Panasonic GH1 Log & Transfer

[Tom Wolsky]

Trash your preferences. What version of FCP are you using on both machines? What settings are you using? This camera does not shoot standard video formats.

All the best,

Tom

Class on Demand DVDs “Complete Training for FCP6,” “Basic Training for FCS2” and “Final Cut Express Made Easy”
Author: “Final Cut Pro 5 Editing Essentials” and “Final Cut Express 4 Editing Workshop”

[Michael Nichols]

John,

Use a card reader, but transfer the files to a working drive first. Don’t log and transfer from directly off the card.

Abel Cine Tech – Rental Coordinator
We now have Red and SI-2K in our Rental Fleet!
212.462.0163 • mnichols [at] abelcine [dot] com

[John Patterson]

Michael,

Should I ever log and transfer with this footage? You say to send them to a working drive. What should be done after that? Just import?

I just think it’s funny that my Final Cut shuts down, while his stays open and is able to Log & Transfer the footage…, without much headache as far as editing.

Thanks again for the heads up.

[John Patterson]

Tom,

We’re both using FCP 6.0.6. I’ve tried multiple settings, and like I said, evertime I went to open up the Log & Transfer window, while the camera was plugged in via USB, Final Cut just shuts down.

Pretty weird stuff.

I appreciate all your help Tom.

Thanks,

John

[Deleted User]

Hi John: Did you trash the FCP preferences on your machine as Tom suggested? This is not guaranteed to resolve every FCP-related issue, but it’s easy to do and often helps.

At least hundreds — probably thousands — of FCP users around the world are currently editing GH1 video files successfully, so there’s likely something different about your FCP installation or Mac system configuration compared to others. Standard troubleshooting should enable you to determine what it is.

As Michael mentions, using a SDHC card reader is a good idea, even if it isn’t absolutely required. SDHC card readers are very inexpensive and obviously relieve you from having to have the camera handy just to work with some files. Compared to the price of a videotape deck, a card reader is essentially free.

Refer also to AVCHD info in Apple’s docs & technotes; for example:
https://documentation.apple.com/en/finalcutpro/professionalformatsandworkflows/

There’s a huge amount of GH1 video editing workflow information available in this DVXUser forum:
https://www.dvxuser.com/V6/forumdisplay.php?f=178

Among other things, if you copy AVCHD files from a SDHC card to your Mac’s hard drive before using FCP’s Log & Transfer feature, you must copy a very specific set of files & folders or it won’t work. This topic is discussed on the DVXUser forum & elsewhere.

The point is, regardless of how “standard” or “non-standard” GH1 videos files are, many people edit them successfully these days, and you should be able to do so too. Enjoy!

[Michael Nichols]

[John Patterson] “Should I ever log and transfer with this footage? You say to send them to a working drive. What should be done after that? Just import? “

Much like with P2 and SxS, you create a virtual clone of you cards contents by copying the from the root folder containing your footage. Once that is copied to your hard drive, in a folder name corresponding with that specific card (organization is key!!!), point Log & Transfer to the root folder on your copied drive

Be sure your SD card in ejected, or it will still show up in Log & Transfer.

Abel Cine Tech – Rental Coordinator
We now have Red and SI-2K in our Rental Fleet!
212.462.0163 • mnichols [at] abelcine [dot] com

[John Patterson]

Michael,

Sorry took so long to respond. Thanks so much for the advice. I’m going to try all of these things as soon as I have the camera around…, sometime this week.

Truly appreciate the help.

John

[John Patterson]

Peter,

Sorry it took so long to get back to you. You’ve given me some really great advice. I haven’t trashed the preferences yet. I should have the camera back in my possession sometime this week to try everything out. I will let you know my results as soon as I found out. You’re right about a lot of people editing GH1 footage…, I just want to be one too.

I bought a Canon T1i, and editing with that has been a little easier, but still some headaches with that. It shoots H.264, and apparently that’s more of a finishing format rather than a deliverable editing format. A company called Glue Tools is supposed to come out with a software to help with T1i files. Hope it comes out soon.

Thanks again, and if you have any advice on editing with the Canon T1i, I’d appreciate it.

Thanks so much,

John