Best way to transfer XDCAM to FCP?
 

I just completed a two day shoot, and I have about two and a half disks worth of video to transfer FCP.

I want to use my camera(F350) to dump the files to his computer. The client hasn't worked with XDcam yet, and I don't have any experience in this either, as I usually just feed to networks over fibre. Could someone outline the fastest way to do this. They are going to down load the Sony driver.

Alternatively, I could also go HDSDI out to their DVCProHD machine.

Thanks,

Peter

Peter,

If you want to give the client all the material, and let them play around with XDCAM Transfer to learn that part of the workflow, you can copy each disc (the four directories) onto a separate folder on an external hard drive. The transfer software will treat the folder and its four directories like an actual XDCAM disc, allowing client to pick and choose multiple clips and sub clips which then get unwrapped and imported into FCP.

The other method, if you're feeling generous, is to once again use a client supplied external hard drive, and use XDCAM Transfer to select all clips on the disc and unwrap to Quicktime movie files that are ready to edit. Those files can be dragged straight into the FCP bin.

If you have time to sit with the client, letting them log with the Transfer software, you can eliminate ingesting unneeded material onto their hard drive. But with the cost of drives these days, it's almost miniscule to dump an entire XDCAM HD disc or discs onto a portable drive.

-gb-

Greg, your suggestion on coping the disks worked great. Thanks!

It was my first "low light" shoot involving a behind the scenes look at a music video being shot with the National Symphony Orchestra in Ottawa. The footage came out very nice, though I spotted a dark mark(pixels) in the lower left corner.

Do you know whether the black balancing trick works for dark pixels?
I couldn't see them on my SD monitor, but on the HD monitor they showed up. The camera is off soon to Sony for the optical filter upgrade, so they can check it out at that time.

Thanks,

Peter

Sorry to stray off subject, but what kind of optical filter upgrade does Sony do? Can you specify a filter to be put in, say for instance a cross screen on filter #2 instead of a neutral density?

Warren, the optical filter he speaks of is the one in front of the prism block that blocks excessive IR region lightwaves. There is a service bulletin on cameras that have serial numbers at around 500 and below for showing excessive blue fringing on objects at the edges of frame when shooting wide angles. The new filter helps overcome that issue.

-gb-

Thanks Greg!
I don't own one of these cameras. From reading the post, I thought for a moment it was possible for Sony to swap filters in the filter wheel. Shucks.

off topic- filter wheels
 

I know a Tiffen make replacement filters for the wheels in HDCAM and Digibeta's. I used to have a pro-mist in place of the star filter in my DVW700. If the filters are the same size I see no reason why these could not be fitted to an XDCAM.