editing mpeg4 in FCP[??s]

[steve hyde]

...so I'm warming up to the idea of these micro-video cameras that are recording 1920X1080 to tiny little SD cards in mpeg4. I like the economy and size of the cameras and am considering the Canon HF100 (or something like it) to use as a field research camera for my documentary work.

I understand that mpeg4 is a highly compressed format making it difficult to do any chroma work to it, but I don't want to color correct the footage anyway since it is only for pre-production purposes.

What I do want to do is sync up the footage with external audio recording sources and basic mark in and mark out type editing.

My question is: Can this format be easily edited in FCP? Or would I be signing up for headaches by using this format?

Here is a copy of the HF100 manual:
http://www.hapticmedia.com/VIXIA-HF100.pdf

Some key specs:
24p cinema mode
F1.8 lens
variable shutter speeds
650.usd

[adamgarner]

Steve:

I'm pretty positive that FCP6 handles mpeg4 (h.264) without any issues. It's just another quicktime compression algorithm. If it DIDN'T work so well, you could simply use media manager and recompress to something usable. Like I said, I'm almost 100% sure you can do it.

I think you're good though. Best bet is to import a sample clip to fcp and see what happens. I haven't got any but bet you could find it online at that cameras site.

[Will2]

I use the AVCHD format cameras all the time with Final Cut Pro 6.0.4. It's very easy to use. You can pick which cuts to transfer from a list with a little thumbnail, extremely convenient. I believe Final Cut creates an intermediate codec for editing. I usually use the ProRes codec and conform the AVCHD and any film transfers to this format.

AVCHD is truely a great little format. It reminds me of what DV did for video years ago. If you're doing straight cuts, it really looks great and color correction isn't too much of a problem. I intercut film with it all the time (yes the difference is obvious but that's what I was going for).

I've used the new Canon HF100 & the Panasonic one, but I've been most impressed with the now older Sony HDR-CX7. It's tiny but the camera section seems to give better results even though it's not truely 1920x1080. You'd be happy with any of them probably with the Canon and Sony at the top of the list for me.

[steve hyde]

The Sony looks interesting....








~ I'll have to go learn more about this one. Thanks for the suggestions.



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