-
FCP Support for Cameras
I am researching HD cameras to use for a future project. I am new to video entirely so this is my learning curve phase and need some help understanding something.
I checked out the supported list of cameras on the FCP site and there are not many of the current HD Canon cameras that make the list of supported models. Same goes for the SD models. Does this mean that if I were to buy any of the cameras not on the list, FCP won’t recognize the files from the camera when I try to upload and log the files? None of the cameras that I want to buy are on the list.
What alternatives do I have if this is the case?
Andy Lai
https://www.andylaiphoto.com -
5 Replies
-
I’m guessing that you’re looking at the small Canon consumer cameras that record AVCHD codec to an SD card. (the Vixias for instance) If so, it’s not a problem to use this footage, you can pull it directly off the camera or off the card. But it will have to be transcoded into a codec that FCP uses. AVCHD is an H264 codec which is NOT for editing. I’m working with footage from a Canon HF20 right now. Took it straight from the card into FCP and it’s going just fine.
Hope this helps.
Jeff Mueller
http://www.ApertureVideos.com
Santa Barbara, CA -
Thanks for responding Jeff.
I have a F200 which the Canon site lists it as a MPEG-2 recording system. What would I need in order to get my files recognizable by FCP? How do I transcode into a codec? I also see that the HF20 is listed as a MPEG4-AVC / H.264 but your working with them just fine in FCP?
I thank you in advance again for any help you give.
Andy Lai
https://www.andylaiphoto.com -
You won’t edit in MPEG-2, you’ll have to transcode it into Apple Intermediate Codec (FCE) or one of the ProRes codecs (FCP) but it shouldn’t be a problem. Most likely simplest way will be to put the card in a card reader and use Log and Transfer in FCP. Compressor or MPEG streamclip could probably also be used. The nice thing about the SD card cameras is you don’t have to make FCP talk directly to the camera.
Jeff Mueller
http://www.ApertureVideos.com
Santa Barbara, CA -
Thanks, I downloaded MPEG streamclip. I converted it to a deinterlaced DV file. So do the consumer cameras always embed the audio files with the video? Do pro level cameras store the vid and audio files independently of each other? Or will you need another source of recording the audio to have the files seperated?
Andy Lai
https://www.andylaiphoto.com -
There are greater experts than me on this board and I don’t work in DV: but, my expectation is the audio and video will be tied together on the clip (good thing too!), when you import it into FCP you will “see” one clip, but go play it or drop it in the timeline and you’ll have 1 track of video and two tracks of audio.
Jeff Mueller
http://www.ApertureVideos.com
Santa Barbara, CA
Reply to this Discussion! Login or Sign Up