Problems importing GH3 footage to FCP 7

[Shane Ross]

Log and Transfer won’t work. That camera came out after FCP 7 was discontinued.

use Compressor, or MPEG STREAMCLIP to convert the files to ProRes 422, and then bring those into FCP.

Shane
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[Phil Duncan]

Thanks for the tip Shane.
Why do you think that the files are also invisible to Finder though? Could it be that my OS is maybe outdated and can’t recognise the file types/structure within the .MOV section of the SD card? I am currently running what I believe to be Snow Leopard (10.6.8)

[Shane Ross]

ONly the new Mountain Lion hides files. The MOV files aren’t on the card? When you put it back into the camera, are they there? When you GET INFO on the folder that should contain them, how large is it?

Shane
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[Christopher Romanelli]

I recently just got a GH3 and also edit on FCP7 and found that when i load the SD card into the computer it imports onto iPhoto. would this be good quality if i just drag this file onto the FCP7 timeline. and if so should i make any adjustments in the settings?

[Shane Ross]

No. FCP will not work with the footage the camera shoots natively, it needs to be converted to ProRes.

First off, don’t use iPhoto to offload this footage. It has no relation to FCP at all. Open the SD card, and back up EVERYTHING in there…in the exact file order. Make a new folder on your ARCHIVE drive…name it something unique as a REEL number, so you know what it is. Copy the entire card contents to that folder.

That is your archive drive…what you back up your card masters to. This is different than your MEDIA drive, that you edit from.

Second…copy the QT files to your MEDIA drive. You can bring over only the QT files…they are what you will be converting.

Third…open COMPRESSOR. Drop all the footage into the upper left drop zone. Then look for the APPLE PRORES 422 for PROGRESSIVE setting, drop that on all of the footage. Hit SUBMIT.

Now you’ll have the camera original QT files, and the converted files. Delete the camera files, as you have them archived. Now import the converted files into FCP. Rename them to get rid of the added prefix if you want.

Yes, the file size of the new ProRes QT files are about 8x larger than the originals. Sorry, that’s the way it is. If you want to edit those files natively, you need to use Adobe PRemiere Pro.

Shane
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[Christopher Romanelli]

Thank you Shane!!!
Would “Adobe Premiere Pro 6.0” work to edit these files natively?

[Shane Ross]

Yup.

Shane
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[Christopher Romanelli]

ok one more question about this.
So i am now looking at purchasing Adobe Premier 6.0
How would you recommend purchasing this as a complete package or a monthly? (I see options for a monthly subscription on the adobe website.)
Also are there any extras I should get? Or is the basic program got everything needed?

[Shane Ross]

[christopher Romanelli] “How would you recommend purchasing this as a complete package or a monthly?”

This is up to you. Personal preference of mine is that I like to own my software…own my tools, not rent them. CS6 is the last version you can buy…moving forward they are rental only. BUT…rental is cheaper…more spread out. You can pay $50 a month…or more depending on what you get…instead of needing to shell out $1700-$2600 up front. So it’s up to you.

[christopher Romanelli] “Also are there any extras I should get? Or is the basic program got everything needed?”

Photoshop is always handy, Media Encoder is like COMPRESSOR, Encore is like DVD Studio Pro, After Effects like Motion (only a whole lot more). Depends on what your needs are. Photoshop to me is a given.

Shane
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