Next week, I'm shooting a pretty large corporate project on my XF300...will probably have 10-15 hours of footage. Client is in Europe, wants all the raw footage on a drive sent to them. They edit on FCP-7.03...I'm a PC/Avid guy....I'm not well versed on the workings of FCP, but from what I gather, they wont be able to import my raw mxf files (am I correct?)

Sooooo, any workflow suggestions? I'd love to hear from some FCP/XF users on the best way to handle this.

I'm hoping for a way around having to encode all the footage to mov files.


Thanks

I would just give them the FCP plugin that came on your Canon utility disc with the raw footage. I have no idea why Canon doesn't have this plugin on there site.

Agreed with above.

At 10-15 hours of footage, you have an option to Log and Transfer into different file formats, but depending on turnaround time, you might not have that luxury. Get in touch with the people who will be handling the footage, and let them know what they will be receiving. I'm sure they are somewhat competent.

thanks guys...I was able to copy the canon utilities disk that came with the camera, so I'll just send a copy. Yes, hopefully they are somewhat competent.....but you never know.

I have no idea why Canon doesn't have this plugin on there site.

is this it??

Canon XF Utility 1.1 Updater for Mac OS X (http://canoncanada.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/22891/~/canon-xf-utility-1.1-updater-for-mac-os-x)

No that is the updater for the Canon utilities software

The FCP plugin is in a folder on the utilities disc called:

Canon XF Plugin for Final Cut Pro.

I wouldn't give them the whole disc just the plugin.

And make sure to send them the entire card structure from each CF card, with the content folder and everything below it intact.

No that is the updater for the Canon utilities software

The FCP plugin is in a folder on the utilities disc called:

Canon XF Plugin for Final Cut Pro.

I wouldn't give them the whole disc just the plugin.


I'm not seeing that on my disc....

how about this (looks like it)...Canon XF Plugin for Final Cut Pro (http://software.canon-europe.com/software/0040354.asp?model=)

Yes that is it. Didn't know that had that available on line

You guys are confusing the "Canon XF Plugin for Final Cut Pro" & the "Canon XF Utility". The first is available for download. The second is only available on the disc that came with your camera. The Canon XF Utility is literally irreplaceable as Canon will not provide you with another unless you buy another XF camcorder. Trust me I have had the run around from Canon Professional Services over this. They licence the code from a 3rd party & have no mechanism in place to get you another even if you offer to pay.

I must have caught them on a good day. One phone call to Canon Uk , saying i had misplaced my disc after moving house, and how illogical it is to give one away free with the camera but not have it available on the site, and how it's of no use whatsoever to anyone other than a Canon owner, and they agreed. Result, one XF Utility disc in the post the next day. Oh, and no payment offered or requested. All quite friendly and sensible.

Edit: forgot to say, they didn't even ask for my serial number. I had it ready but it wasn't required.

Stewart, that's good to hear so perhaps their story has changed. When this happened to me last year I had several heated telephone conversations & they told me that they didn't even have a CD to send me & refused to copy one.

Yes that is it. Didn't know that had that available on line

Thanks....although it looks like it's not available on the US site for whatever reason.

grrrrr....and of course, I sent the plug-in w/ all the footage on a drive and they emailed this morning saying they cant get the footage to import. I copied the file-structure from the cards (from the CONTENTS folder on down).

I did create separate folders for each card....would that make a difference? Using the "log & transfer" tool in FCP....they said they are getting a "file structure error".

Any suggestions?

They are now are using Adobe Media Converter to transcode the 10+ hours of footage (I'm sure they aren't happy about that).

I feel your pain, Mike. I wonder if they actually ran the installer for the plugin? I carry the plugin around with me on a thumb drive and have installed it on half-a-dozen FCP setups with no problem.

As long as each card is in a separate folder and they're pointing the Log & Transfer ingest at the top level of the folder, it should work. If they're pointing the L&T at a level down below the Content folder, like at the actual media files, it won't work.

Maybe also check that they're not using a drive that doesn't support big files?

Chuck....ehhhh who knows. I haven't heard anything else about it. It sounds like they did install it and got the error message when trying to import.

They probably were not pointing to the "Content" folder, but the "CARD_001" folder. By the time I answered his email, he was already transcoding the footage and didn't want to stop. The editor was kinda pissed that there was so much footage...he said he just needed to edit a quick highlight video (we shot 2 days worth of seminars). The lack of communication at some big corps is crazy....made even harder by the fact that the editor is in Zurich and the shoot was in NY, and I'm just answering to a producer who is just that, does non of the technical side...so there's a long chain of communication (or lack of it).