Canon EOS E1 Video Plug-In for Final Cut Pro
 

Rec'd this morning from Canon USA:

This is a courtesy e-mail to inform you that, Canon's EOS E1 video plug-in for Apple's Final Cut Pro was released today. This new plug-in allows simple and easy transfer of video content from Canon’s EOS DSLR cameras directly into Final Cut Pro. The EOS E1 video plug-in takes advantage of Final Cut Pro’s powerful Log and Transfer feature, which allows users to select and mark the video directly while it is still on the camera, add custom metadata and ingest the clips in the background so the editing can begin immediately.

The EOS E1 video plug-in is a free download soon to be available at Apple - Downloads - Mac OS X - Final Cut Studio. The plug-in is compatible with Final Cut Pro 6 or higher and currently supports Canon EOS 5D Mark II, EOS 7D and EOS 1D Mark IV cameras.

Not seeing it....

I can't find this download anywhere on the Apple site. Was it removed? Is it called something else? Anyone else having this problem?

It's there - down the list. It is called 5DtoFCP_v1.1 - this is the folder name that I downloaded anyway. Now I have to find out where all the files go...

Direct link:

Apple - Downloads - Final Cut Studio - 5DtoFCP

I'm pretty sure that's not the same plug-in as that one was released a few days ago, is not by Canon, and is mostly for 25p conversion.

I'm pretty sure the Canon one is called "EOS E1" and is not yet on the site as far as I can tell.

Looking forward to this - hopefully (at least until the firmware release), it'll transcode to ProRes w/ a 29.97 framerate...

The 5DtoFCP 1.1 plug-in is NOT the plug-in we're talking about here. That one clearly states its made by Industrial Revolution, not Canon.

I wonder if this is the Glue Tools plug-in that was hyped by Vincent Lafloret earlier last year. I noticed there's no mention of that plug-in on Glue Tool's website anymore.

The EOS-E1 plug-in is not available yet. Canon has only announced it's imminent release.

When it is released, it will be available, here:

Apple - Downloads - Mac OS X - Final Cut Studio

I can confirm - now I checked the files - the 5DtoFCP that is lisdted on the site is not the log and transfer plug-in by Canon.

Indeed, it's not there yet. Vince Laforet tweeted a little while ago...

"Canon & Apple announced Canon EOS E1 Movie Plugin for FCP - Log & Transfer plgn 4 Canon 5D MKII, 7D, 1D MKIV - avail soon (free)"

I assume that this is indeed the FCP Plugin that Canon bought from Glue Tools that was referenced here on DVInfo over 6 months ago Canon D-SLR Log & Transfer Plugin for Final Cut Pro at DVInfo.net

Canon rep stated at Friday night's FCP Supermeet in SF that it will be posted soon. I wasn't there but saw the webcast. BTW, he also detailed Canon's new MPEG-2 LongGop 4:2:2 codec and showed a camera mock-up under glass.

I got that email about the E1 plugin. It says that the plugin was "released today" and "The EOS E1 video plug-in is a free download available at http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/finalcutstudio/."

Kind of annoying that it's not actually available. Full text from the email:

This is a courtesy e-mail to inform you that, Canon's EOS E1 video plug-in for Apple's Final Cut Pro was released today. This new plug-in allows simple and easy transfer of video content from Canon’s EOS DSLR cameras directly into Final Cut Pro(version 6.0.3 to 7). The EOS E1 video plug-in takes advantage of Final Cut Pro’s powerful Log and Transfer feature, which allows users to select and mark the video directly while it is still on the camera, add custom metadata and ingest the clips in the background so the editing can begin immediately.

The EOS E1 video plug-in is a free download available at Apple - Downloads - Mac OS X - Final Cut Studio. The plug-in is compatible with Final Cut Pro 6 or higher and currently supports Canon EOS 5D Mark II, EOS 7D and EOS 1D Mark IV cameras.

Dang, that's what I get for posting press releases while I'm distracted (this came in the day of the SuperMeet). My apologies; I'll take responsibility for the initial confusion. I've edited the post to say "soon to be available."

Ha, that's funny, because Vincent got it from DV Info Net! We're the ones who broke that story.

I have the page bookmarked so I can check the latest updates/plugins for Final Cut. So far, the latest is 2/3/10.

It's interesting that Glu Tools have taken down any reference to their log and capture plugin that Matt Jeppsen interviewed at Cine Gear 09. Canon bought the plugin? We shall see how similar it is... whenever Apple adds it.

@Chris: Of course he got it from here! This is where all the other bloggers copy/paste their news from!

This gets more and more confusing!
 

Anyone know what the true position is - is it really not until March? Isn't there anyone from Canon who can give a definitive statement?


EOS MOVIE plug-in for Final Cut Pro
Canon develops EOS E1 video plug-in
Monday, 8 February 2010 14:00 GMT< Previous Next >
Canon has announced the development of the EOS E1 plug-in for Apple's Final Cut Pro video-editing software. It will enable EOS 5D Mark II, 7D and 1D Mark IV users to log and mark videos with timecode, reel names and metadata before importing into the software. A free Beta version of the plug-in will be available to download for testing in March 2010.

Press Release:

from DPreview.com
Canon develops EOS E1 video plug-in: Digital Photography Review

London, 8th February Month 2010 – Canon today announces the development of a plug-in that will enable quicker and easier editing of EOS MOVIE footage in Final Cut Pro. A free Beta release of the plug-in will be available to download for testing and evaluation in March 2010.

‘EOS MOVIE Plugin-E1 for Final Cut Pro’ is being developed to provide an even smoother workflow for EOS MOVIE users who edit using Apple’s Final Cut Pro software suite. The plug-in will enable the ‘log and transfer’ of video footage from Canon’s EOS 5D Mark II, EOS 7D and EOS-1D Mark IV Digital SLR cameras – all of which offer full 1080p HD video recording.

The plug-in will convert EOS MOVIE footage to Apple’s high quality ProRes 422 codec at approximately twice the speed of Apple’s standard conversion. Additionally, users will also be able to add timecode, reel names and metadata to footage quickly and easily – further enhancing the experience of EOS MOVIE users when editing their footage.

Other than the initial claims of "available now," March is the first hard date I've seen for this. At last Friday's SuperMeet the availability was described by the Canon rep as "in a short time," which makes me think it's a little further away in the development cycle than just needing to be uploaded to the server...

Ah, so they announced that they were developing... not that something was ready to go. No wonder there wasn't anything up on the Apple site. They don't even have a beta ready. Wow.

LAME.

I'm getting very bored of these silly announcements about a possible announcement sometime in the future, though we don't know when. It's childish.

One company made huge waves when they started doing it; other companies take note and emulate. Instant trend! For better or worse.

Chris, there's a big difference between a dynamic, radical thinking small company like RED with a focus on one part of the industry and a large conglomerate like Canon that has fingers in lots of pies. I own lots of Canon kit, but find their current PR strategy somewhat embarrassing and certainly incoherent.

I should add, that if Canon wish to behave like RED then they should open up their own line of communication with their users and listen to what we have to say.

The 'Official' release from Canon Europe
 

I got an email that used the words "available now" and "released today," (not developing).

http://www.dvinfo.net/forum/canon-eo...ml#post1482987

I too have seen the announcements, but here's what I don't get:

Most, if not all of us, convert the native h.264 files into an editing friendly (Mac) format, like ProRes422HQ. This utility says nothing about doing an ingest/trim/metadata tag AND codec/format conversion also.

So....why would I use it? Don't get me wrong, I laud Canon for providing this free, but if I still have to convert after the fact, I'll at the very least lose any tagging added via the utility, won't I? If so, I'll still use my custom Compressor droplet and convert to ProRes and then go from there.

Am I missing something?

If it is a log/capture tool that adds timecode, then essentially we will only be converting the clips we want and then saving the original h.264 in a backup scenario like we would keep tapes on file. Right now, I batch convert everything before I pick through my footage. Trimming the fat before the ProRes conversion will save a lot of space.

I've done some tests recently and MPEG Streamclip does a much better/faster job at transcoding than compressor. I'm curious to test the speed of this utility against that—in a few months...

;-)

Everyone works in different ways, if your a single artisan then being able to import footage through FCP's Log & Transfer is cool. It provides you with the opportunity to rename, categorize, mark ins and out, etc.. That functionality is part of FCP so I'd imagine that this plug-in simply enables you to use that tool.

Andrew, something to keep in mind though, unless your outputting your final project to film you don't need to use ProRes HQ, ProRes LT works great for HD and there is no perceptible difference. There are some exceptions to this for effects but as a general rule if your finishing in HD then ProRes LT is as high up the food chain you need to go.

You can't add what isn't there. If you trim a clip to encode it and then later go back to the raw clip to re-encode it the result will be different.

You can trim the fat while converting in MPEG Streamclip now. But I have not found a way to rename them or add your own metadata. I too find MPEF Streanclip to be as good a quality and faster than Compressor and chances are that this plug-in in FCP will use compressor for encoding.

"What we're adding in the workflow is the ability to add timecode. Timecode is actually created from EXIF data that's built into the imagery. So we use the start time from the EXIF... and that gets embedded into the files we transcode"

"This transcodes it into ProRes"

"The reel name is grabbed from the name of the stick [Compact Flash Card] which is particularly important for those of you who want to archive your sticks."

"You can archive your stick to a disk image. That will rapidly make a copy of your footage where you can ease your stick and move on. The disc image will provide as your backup."

All this is straight from the Glue Tools demo at Cine Gear 09. If Canon has purchased this from Glue Tools, then it does add timecode based on the EXIF start time in the clip and worked perfectly in the demo. They were also talking about metadata that would be displayed with the clip in FCP showing aperture, ISO, shutter speed, etc. This wasn't finished with the demo, but they were very confident about pulling EXIF data into the display.

I'd be very surprised if this plugin demoed isn't the same that Canon's releasing. Glue Tools has removed any mention from their news blog about the plugin. It used to be very prominent on the homepage until October/November.

Joseph Bogacz from Canon talked about the plugin and showed a demo too. I believe he mentions adding timecode to your clips. It's worth a watch, if you haven't yet seen it:

MacVideo - Camera Technology - Features - Canon Introduce MPEG-2 Full HD (4:2:2) file-based recording codec

Oh, he also mentions the new MPEG codec (the 4:2:2 50 Mb/sec) that Canon plans to release with their new line of camcorders.

Wow, Michael. Great link. I didn't have patience to watch this stream last week, but it's great that this is word for word what I was saying previously. My info came from the Glue Tools demo, but this definitely looks/works the same.

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...>