Part 1: Importing and Conversion

Part 1: Importing and Conversion

In Part 1, I show you how to convert your native H264 footage into something you can edit with.
Part 2 coming soon and deals with changing frame rates.

This tutorial is for Final Cut Studio 2 users. If you are using a MAC and do not have Final Cut Pro installed the codecs will not be available to you. Use something equivalent like DVCPROHd.

Canon 5dmkII workflow Part 1: Importing for edit

View on ExposureRoom

Responses

Shaggy
February 23, 2010 at 15:19

Philip,
Thank you for the tutorial – This makes things so much easier. I do have a question-
I shoot everything in 1080p 24FPS. When I do the conversion with MPEG Streamclip – Should I be selecting XDCAM EX 1080p24 35 Mb/s?

Reply
- pbloom
  February 23, 2010 at 15:37
  
  i recommend pro res LT these days or normal pro res. if you do use XDCAM then yes that is what you want
  
  Reply
  - Shaggy
    February 24, 2010 at 04:50
    
    Thanks- Any reason why?
    
    I don’t see Pro Res LT, but I do see Pro Res 422. Only downfall I am seeing is that the file size is quite larger then XDCAM.
    If you have the time- can you please explain what the difference is between XD Cam and Pro Res 422?
    
    My Original file was 412MB shot in 24p on the 7d in 1080p.
    XD conversion brought it to 322MB
    Pro Res conversion brought it to 1.01GB !!!
    
    I appreciate any feedback you can provide.
    
    Reply
Ben
January 4, 2010 at 21:00

I have been using iPhoto, what happens if you do?

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parallacticpictures
December 30, 2009 at 03:54

Hi Phil, I’m new to the site, but love your tutorials. I was also blown away by your Skywalker Ranch footage. Great work on that.

I have a question about available codecs. I don’t have Final Cut Studio 2 installed yet. I had it, but had to uninstall it when I wiped my Mac drive to upgrade to Snow Leopard. Currently, the disks are not at my office, so I will be editing some test footage I shot with the Canon 7D this past Sunday on Adobe Premiere CS3. I actually haven’t edited with Adobe Premiere yet, but I can’t see it being that difficult.

My question is: What other codecs are good to edit with? Here is a link to a screenshot of the ones I have available in MPEG Streamclip (Windows version):

http://www.parallacticpictures.com/mpeg-streamclip-codecs

Let me know what my best option is here. Thanks!

Reply
- pbloom
  December 30, 2009 at 15:45
  
  To be honest not knowing Premiere Pro means I don’t know what to recommend…
  
  Reply
  - parallacticpictures
    January 2, 2010 at 17:06
    
    No problem, Premiere seems to like AVIs. But I find that MPEG4 is a universally (for the most part), decent codec for working with. So I’m converting all the Quicktime H.264’s to MPEG4 w/ Apple Compressor codec. Fingers crossed.
    
    ps
    How does one get an avatar for his/her profile on this lovely site?
    
    Reply
    - pbloom
      January 2, 2010 at 22:01
      
      go to gravatar.com and create one there
      
      Reply
ramadas Narayanan
December 21, 2009 at 09:13

great work Phillip!!!!

y can`t u use compressor????
i think thats the best way to convert H264/AVCHD to pro-res 444/422 hq..
There is an inbuilt preset in the settings list search for that by “24f”

native 1 mts video for 5d mk2= arnd 300 mb–[fullHD 30f]
if u convert that to pro res422hq FullHD 24f………..then its around 1 Gib
and Btw Nothing is lost in terms of quality

Cinema tools and Mpeg stream clip are secondary ways ….i think that way

btw conform to 24 is available in Final cut pro itself under tools Menu

and i think AVCHD is avalable with FCE4.0—-

http://www.apple.com/finalcutexpress/

it says bulit in AVCHD so…..

Ramadas Narayanan
Apple Certified Pro

Reply
- pbloom
  December 21, 2009 at 13:08
  
  I don’t use compressor as I find it slow and unreliable.
  
  Reply
Dave
November 24, 2009 at 21:49

Philip / Others,

Can anyone tell me why I have far fewer compressor options than what Philip shows on his tutorials? I do not have any Apple XDCAM options.

Any ideas?

Reply
- Dave
  November 24, 2009 at 21:50
  
  Philip – I just read the obvious at the top of the blog entry. Currently i’m using FCE, not FCP.. I’m guessing that is the problem.
  
  Reply
  - pbloom
    November 24, 2009 at 22:00
    
    yes am afraid so!
    
    Reply
Andrew Barefoot
November 12, 2009 at 00:36

Hey Phillip, thank you for this, I have been stoked on your tutorials. We are using the 5d to shoot weddings, and showing movies on the spot at the end of the reception. It is really intense, but really fun.

We have been converting everything in compressor this season (pro res422), but on the apple discussions, someone was saying that you can get better detail in the highlights and shadows if you put your footage through color first, and send it out to Final Cut from there.

I just want to know if it is true, and if so, how do I do it in an organized fashion.

Here is the link: http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=9900126#9900126

his name is
Damir Frkovic

Thanks in advance for any help!

Reply
Paul Treacy
October 24, 2009 at 15:30

You are damn good at this stuff. Great tutorial. I’m very new to video but I guess I have just enough of an understanding to soak up this stuff in one take. Thank you.

I’ll be getting the 7d disk in a couple of weeks along with my new camera. I’ll be using Nikkor primes initially so I’m now going to see if you have covered adapters and conversion.

Paulyman.

Reply
- pbloom
  October 24, 2009 at 21:10
  
  there is a link on my recommended gear page/ amazon store for the best nikon/ eos adaptor from Fotodiox Paul.
  
  Reply
M2 Tutorial Apple ProRes 422 (HQ) vs. H.264: qu
October 6, 2009 at 04:28

[...] [...]

Reply
ebaudelaire
August 24, 2009 at 15:19

Very helpful, thanks. 2 questions :

- I’m running FCP 5, so all i have is XDCam HD… is it the best substitute to XDCam EX, or do you know of another better substitue? (DVCPro HD looks a little washed out)

- Once edited in XDCam, do you have a recommended method for exporting to SD DVD ?

many advanced thanks.

Reply
- pbloom
  August 24, 2009 at 19:22
  
  Not sure to be honest. XDCAM HD is not full HD so you lose resolution. What other options do you have? You compressor to convert to DVD.
  
  Reply
  - ebaudelaire
    August 25, 2009 at 09:42
    
    I have DVCPro HD 1080i50 and 60, and some HDV. But surprisingly, the XDCAM HD using your method looks pretty good, closer in color and contrast than the DVCPro transcodes i tested. I’ll try finding FCP 7 or just the XDCAM EX codec, that may be simplest.
    
    Regarding converting to DVD: do you have a recommended method for best results? (a straight export to compressor from the XDCAM timeline? or are there any benefits to transposing the timeline to a DV timeline first in FCP, and then exporting via compressor?)
    
    Many thanks. E.
    
    Reply
    - pbloom
      August 29, 2009 at 22:51
      
      i export straight out of fcp into compressor and then into studio pro. looks awsome!
      
      Reply
A compilation of 5D Editing Resources | Ed Barton
August 23, 2009 at 15:31

[...] Philip Bloom Importing and Conversion Video To ProRes or ProRes HQ? For Windows – no tutorial but the product of choice, don’t use the 24p conversion, After Effects and Twixtor will do a much better job [...]

Reply
Thomas
August 12, 2009 at 09:11

Hello Philip, very helpful tutorials for new users like me. I tried to convert the 5d files to xd cam but that option wasn’t in the list of available file types, I have a much shorter list. Any ideas on that? Thanks again.

Reply
rknaub
July 27, 2009 at 13:33

Philip, do we still convert this to prores now that FCP 7 supports AVHDC or h.264?

Reply
Eric
July 16, 2009 at 03:24

I tried this on my Macbook Pro 2.53GHz and its painfully slow. A few minutes took half an hour and the laptop got heat up pretty fast. What is your experience like? Is this normal?

Reply
- pbloom
  July 16, 2009 at 17:54
  
  Just converting with MPEG STREAMCLIP? I use a laptop most of time and it shouldn’t be that slow or heat the computer up!
  
  Reply
  - Eric
    July 17, 2009 at 02:43
    
    Yes, just converting using MPEGSTREAM. My laptop has only 2 GB of ram, I wonder if that’s why… I will upgrade it to 4 GB and try again.
    
    Reply
  - Eric
    July 18, 2009 at 03:53
    
    Extra ram did make a different. 1 minute clip took 5 minutes to convert.
    
    Reply
Richard
July 15, 2009 at 20:48

Philip you are a star

Thank you!

Reply
Roger Bloemers
July 14, 2009 at 12:59

I tried to use and like a Mac for two years. I hated it and am back to using Vegas on a PC. I hope you have some help for us PC users also. I am very interesed in getting a 5D. Your work is great and I love it. )

Reply
- pbloom
  July 14, 2009 at 13:24
  
  am afraid I am clueless with PCs, MPEG Streamclip works with it too though! If someone wants to contribute a PC tutorial to my site please do!
  
  Reply
Kevin ANderson
July 14, 2009 at 01:33

Phillip, I am seeing a huge diffeerence in the contrast and density in files that are converted in both EDCAM HD vs. Prores 4.2.2 in Streamclip.

How are you setting up the in camera contrast, sharpness and saturation settings?

I am monitoring on a Apple Cinema 30.

Great work on your site. Love the new Russian piece!

Reply
Jim Miller
July 13, 2009 at 22:28

Good and concise tutorial Philip. I look forward to your full film look course.

Reply
Ivan Babko
July 13, 2009 at 17:46

Thank you, Philip. If one day I’ll get a Mac, I’ll know how to do it

Reply
steve cahill
July 13, 2009 at 17:03

Nice Tut. I found that you can save your own preset(s) in the setup menu under presets. I often change the 30fps to 29.97fps when editing with XDCAM EX1 footage with Streamclip. Look forward to your next workflow for frame rate conversion.

Reply
Martin L Vargas
July 13, 2009 at 10:27

Thanks Philip!

One wuestion, though. I don’t seem to have all the compression export options you’re showing on MPEG Streamclip.
I just installed the SW on a new laptop, no other editing SW in it. Are those installed by another SW, like Final Cut Pro?
For example, Apple XDCAM EX is not showing up.

Any ideas?

Thanks!

Martin.

Reply
- pbloom
  July 13, 2009 at 11:13
  
  Yes it needs FCP 6 to work. The codecs come with it.
  
  Reply
  - Martin L Vargas
    July 13, 2009 at 11:53
    
    Thanks Philip
    
    Reply
Joe Chuang
July 13, 2009 at 06:11

Philip,

So what’s the reason for using Apple XDCAM EX instead of ProRes 422 or even Apple XDCAM HD? (What’s the difference between the XDCAM EX and XDCAM HD by the way?)

Also, what format do you use when you export? is it H.264? If so, did you notice that the H.264 file always seems a little bit washed out compared to the Apple ProRes 422?

Reply
- pbloom
  July 13, 2009 at 11:15
  
  For disk space as mentioned in tutorial. XDCAM HD is not full hd unless you use XDCAM 422. Export comes in a later tutorial
  
  Reply
arif
July 13, 2009 at 06:07

Philip you are the best. Thank you so much for FREE tutorials.

Reply
Chris Fenwick
July 13, 2009 at 00:35

Nice Tutorial… good piece of software. Fast isn’t it??

Reply
Doug
March 12, 2010 at 20:52

nevermind, stupid mistake of mine caused that

Reply