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5D Mark II import problems. Any advice, suggestions?
Just curious folks if you’ve come across any particular issues and/or have any advice regarding importing 5D Mark II content into FCP X. I have always had issues working with media from this camera; issues meaning to date I’ve never had a smooth import of all of the media. This goes for Final Cut Pro 7 as well.
In any case, I am importing 5D content again and FCP X dishes out lots of errors. For one I wish Apple would build in a feature where if it has problems importing, it skips it and goes on the the subsequent ones. It’s horrible starting an import process overnight only to come back in the morning to FCP X having stalled on the second clip due to an import error.
I mostly work with AVCHD content, and more 5D Mark II content lately, but it’s always a rough ride full or workarounds.
Any ideas folks?
Mac OS 10.8.4
FCP X 10.0.8
5D Mark II 1080p24 (H.264)
Mac Pro 2 x 2.26 Quad-Core Intel XeonFCP X import settings (Optimized, separate stereo and mono)
Tangier
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33 Replies
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Importing 5D is thus…
Open FCP X. Drag 5D media to event.
Instantly begin editing.
So what errors are you having? It’s not like AVCHD or XDCam. 5D content is pure h264 QT files that X completely supports natively. You can transcode to ProRes, but in my experience there’s no difference in RT.
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[Bret Williams] “5D content is pure h264 QT files that X completely supports natively. You can transcode to ProRes, but in my experience there’s no difference in RT.”
Bret,If you don’t mind, could you tell the H.264 specs when you open a 5D H.264 file in QT 7? I’m just curious as to what comes straight out of the camera in terms of the Data Rate, Audio format, and picture size. I want to see how close my H.264 exports out of ScreenFlow are to a 5D. I initially exported ProRes, but it was definitely overkill for my purposes.
Thanks,
Dave -
Here’s what I get:
“Import Failed:
The following clip encountered an error and is still referencing media on the camera…”I typically use File->Import->Media
I direct FCP X to the top folder (the reel) that I want to import, and proceed.Tangier
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Will do when I get back to the content in the morning. Suggestions have been to use Compressor to transcode all content first, but that’s not a workflow I typically do and am concerned about lost metadata.
I know others may use that workflow, but I personally seldom do that; using an app other than the NLE to insure full retention of all that’s embedded in the media.Although with RED, I do use Red Cine of course (before FCP X played nice with the format)
Tangier
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Sounds like maybe you’re importing directly off the CF card and then ejecting it? Maybe X is trying to reference files off the SD card that is ejected?
Just copy the contents of the card to your raid or whatever drive you’re using. Then drag that folder to the event. You have to drag to the actual event name, not the media area. You’ll get a message saying some files couldn’t be imported. Those are are the .thm and .ctg files. Or you could just dial down into the card folder and grab the QT files themselves and drag those over.
There is no need to run through compressor. That would be a FCP 7 workflow since legacy doesn’t support h264. But even in 7, the proper way would be to use log and transfer so that you would get time of day timecode and preserve metadata.
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Here’s a 5D mk II that is 24p, 6 1/2 minutes long.
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Actually what you describe is exactly what I do. I back up all cards first to a raid, creating folders as unique reels for each card, import from the folders on the drive.
Tangier
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Have you tried just dragging the QTs to the event? There’s no use for the other stuff in X.
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[Bret Williams] ” Here’s a 5D mk II that is 24p, 6 1/2 minutes long.”
Interesting. My screen capture exports are essentially the same except the Data Rate I use is 7.6 Mbits/s (also including the audio). I experimented with much higher and lower data rates, but what I came up with works fine in FCP X and a higher rate didn’t gain me anything. Thanks, I was just curious.
Dave
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There is little or no useful metadata on any of these Canon HDSLRs. Use MPEG Streamclip or MB Grinder to convert the H264 files to ProRes or ProResLT. Use QtChange to add TC if you want. You are simply asking for a poor experience, trying to edit natively from a large amount of H264 files – on ANY NLE.
– Oliver
Oliver Peters Post Production Services, LLC
Orlando, FL
http://www.oliverpeters.com
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