Canon 7D clips unstable in FCP

[Ryan Andrzejewski]

Canon 7D set for 1080p @ 24fps

After batching the footage through Image Capture on the Mac, I imported it into Final Cut. The footage seems to play fine in Preview, but when it plays on the Timeline in FCP it lags and skips. I have restarted the program and the comp, and it still has the same issues around the transitions from one clip to the next, especially when manipulating the speed of a clip. I also tried exporting a self-contained QT movie to see if it was a ram issue, and it exported with the same lag issues.

Anyone else having this issue? Any solutions? Thanks.

[Jeff Kolada]

native 7D footage captures in h.264 which Final Cut doesn't appreciate. You have to convert all your footage to Prores 422 using mpeg streamclip or compressor before you can edit anything comfortably. Had to do this with two short films recently.

[Oron Cohen]

Canon 7D set for 1080p @ 24fps

After batching the footage through Image Capture on the Mac, I imported it into Final Cut. The footage seems to play fine in Preview, but when it plays on the Timeline in FCP it lags and skips. I have restarted the program and the comp, and it still has the same issues around the transitions from one clip to the next, especially when manipulating the speed of a clip. I also tried exporting a self-contained QT movie to see if it was a ram issue, and it exported with the same lag issues.

Anyone else having this issue? Any solutions? Thanks.

I'm not a post production man, but from what I know the H.264 codec is not good for playing in FCP and you need to convert to either quicktime ProRes or Quicktime XDCAM, then it will play smoothly.

 

Hope it helps,

O.C

 

P.S- Oddly enough it will play fine with Preview.

[Adrian Sierkowski]

As mentioned, wanna make it a pro-res file or something similar. H.264 takes a bit of horsepower to decode, hence the lag. Also will depend on where you're pulling your footage from-- internal drive, firewire external, USB, etc. Use compressor to batch everything to a format of your desire, I'd go ProResHQ if you'll be delivering anything in HD, and perhaps just go down to DV quality if you're going to wind up on the web in the end anyway.

[Alan Rencher]

Canon 7D set for 1080p @ 24fps

After batching the footage through Image Capture on the Mac, I imported it into Final Cut. The footage seems to play fine in Preview, but when it plays on the Timeline in FCP it lags and skips. I have restarted the program and the comp, and it still has the same issues around the transitions from one clip to the next, especially when manipulating the speed of a clip. I also tried exporting a self-contained QT movie to see if it was a ram issue, and it exported with the same lag issues.

Anyone else having this issue? Any solutions? Thanks.

 

You can also use FCP's "Log and Transfer" function if you have a CF card reader, as Mac cannot recognize the camera as a hard drive yet. You have to download the plugin from Canon's site:

 

http://www.usa.canon.com/consumer/controll...p;modelid=19356

 

Otherwise, Mpeg Streamclip is your best bet if you've already transfered using image capture.

[Over Kate]

it is a problem importing the H.264 MOV footages to Final Cut Pro for editing. Even the raw video could be successfully loaded to FCP, the film will looks quite jumpy. H.264 is a delivery codec rather than editing code, and you need to transcode the video to a format more friendly for FCP, for instance, the MPEG. The following passage guides you how to convert Canon T2i footages to MPEG file for FCP.

http://www.pavtube.com/guide/convert-canon-eos-t2i-footages-to-fcp-editable-mac.html

[Alain Lumina]

I agree you need to convert to ProRes, the H264 raw material is too compressed, resulting in too much excessive processor load to decompress it on the fly.

 

What makes it extra fun is there is several TYPES of Prores, which result in varying file sizes. That's where I got a litle lost, but I just love buying big hard drives so overkill is always a sturdy approach, also allowing one to turn one's nose up at people who use "lesser" resolution.

 

From better to worse quality:

 

ProRes 4:4:4:4 -- ~330 Mbs

ProRes 4:2:2 (HQ) -- ~220 Mbs

ProRes 4:2:2 -- ~145Mbs

ProRes 4:2:2 (LT) -- ~100Mbs

ProRes 4:2:2 (Proxy) -- ~30Mbs (meant to be used in combination with a higher res)

 

Here's Apple's page on the types:

 

http://documentation.apple.com/en/finalcutpro/professionalformatsandworkflows/index.html#chapter=10%26section=2%26tasks=true

[Gregory Middleton]

Canon 7D set for 1080p @ 24fps

After batching the footage through Image Capture on the Mac, I imported it into Final Cut. The footage seems to play fine in Preview, but when it plays on the Timeline in FCP it lags and skips. I have restarted the program and the comp, and it still has the same issues around the transitions from one clip to the next, especially when manipulating the speed of a clip. I also tried exporting a self-contained QT movie to see if it was a ram issue, and it exported with the same lag issues.

Anyone else having this issue? Any solutions? Thanks.

Must be converted to Apple Pro Res to play smoothly.