wouldn't it be nice if we could upgrade the 7D to the new MPEG2 4:2:2 codec...

RAW would be even better:)

I'd rather have a firmware update to remove the red record dot and have a portable ssd to record 4:2:2 into ProRes LT/HQ from the HDMI out while adding timecode and upscaling to 1080p. Pretty much what the Syndicate is doing without a computer. Sadly, this seems very feasible but I see Canon calling this a "pipe dream" even though we are just talking about the red dot removal from hdmi out.

Chuck - Thanks to you and David for the responses, and for highlighting the major differences between the HQ and LT flavors. I tend to do a lot of compositing in Motion, FCP and some AE. Storage is not a huge issue so I have been playing it safe.

I'm looking forward to comparing MPEG Streamclip to Compressor conversions.

Regarding the 4:2:2 color space and pulling clean keys - so far I have used with great success a Blackmagic Intensity Pro HDMI card and a Sony Z1's HDMI out....but that's off topic, sorry.

David, I recently my first large project mixing EX and 7D. I quickly found that I had to transcode the 7D clips to make any headway with the editing. First I tried creating a droplet for Compressor, but either I'm doing something wrong or this method is flakey. If I dropped more than a few clips, it took forever for the droplet to acknowledge I'd done anything and was just unuseably unresponsive in picking the cluster, etc.

I turned to the trusty MPEG streamclip for the conversion to standard Prores 422, which works well for batch conversion.

What I've heard of as a good workflow is to have an "folder action" to automatically batch convert clips. I'd like this for all my 7D clips, to run every night, to know that in the morning I'll have fresh, usable Prores clips to use in my edit. Do you or others have a good workflow for the Mac for this?

Thanks for a great discussion and if I've highjacked this thread, I apologize.

When Canon presented the new codec at the recent supermeet someone asked specifically about upgrading any of the current DSLRs to it and the response was that the codec in the cameras is hardware based and not something that can be updated via firmware...

Also, during the presentation of the log/capture utility it had several options for transcoding the footage on transfer - including ProRes.

Canon's posted more detailed information about the plugin:
Canon Digital Learning Center - Introducing EOS Movie Plugin-E1 for Final Cut Pro

Looks good. I like the disc image function too. Available "Early March". Cool:)

"Early march" is now. Anybody got news?

<taps foot...>

I heard the 15th mentioned somewhere. Can't remember where...

Hahaha. I love the foot tapping. My birthday is the 20th, Canon. Please before then? Also, I would like a 70-200mm 2.8L coffee mug.

Hoping for the best regarding the plugin tomorrow. Maybe even a Final Cut Pro update to 7.1 64-bit support.


I can wish, can't I?

Today is the last day of what can be technically called "early March". So that danged plugin better be here by tomorrow! :)

Well, it's not early March anymore. I was thinking they were waiting on the 5DM2 firmware, but that's out now too.