Re: FS5 for ENG?
 

You mention that you edit with FCP. You can import XAVC-L into FCP X pretty easily, plus you also have the option to Optimise Media on Import to make the footage even easier to edit with. Transcoding really doesn't take very long at all unless you have a very low spec laptop or computer. If you work in the world of ENG, it's very unlikely that you'll have reams and reams of stuff to import/send at any one time.

FCP X, like Avid and I'm sure other NLE systems, also has the option to Export/Share the material with a XDCam OPA-1A (MXF) wrapper which many broadcasters like to work with. Alternatively, a Pro Res .mov file is also used by a lot of people too.

If you FTP material to a station, you can do all this before you send it to them, for example, so they can work with it straightaway.

So, in a nutshell, it shouldn't be a problem.

Re: FS5 for ENG?
 

Just be aware that there is a problem with FCPX and the FS5 UHD footage. It gets clipped in FCPX at 100 ire. This will be fixed in an upcoming update to QT or FCPX. I had a long talk with Apple FCPX techies about this yesterday, they are aware of the problem. This does not happen in Resolve. It may be fixed in a week or it could take 6 months. The FS5 is not a listed approved camera yet for FCPX. It is just a meta tag in the footage that FCPX is reading wrong.

My current work around is to shoot Cine2 it only records up to 100 ire. Or you can transcode using something like Resolve that does not clip the highlights.

I am just saying be aware of this, because if you import and have FCPX create the ProRes footage you will loose everything above 100 ire.

THIS IS ONLY IN UHD. HD is fine. Also if you shoot log it should not be a problem because it is very rare to need above 100ire then.

Re: FS5 for ENG?
 

Nope, the FS5 simply cannot do the old MPEG-2 XDCAM HD422 cause the chip is not present in the camera itself. The FS7 can do it though.

Re: FS5 for ENG?
 

Thanks a lot for all you input guys!

I work with FCP X occasionally and I have it on my laptop (2.6 ghz i5) but except for the initial import I'm just faster on FCP 7 so that's what I've preferred to work with. (My fault completely for not having made the switch earlier.) I've also had a couple of instances where FCPX hasn't been able to import a file (corrupt) but FCP 7 was fine with the file... Is that common?

Re: FS5 for ENG?
 

Thanks Olaf, very useful info. I sort of presumed Alfred would be in HD as I doubt there are many/any news organisations that broadcast in 4K.
Jack, even though the FS5 doesn't record XDCam 4:2:2 natively, it's straightforward enough to ingest and edit the footage in your NLE of choice and then export it in a MXF OP-1A wrapper which would be then fit the bill.
Alternatively many news organisations in the UK, at least, will take a SD card from any type of camera and then transcode it to a format that they use anyway (.mxf or .mov for example), so again no major problem.

Re: FS5 for ENG?
 

Thanks for that Kevin!

Yes, UHD is not an issue for this kind of work but very good to know if one does something else!

It also sounds good that it can be exported (which I suspected but didn't know for sure) to the "right" format that they want.

Thanks for all you help!

Re: FS5 for ENG?
 

Just got my FS5 and my metabones, Canon 24-105L combo doesn't seem to work with the steady feature... Does anybody else have this problem? It actually DOES work, it just doesn't say so with the icons on screen...

And, FCP 7 doesn't work with the new codecs right or is there a work around? (Working with sound in FCP X is a nightmare for me...)