MXF files from the Canon C300 and Final Cut Pro 7

[Phil Balsdon]

Take a look at XXID film here, and also “the making of” sequence.
https://cinemaeos.usa.canon.com/

The results are quite amazing. I don’t think I’d necessarily select the EOS C300 as my ideal camera of choice to do a project like this, but it’s encouraging to know that it is capable of this result even from the files recorded on its CF cards.

Most orders for this camera will probably be placed by cinematographers who will select it for it’s ergonomics and operability, vast range of EF lens options, low light performance (where it’s at least equal to the Alexa), 12 stops of dynamic range and superb resolution. For a lot of cinematographers these are far more important features than codec speeds.

Also getting the external 4.4.4 output from the Sony X3 also requires a $3800 firmware upgrade to the camera.

Cinematographer, Steadicam Operator, Final Cut Pro Post Production.
https://philming.com.au
https://www.steadi-onfilms.com.au/

[Adam White]

Many thanks to you both, Jeff and Phil. Great advice which was all duly noted.

In fact, we needed to know about workflow sooner rather than later as we were very fortunate to get the C300 over the weekend for a shoot. Some very talented camera ops took it out to an airfield and we did a short feature. Great way to see what the camera can do and also a chance to have a test run with it in post. I didn’t cut this one, but I did colour grade it which was a great way to see how the footage held up.

Take a look at the result if you like!
https://vimeo.com/34851252

We used the Canon plugin which worked great (found it to be much more reliable than the equivalent plugin for the 5D which we never use now after it kept missing out big chunks of clips). All footage transcoded to ProRes 422 which was solid as ever. ProRes 422LT is usually our codec of choice so I think I may give that variant a go next time and see if there are any noticeable differences.

I thought the camera did an excellent job. The rushes were a joy to work with. Spent 4 or 5 hours grading it and I think the results are pretty good! Apart from how nice the footage was to work with, I was also struck (again) by what a great app Color is and how infuriating it is that its been EOL (but thats another topic altogether!)

We are delighted and very excited to start using the camera all the time. Working in 4:2:2 isnt really an issue for us as I can’t see it being a problem for the kind of content we produce – 90% of our output is straight to web.

Thanks again for all the advice and discussion – all really interesting and very useful. 🙂

Best,
Adam

[Rafael Amador]

Nothing wrong with 8b because we are watching everything on 8b computers screens.
Print some 8b stuff to 35 or watch it on a 10b screen and you will notice the difference.
8 or 10b Chroma doesn’t makes much difference, but having just 256 or 1024 levels of Luminance (shadows) are two different worlds.
By 2012 doesn’t makes sense to discuss this.
rafael

http://www.nagavideo.com

[Ralph Martin]

In my first experience with .mxf files I am at a lost as to how to import these files into Final Cut Pro 7 without the camera or XF utility program. I was given the video files on a flash drive. I have several folders with five files each in them. (cif, cpf, xml, mxf, and sif) Is there a way to import the video into Final Cut without the camera or XF Utility?

Anyone’s help would be quite appreciated …

Thank you …

[Tom Gallon]

Hello Ralph.

I’ve just shot a promo on the C300 and initially encountered the same problem as you. We shot abroad and ‘guerilla’, so didn’t have the CF/disk images cards to import directly to the FCP plugin, and I can’t remember the exact file path ro recreate the disk image.

The only work around I can think of, for now, is to encode with Adobe Media Encoder. This (for me at least) is the only application that can read .mxf files (after trying MPEG Streamclip, Episode Pro and Compressor).

So, I drag each .mxf file into the encoder (it won’t read the files if you try and batch drop the folders in), and then batch select them to export to ProRes. Depending on how many files you have, this could be a long process. My first card contains 54 folders, from which I was able to drop the individual files into Media Endoder in roughly 5 minutes, and have everything transcoding soon after. So, actually, it’s not quite as painstaking as I originally imagined.

I hope that helps!

Tom

[Kevin Mckeever]

To import MXF files into Final Cut, simply download the Canon XF Plugin for Final Cut Pro:

https://software.canon-europe.com/software/0040354.asp?model=

Under “Preferences” in the FCP Log and Transfer window, you can choose whether to import the native 50mbps mpeg footage or transcode it to a version of ProRes. I’ve had no problems so far using “native”, but I do understand if some people prefer ProRes for robustness or ease of use within FCP.

[Chris Dolan]

Hey gang,

I downloaded and installed the Canon plug-in for FCP and selected ‘Canon XF Plugin’ in the Log & Transfer preferences but when I try to add a volume I get the following error:

“AA0102” contains unsupported media or has an invalid directory structure. Please choose a folder whose directory structure matches supported media.

The directory I select is the one we copied over from the cameras CF Card. Actually – I didn’t copy it so I never saw the directory structure. Maybe this is the problem… I assumed it was copied over correctly. Is is possible the person who copied the files did not take the whole directory? If so, what would the correct directory structure look like? Is it a similar wrapper to the XDCAM EX bpav folder?

Chris Dolan

[Chris Dolan]

Ok – looks like I found the answer; The clips were not copied over from the CF card correctly or the folders were renamed. I reset the directory structure to be ‘CONTENTS/CLIPS001/xxx as described in the following link, and FCP sees the files in Log & Transfer. Hope this helps anyone else who experiences the same problem…

https://philipbloom.net/forum/threads/c300-cf-card-main-folder-name.1132/

Chris Dolan

[Ben Holmes]

Please note anyone reading the above post is spam. No paid converter is necessary to import and transcode this footage if you do it from the cards or image them properly.

Ben

Edit Out Ltd
—————————-
FCP Editor/Trainer/System Consultant
EVS/VT Supervisor for live broadcast
RED camera transfer/post
Independent Director/Producer

https://www.blackmagic-design.com/community/communitydetails/?UserStoryId=8757

[Leo Chou]

In fact, Final Cut Pro 6.0.3 to Final Cut Pro 7.0.2 and Final Cut Pro X 10. 0.3 users can not enjoy the 1080i videos after editing, since XF Plug-in can not help them, only the 1280*720 video accepted. It means you have to convert C300 MXF footages to Final Cut Pro compatible format ProRes 422 .mov with a top MXF Conveter for FCP. I used UFU Soft MXF Converter fo Mac, which can fast transcode SD MXF videos to Apple ProRes 422 for FCP on Mac OS X with best vido quality. https://www.ufusoft.com/mxf-converter-for-mac/