Thanks for the info Noah, you pointed me in the right direction.
I noticed the res was set to 1280×1080 while the EX delivers full frame 1920, not anamorphic. I could have sworn FCP set up this timeline automatically to the footage…
Problem seems to be solved.
BTW, what exactly is XDCAM footage? Why does an extra process happen between SxS and Log+Capture? It didn’t seem long enough to be a transcode, but the files were not viewable without going through the XDCAM utility.
cheers,
Cooper