Editing Canon 5DMkII H.264

[Shane Ross]

#51 – Canon 5D MkII / Canon 7D footage into FCP

Shane’s Stock Answer #51 – how do you bring in footage from the Canon 5D and 7D cameras into FCP to edit?

You need to convert all of the Canon 5D MkII footage from the H.264 format that it records, to ProRes 422 (ProRes HQ is unnecessary…no quality difference) Yes, the file sizes get drastically larger. H.264 is an acquisition and delivery format, not an editing one.

You can use the Canon EOS Log and Transfer plugin that works with the 1D, 5D and 7D cameras. This plugin is great because it brings in the camera’s TIME OF DAY as timecode, instead of starting each clip at 00:00:00:00 like Compressor or other conversion software will do.

CANON

Here is a tutorial on how to use it:

Editblog tutorial

Shane

GETTING ORGANIZED WITH FINAL CUT PRO DVD…don’t miss it.
Read my blog, Little Frog in High Def

[Ben Holmes]

In addition to what Shane says, I would add that I recently started work on a project using footage from a 5D. This was shot at 25p as I’m in PAL-land, but really no difference for post or workflow.

I used the relatively new Magic Bullet Grinder application to transfer the footage, as it allows for faster encodes (like Compressor it runs multiple processor threads and encodes 8 files at once on my Mac Pro) and also allows me to continue working in FCP during ingest. You can insert timecode or use the original as far as I know, as well as conform to different frame rates (if you shot 720p60 for example this is transcoded and conformed to 1080p24 if you use ProRes) and also generate Proxy files with BITC, for use as rushes on set.

Not a complete product yet, and as such pretty basic at the moment, but it’s cheap and reliable.

Edit Out Ltd
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EVS/VT Supervisor for live broadcast
RED camera transfer/post
Independent Director/Producer

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[Aynsley Baldwin]

I attempted to download and install the Canon plug-in but apparently without success. I’m not seeing the Canon hardware as an option in the preferences drop-down menu of the Log and Transfer window in FCP. Is there something I’m missing? I basically just double-clicked on the installer icon that downloaded in the .dmg file and was told the install was successful. Is there anything I have to do on the FCP end of things? This is running the latest version of FCP 6.0 on a Mac Pro. Not sure of the particulars at the moment…

I know I am unable to use the Canon plug-in with a Power PC but if, hypothetically speaking, a Power PC was all I had available, I could theoretically use compressor to convert the footage as long as timecode wasn’t an issue for me, correct?

Also, I’m wondering about the folder structure that is generated by the 5D. I’ve never attempted to work with 5D footage before and was handed a hard drive with a folder of .mov files on it. As the media is H264, I’m guessing this is all I need and that the 5D does not use a folder structure similar to that of a P2 card?

Thanks!
Aynsley

[Michael Gissing]

There is a folder structure and L&T needs to see the card structure. If you just pull the folder with quicktimes onto a drive, L&T won’t see the footage.

I use the Sandisk Compact Flash reader with firewire 800. Yesterday I batched in about 60 clips from the card using the Canon plugin. It was loading in the background and I was able to play the files in FCP viewer while it was batch converting to ProRes.

[Alastair Hetherington]

i have used a freeware utility called Mpeg stream clip , which easily allows for you to convert multiple 5d and 7d mov’s to pro res hq or lt or other codecs .

it is available at https://www.squared5.com for download.

rather nifty app , you can run it in the background while still cutting on fcp etc.
cheers

F.C.P ,Avid Ds Nitris editor

[Neil Sadwelkar]

I prefer to stripe time code using Bouke’s Qtchange utility. Then converting these ‘striped’ QTs to ProResHQ with Compressor. QTchange doesn’t care for the folder structure unlike Canon’s plugin, and it allows you to set TC the way you want.

In the case of 23.98 fps movies destined for integrating with film or other 24fps sources, we conform them to 24 with CinemaTools before striping TC.

Don’t forget to donate to Bouke if you use Qtchange.

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

[Jeremy Garchow]

[Aynsley Baldwin] “This is running the latest version of FCP 6.0 on a Mac Pro. “

The Canon PlugIn requires 10.6.2 or later.

[Shane Ross]

[Jeremy Garchow] “The Canon PlugIn requires 10.6.2 or later.”

INcorrect. I am still running 10.5.8 and use the plugin all the time. I only have my Avid system on Snow Leopard.

Shane

GETTING ORGANIZED WITH FINAL CUT PRO DVD…don’t miss it.
Read my blog, Little Frog in High Def

[Jeremy Garchow]

[Shane Ross] “INcorrect.”

Hey man, just going off the Canon specs. 10.6.2 and higher supported.

From Canon:

“The following software must be installed on the PC
-Final Cut Pro6.0.6
-Final Cut Pro7.0.1 and later

Supported Models:
-EOS 5D Mark II(1920×1080/30fps)
-EOS 5D Mark II(Firmware v2.0.3 or later, 1920×1080/29.97fps, 1920×1080/25fps, 1920×1080/23.976fps)
-EOS 7D, EOS-1D Mark IV(1920×1080/29.97fps, 1920×1080/25fps, 1920×1080/23.976fps, 1280×720/59.94fps, 1280×720/50fps)

Supported OSes:
MacOS 10.6.2 or later

CPU:
In addition to the support conditions of Final Cut Pro, must be an Intel CPU

RAM, Display:
Same as the support conditions of Final Cut Pro”

[Aynsley Baldwin]

Thanks for all the info, everyone. I think MPEG Streamclip is the way I’ll go this time around, but damn I hate it when things don’t work like they’re supposed to; read Canon’s plug-in in the case. I’m currently away from the system that I was trying to install it on so can’t check the OS. Perhaps that was the problem.

Thanks again,
Aynsley