Convert Canon 5D Mark II 16:9 footage to 4:3 in FCP or Compressor

Apple Final Cut Pro Legacy

Convert Canon 5D Mark II 16:9 footage to 4:3 in FCP or Compressor

Posted by Jeff Newton on August 22, 2009 at 10:43 pm

Hello, I am not sure if this post is more appropriate for the FCP or Compressor forum:

I am about to shoot a project with the 5D Mark II that will be showcased on Television. Since the native HD format of the 5D is 1920×1080 I am trying to figure out the best way to convert the footage and/or shoot the footage so it will translate best for 4:3.

I just tried the preset in Compressor in the folder:

Other Workflow/Standard Definition:
DV NTSC

It converts the image to 720×480. It processed it out but looked to have vertically stretched the widescreen image.

I sure this happened due to my lack of knowledge but is there a way to pre crop the image to those settings or put markers somewhere in FCP before or after moving it into compressor.

Are there presets in Compressor and FCP that will give me grids for shooting?

I am open to any help. Thank you. Jeff.

Jeff Newton
https://www.jeffnewton.com

Neil Sadwelkar replied 16 years, 9 months ago 3 Members · 3 Replies
3 Replies

Christian Hart
August 22, 2009 at 11:28 pm

Sounds like you might be best off shooting for 4:3 with a framing guide on your viewfinder.
Then, one way would be to use a sequence with 4:3 aspect ratio and scale down your 1920 x 1080 clips to fit – this way you will also have some leeway left and right for re-framing if you need it. And you could use the same media if you ever want to do a 16:9 version later on. If you go the compressor route you will be “hard setting” your crop and possibly waiting a bit for conversions and spending too much time fiddling about.

I’m no authority on the subject though, so see what some other cows have to say before going ahead.

all the best,

c
Jeff Newton
August 23, 2009 at 1:40 am

Thanks for the reply. I think that is what I am going to do. I will be shooting with a Ikan V5600 monitor so I hope that it will have 4:3 safe guides. If not I will tape off the sides of the monitor. Hopefully it wont come to that.

I am going to do some testing with converting the footage to 29.97 and placing the footage into a timeline with a 4:3 sequence like you mentioned and see how that works.

Thanks, Jeff.

Jeff Newton
https://www.jeffnewton.com
Neil Sadwelkar
August 24, 2009 at 6:28 am

I think you should convert all the footage to 16:9 HD ProRes. And edit it as 16:9 HD ProRes. After the edit, your should convert the edited material to 4:3 centre crop. That way you have a 16:9 master should you need it.

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Neil Sadwelkar
neilsadwelkar.blogspot.com
twitter: fcpguru
FCP Editor, Edit systems consultant
Mumbai India

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