EX-3 regarding log and transfer in FCE
 

I work with my father in a photography studio. Film is my passion and we are thinking about investing in an sony EX-3 so I can start a video branch of the company. I have been teaching myself final cut express (i am going to upgrade to FCP eventually so i can edit in 1080p. FCE is only 1080i).

Anyway. The EX-3 shoots in the xdcam format. Will final cut's log and transfer be compatible with this xdcam camera? If not what will i have to do with the raw files to get them into final cut?

Hi Alex,

no problem. It works fine. And you'll find a lot of information in this forum.

Regards
Markus

Are you sure of that, Markus?

I haven't touched FCE in years, but I've always been under the impression that Final Cut Express did not support XDCAM media.

A quick search through the discussion forum at Apple seems to indicate that FCE does not support XDCAM.

Are there any mac final cut pro users here that use an EX3? Any issues?

Oh, and sorry Alex, to add to Markus' post, Sony supplies (for free) both a plug-in to Final Cut Pro and a stand-alone application to get the native XDCAM EX material into a Final Cut Pro project. This gives you two options for ingest. Some people prefer the stand-alone application and others prefer using the plugin and Log & Transfer. Once you get Final Cut Pro, try each way and see which one works better for you.

But I think you'll need Final Cut Pro to use XDCAM footage.

Welcome to the XDCAM family!

Yep! There are probably tons of us.

No issues that I can think of that are FCP-specific. If you're used to tape, then do some research on workflow and archiving with tapeless. Tapeless presents some new challenges to go along with the myriad of benefits.

In case you're not already aware, Sony just announced an update to the EX1, the EX1R, and you may want to look at the new features of the EX1R and compare it to the EX3. I have an EX3 and absolutely love it, but if I was facing the decision today, I might choose the EX1R. But then again, I like being able to jam sync the EX3. (timecode in/out with genlock)