternoon.

Tom Wolsky

Level 10

151,185 points

Mar 7, 2015 12:37 AM in response to Neil Paisnel

IIt is free, but you will need his Apple ID to do it. I would recommend backing up a copy of the existing application and his projects and events before upgrading.

Neil Paisnel Author

Level 1

48 points

Mar 7, 2015 12:47 AM in response to Tom Wolsky

Argg yes of course, I was forgetting that. Doubt I'll get hold of him...unless he has it stored as text file somewhere on the Mac the **** Apple store. 😟

Plus one to Microsoft for their update procedure

Ah, I'll stick with 10.08, or 9 what ever it is.

Thanks

Tom Wolsky

Level 10

151,185 points

Mar 7, 2015 1:07 AM in response to Neil Paisnel

CChances are good if you go to the App Store on his computer it will be logged in with his Apple ID. You can check in the Purchases page on the computer and see if the software is there.

Neil Paisnel Author

Level 1

48 points

Mar 7, 2015 1:20 AM in response to Tom Wolsky

Yep, fingers crossed.

I'll need to get to grips with how to sort clips though

I saw this post you replied to , to Bob from LightsStream, https://forums.creativecow.net/thread/344/340

I contacted him direct via his site to find out how he got on with the metadata, method, and he tells me he gave up after a long time trying and then went over to Adobe. I guess due to cost I won't have that option, so I will have to work Apples way, like it or not.

So I may be back for tips on how to do that, once I have a go. I did see some tips / you tube video about Right Clicking each Event and begin able to create g keyword Collections and sub folders, so hat looks close enough to what I like tone able to organise my clips.

Time will tell

Tom Wolsky

Level 10

151,185 points

Mar 7, 2015 1:37 AM in response to Neil Paisnel

A Lot of what's on YouTube is obsolete, and I really wouldn't go by a three year old thread and someone who gave up the software a long time ago. Anyone who hasn't worked with the software less than a year ago is not in any way a reliable barometer for the current versions, but then you're using quite old versions.

Neil Paisnel Author

Level 1

48 points

Mar 7, 2015 1:46 AM in response to Tom Wolsky

Well, true, but if that is all the search engines bring up...
I don't go trawling back pages and pages of Google results, I only tend to look at the first few on the first page...hoping they are the most up to day.

With all the results I have been bringing up and the comments I have been receiving about them, it is almost as if the old advice of doing a search before asking or posting question on a forum is becoming obsolete. Wonder if it is a google web crawler issue, that it is ply bringing up old results.

I've got a Mac Pro here, 2008, Twin 3gig Hz Quad core, 20 gig of ram. Love to update, but just not in the same money situation now as I was when I bought it. 😟

Wont be long before the latest OS X wont run on it, I only updated to 10.9.5 because I had to for Lightroom. Before that I was happy with 10.6.8 Now Apple have screwed the Notes, added this iCoudl and lost lots of phone syncing utilities in this 10.9.5. Really dreading having to upgrade further,

Tom Wolsky

Level 10

151,185 points

Mar 7, 2015 1:59 AM in response to Neil Paisnel

UUnfortunately you can buy your way up google rankings and can cleverly use tagging to get up in rankings and of course having more links to more sites and being tagged more times gets who higher up the rankings. AFAIK there is no time filtering in Google. It's all about money and visibility. The more of that the higher the ranking, and of course it's self perpetuating. The higher up the rankings you are the more hits you get, the higher up the rankings you stay.

Neil Paisnel Author

Level 1

48 points

Mar 7, 2015 2:35 AM in response to Tom Wolsky

Yes, sort of makes even bothering to search redundant if you want up to date info.

Mar 7, 2015 2:39 AM in response to Tom Wolsky

Tom Wolsky wrote:

AFAIK there is no time filtering in Google.

THere is

THr last point allows to narrow the date to any day...

Tom Wolsky

Level 10

151,185 points

Mar 7, 2015 4:12 AM in response to Karsten Schlüter

TThank you. Never knew that was there.

GeeD

Level 6

9,173 points

Mar 7, 2015 9:12 AM in response to Neil Paisnel

As far as I can see, scanning the thread, no-one has mentioned that you can download FCPX from the AppStore and try it out for free for one month. Should be long enough to see if it meets your needs.

Geoff.

Tom Wolsky

Level 10

151,185 points

Mar 7, 2015 9:36 AM in response to GeeD

TThe trial download is available from the Apple FCP page.

FCP and Canon 5d3 movie footage