Camera for FCP

I want to get the best camera for my money to create movies in FCP. I do have a limited budget though! I got to stay around 2,000 any suggestions? I am using a new iMac btw.

2k for a great camera to make MOVIES? Well... I could go into the technicalities of sensors, usability, lenses, compression(hence another world of migrane), durability, 'the look' blablabla, but IMO for overall practicality (and cost) I'd probably go the DSLR route and get a Cannon 7D(you might need to shop around to find it under $2200... other than that, I really want a AG-AF100drool
Check youtube and Vimeo for some footage reference on the 7D.

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Best camera for FCP

Hola,
I am going to upgrade everything here in the next few weeks but I'm not sure what to get. I'm pretty sure I'm going to get another MacBook Pro fully decked out like last time however, I keep reading about all the time spent transcoding and rendering with all these new cameras. My question is, what camera shoots a native format to FCP? Or at least one that won't take very long to convert? Or should I wait a few more months? There is always something better coming out right?
I shoot weddings and I always try to do a same day edit so I want to make sure I make the right decision.
Thanks
Doug

Here's what I do now. Shoot the ceremony. Capture in SD for a quick same day edit. Re-capture later in HD and finish on a Blu Ray Disc. I'm not sure how much detail you want, but I hope that helps.
I guess I don't need a camera that captures natively to FCP but I'm hoping for one that won't take hours just to be able to get it on the timeline ready for editing. I know a lot of guys are switching to the Canon 5D and 7D but they hate the processing time associated with it.
For an example of what I do, my last wedding, which will be featured on an upcoming episode of Bridezillas, The ceremony started at 2pm, we finished shooting at the church around 4pm. The reception started at 6pm about 20 minutes away. I had a one song same day edit burned to a DVD in SD ready for the start of the reception. It definitely was not a choppy edit. The bride was very thankful (I doubt they will show that part).
Basically, I need to be able to keep doing things like this.

Camera for FCP, tapeless, XLR inputs

I'm not against using iMovie, but I know FCP a lot better. I'm looking for a tapeless camera with XLR inputs that is under $1K (but would rather have in the $500 range.
I know tape is better, but this is very simple editing, does not require HD.

Try hitting any of the major online retailers and pick a few cameras and ask about them specifically. I can tell you you want the Panasonic 170, period.
Those are only sub-features that will determine your purchase. You want a camera that records to a format you can use in FCP. Everything else can be hacked or won't fit the budget at all.
bogiesan

Best "pro-sumer" camera for FCP?

Hoping to find a $600-$900 camera that is Final Cut Friendly. (I can spend more but would love not to.)
I'm absolutely overwhelmed by the websites.... Would any of you be willing to be my hero?
Brad in Denver
PS. The only thing I MUST have is:
     • external audio in. Would love a decent zoom too.
     • SD or Hard Drive storage
     • Great zoom would be fab.

Bubalooney wrote:
… How does one make an inteligent decision about how much zoom is enough? …
A professional would never ever … ok, in very rare cases use a zoom.
Why?
A Zoom is always a compromise - in quality (ok, will an amateur notice? No), and, more important, in 'speed'.
Most BigZooms offer very poor speed, starting somewhere at f3.6 and finally on long range, f8.0, f10!
Next: a tele-lens creates tons of shake! Without stabilizer, it's impossible to handle a 500mm lens. Most/many videoDSLRs do not offer staibilizers.
So, the question is: Why using a zoom at all? Why using a SuperZoom at all?
I'm usign a Pana707 - with a very strong zoom, and superb stabilizer (and using a tripod); because; i like to record the soccerr games of my son's team. I need a simple to use aka fast solution. Using the same cam indoors is nice with its 25mm, but it is really poor under low light conditions; a designated device (Canon Rebel, 35mm/f1.4.) offers much, much, much better, superb quality.-
It depends too much on your individual needs and conditions:
• a 'system cam' with interchangeablel glases could be better.
• a tiny all-in-one (like mine) could be better.
hard to give a general advice.

Light weight camera for fcp/broadcast

A new era of television is beginning in Denmark Nov. 1, as 220 regional tv-stations are starting up making use of the new (here) digital bandwidth. I have been granted a licence for one station and a young friend has been granted a licence for "Copenhagen Underground TV", a mainly music based station, that will be broadcasting two hours per week.
I have two Sony EX3s and one Z7 and am very content with that. My young friend needs something less fancy but with the possiblity of manual iris and focus, suitable for low light shooting. I understand AVCHD needs a lot of processor muscle so my be that is not the right thing for a MacPro Dual Core? Card based preferred but he might accept tape based solution. Max. price about Dlrs. 2000/2500, as prices in Denmark will be much higher.
Any advice would be appreciated.
Sigurd

Maybe have a look at one of these:
http://www.sony.com.au/product/hvr-a1
Al

Best format to convert Ultra HD Flip Camera file for FCP editing?

We are using two types of cameras for a video project and one of them is a Flip Camera. Unfortunately, FCP doesn't play too nice with raw flip camera files so I need to convert said file using MPEG Streamclip. What is the best/recommended format to convert the movie file to for FCP editing?
Thanks!

From my experience, Pro Res 422 has been the most recommended for any conversion. Thanks!
Should I look for a specific audio compression option or should I just leave it as "uncompressed"?

RED ONE camera to FCP to compressor for DVD

My client used RED ONE camera for filming. He used FCP to edit it then exported it in 1920x1080 Apple ProRes 422 (HQ). He sent it to me by mail (external HD) for me to use that QT movie Apple ProRes 422 for Compressor to compress it into SD DVD MPEG-2 5.0 2-pass with Progressive (Best Quality). I used DVD Studio Pro and found it very unsatisfied with the quality of video because I'm seeing a lot of pixels around those letters during open/close credits. Not only that, I also see a lot of bad interlaced video. I set it up for Progressive and YET I'm still seeing interlaced in it. What's did I do wrong? How can I make it the best quality video for SD DVD from Red One camera or Apple ProRes 422 (HQ)? I know Blue-ray is the best answer but a lot of my costumers don't own blue-ray dvd player. (I'm sure you're aware that HD DVD don't work on any DVD players, only on Mac computer which is very unfortunate for me!) Please help! I'm flirting the deadline right now:)

1. Take your sequence into an uncompressed 720x480 16x9 anamorphic sequence. It needs to be 720x480 first since thats the resolution of NTSC DVD - create a 720x480 uncompressed 16x9 anamorphic sequence
2. With a bitrate calculator, you would need to determine the best bitrate. How long is your DVD? (include menus as well) plug it into the calc. here's a good one:
http://www.videohelp.com/calc.htm
3. Export out through compressor as an MPEG2 file and the bitrates from above. make sure you match field order of your source if interlaced
4. Import into DVDSP and author away

HD cam with FCP 5.1.4 ?

Hi everybody, as I encounter big problems with my DV Canon XM1, I plan to buy a new one maybe HD cam.
I saw that most of those cams have USB connection and no more FW, will I be able to capture an HD cam from FCP ?
I doubt of it but can you tell me how could I do, would be very nice.
Thanx
Steve
Message was edited by: bullit_steve

Most if not all of these camcorders record AVCHD. You can import these files through USB to ProRes or the AIC.
Depending on what you shoot though, I'd consider HDV tape cameras if you shoot with a lot of motion... the AIC codec isn't very clean, and ProRes is fine if there's not tons of movement in the shots. HDV will transcode to ProRes HQ which takes care of that, and it is supported natively in FCP (no transcoding works much like DV captures).
Also if budget allows, there are other choices here which are better video formats than HDV or AVCHD... P2 comes to mind, and just around the corner (say at NAB in April '09) there will very likely be a watershed of new cameras... RED is planning a whopper for example. Will just BLOW away anything in the price range. These cameras are shooting RAW photography... better than HD, can be transcoded to HD for delivery, but look like 35mm film. I gotta say, there are very big changes on the horizon in this area. Course, they will be likely in the 3-5k range in price though probably. Check out http://www.red.com for more if you're interested.
Jerry

Please help me configure a new 8core for FCP

PLEASE HELP A PC GUY MOVE OVER...
I need to configure a new 8-core for FCP mainly. I need to keep the expense reasonable so dont want to spend extra $$$ if i dont have to.
I edit files from many different camera's these days. Mostly weddings & demos.
I want to go with an 8 core either Two 2.26GHz, OR 2.66GHz? Is the 2.2 fast enough with FCP?
How much ram do i need?
Do I need to stripe 2 sata drives together for the video?
Which video card?
Can you recommend any other software/hardware that will help me?
Here is a link to apples spec page:
http://www.apple.com/macpro/specs.html
THANKS

sarecco wrote:
PLEASE HELP A PC GUY MOVE OVER...
Welcome to the family. if you are not familiar with the Macintosh operating system, get yourself a book.
sarecco wrote:
I want to go with an 8 core either Two 2.26GHz, OR 2.66GHz? Is the 2.2 fast enough with FCP?
Either will work fine.
sarecco wrote:
How much ram do i need?
As much as you want but 8G will be adequate. More might not help significantly.
sarecco wrote:
Do I need to stripe 2 sata drives together for the video?
Depends on the video you're trying to use or if you want to do 9 camera multiclips. Maybe.
sarecco wrote:
Which video card?
The stock 4870 is the gold standard for Motion; the current rev of FCP does not care much about the GPU but we are hoping future revs will use the card directly.
sarecco wrote:
Can you recommend any other software/hardware that will help me?
Umm, withotu knowing what you need to do, of course not.
sarecco wrote:
THANKS
No sweat, ignore those other guys. We see this post about once a week around here so you can easily research it on the forum. Strongly urge you to locate your local Macintosh user group.
bogiesan

IMac vs Powermac for FCP

I am debating between an iMac and PowerMac for FCP editing. I am primarily a shooter but would like to offer editing to clients as well. Don't anticipate anything to graphics or effects intensive. For fairly simple editing does the PowerMac have a huge ($1500) advantage over the top of the line iMac?

iMac:
DV, HDV, DVCPRO HD (possibly) and maybe AVCHD only. Those are the ONLY formats you can edit. I say possibly with DVCPRO HD because the ONLY drives you can use on an iMac are firewire drives. Those are fine for DVCPRO HD (Firewire 800 required), but only for working with P2 DVCPRO HD...nothing from tape. You only have one firewire bus, so capturing using that bus for the camera, AND for the drive is sketchy. Will work most of the time, but not all of the time. Forget Uncompressed SD or HD...not gonna work. The ONLY thing you can upgrade is the RAM...that's it. So Motion will work fine, but not optimally with the graphics card already in place.
Mac Pro: great expandibility
YOu can install different graphics cards, install capture cards for working with uncompressed HD and SD...and can install eSATA cards for working with faster drives. It comes with 4 internal drive slots, three empty, so that you can install fast drives internally that will work with uncompressed SD and DVCPRO HD and ProRes (ProRes on the iMac will be iffy).
Mac Pro is a professional machine, and iMac is a consumer machine. If you work with DV and HDV only, and only need firewire drives, it should be fine. But that's about all you can do with it.
Shane

Best camera for compositing

I don't know if that's the best place to ask this but anyway ... I'm considering buying a HD camera for some short-movies and other minor projects but since I'm also interested in studying Shake, I'd like to know which specification I should take a closer look at for maximum results when doing compositing/etc ? Or in other words which of these specs are more important for compositing work ?
Color spacing ? (DVCPRO HD's 4:2:2 vs HDV's 4:2:0) ? High resolution (XLH-1 and JVC HD100's high res vs HVX200's lower res) ? Sharpness ? Progressive chip ? And how do you compare (for compositing purposes only) these flavors of HD with Super 16mm shot on a pin-registered camera using a sharp lens and Spirit datacine ?
(I mentioned these codecs before but my idea is to move to uncompressed for this kind of work)
Appreciate any help.

I would guess that most of our elitists (humor here :)) would say that mini-DV is crap and HDV is just a larger form of said crap due to the high compression needed to get all that HDV data onto a mini-DV tape.
Having said that, I soley use an HDV cam (Sony HVR-A1U). I always shoot HDV and in cam downconvert when capturing into FCP.
If I had had the money and transport (inconspicuous travel) wasn't my thing, I would have gone with that Panasonic P2 one (can't remember the name) or another true HD cam.
But, I'm extremely happy with my choice. When the money is there I'll add the HD cam and use my A1 as a second an my travel cam.

Best Camera for $1500 or less

What is the best mini-dv 3ccd camera for $1500 or less? I wish I could spend more but that is my limit at this time and I need a camera bad. Any suggestions?

Hey,
Keep in mind that the XL-1s is somewhat clumsy and awkward to handle. If you are used to ENG style... the Canon has no comfortable way to rest it on your shoulder. If you like to hold it out front, using the top handle, while framing your shot with the flip-out LCD... the XL-1s has no flip out LCD. Just a big eye cup style viewfinder.
The up side is the interchangeable lenses available for the XL-1. But if you are test driving one this weekend, be sure to ask how many lenses that price includes. Also, is there a wide angle adaptor included as well.
For my money... a used Canon GL-1 or a GL-2 if available, (the GL-2 is the newer version, with a better audio section). Being Canon devices, they already have superior optics. Both camcorders feature optical stabilization and [real glass!] 20:1 built-on lenses, and good sized flip-out LCDs. Since 2000, our church has been using 3 GL-1's for recording the services (via long S-Video runs to the switcher) as well as on remotes for the special dramatizations which are shown on the big screens during the actual services. Never a down day. The GL-1 is able to record in 30p as well as 16:9 anamorphic, and download via Firewire into any NLE. I've owned mine since 2000 as well. Never a glitch in the beginning with iMovie, later with FC Express, or now with FCP 5.1.4!
So... get yourself a used GL-1 and one of those Beechtek DXA-2S mic/line adaptors, so you can use pro mics in the field, and for under $1,500 you have a formidable, light-weight shooting rig.
JC
G5 Quad 2.5 PPC Mac OS X (10.4.10) 3 monitors powered by GeForce 7800GT and 6600. JVC GY-HD100 camera; FCS 5.1

Camera for final cut pro

Hi
I have about £2000 UK pounds to spend on a video camera for producing footage to be edited in Final Cut pro.
What is the best type of camera to get for quality and ease of importing and editing?
Not sure between tape and hard disk etc.
Thanks

I would agree withthe poster 'G' above that it depends on what you want to do. I would certainly follow his advice.
Here's what I did and what I have no done.
I JUST bought a brand new PANASONIC AG-HVX-200 because I want :
* 4:2:2 colour space so i can get more out of the colour correction tools I have such as COLOR.app and coloritsa etc (HDV doesn' cut it for me at the moment). I would highly recommend this camera!.
• I want the 720P/25 and a 1080P/25 with a codec that was not MPEG2 (such as HDV).SO I now have DVCPROHD to use and in a nutshell it is marvellous. I want the CINEA GAMMA and aother functions that I could not imagine on my HVR-Z1P (See below).
LAstly I had purchased a new SONY HVR-Z1P HDV camera 16 months ago for use as 1080i/50 for most of the work I wanted to do. I soon found the restrictions as above in the codec. I was wanted about HDV but pressed ahead.
HDV is a great format for most however I am about to put the hardly used HVR-Z1P on EBAY now that I have the PANASONIc new HVX-200, which if it is in your budget, I would highly recommends - get a 16GB P2 card ad you're set. Works flawlessly with FCP 6.
As poster 'G" points out, you can go to consumer based cameras that will work ok for you but they are restricted in the sense that you "GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR".
ALso AVCHD H.264 based cameras take a great 720P shots for the holiday trip but these are too not to my liking even though my wife has a SONY XACT HD2... which is great to pull out and spray around when you wanna gun and run.
Summary- if you know what you want to do (your goals) and you want to take advantage of FCS 2 and other tools and etc, the camera is a another piece of the toolkit but a VERY importat one. fwiw
w
HONG KONG

Problems with the canon xf plugin for fcp 7 Can't log and transfer mxf files.

Hi
I can't log & transfer mxf files from a c300 camera in FCP 7 even though I installed the xf plugin.
When I looked at canon's website this link comes up but it doesn't work.
http://usa.canon.com/nw3s/CanonUSA/DownloadContents/English/0200206002EN.htm
Any suggestions?
Or other plugins that might work?
Thanks,
James

Hello jameskendi,
The most obvious reason we can tell as to why this may not work properly is the version of FCP you are using. You mention using FCP 7, although the plugin is specifically for FCP X. This is why you're having such difficulty. If possible, we'd recommend using an updated computer and or software to process these files.
Did this answer your question? Please click the Accept as Solution button so that others may find the answer as well.

Best screen capture resolution for FCP

I'm making some tutorials of various computer software.
I'm going to edit them with FCP.
I'm using the MAC built in SHIFT-COMMAND - 3 or 4
in order to snap stills off my screen, and then
import into Final Cut Pro to edit the tutorials with.
The stills, once in the timeline, look pretty fuzzy and
unuseable.
What have others used in terms of resolution, format and such in order to end up with captures off your screen that you'll bring into FCP that end up looking good if you're
going to end up going to video or DVD?
I also have SNAP PRO X to work with, but I still haven't
found the right format or resolution to get around this problem.
Any input would be appreciated.
Thanks.

Without going into DPI (which is really meaningless in FCP land...as has been argued again and again and again...although if you MUST apply a value just stick in 72, but really it has no effect) the pixel dimensions of stills to import for FCP FULL FRAME are 720x534. Because stills have square pixels and FCP uses rectangular ones. If you want to do any movement on the stills, just increase the dimensions PROPORTIONALLY. 2x would be 1440 x 1064.
Oh, and as for the blurry issue:
#2 Playback is blurry
Shane's Stock Answer #2:
ONLY JUDGE THE QUALITY OF YOUR MATERIAL ON AN EXTERNAL NTSC MONITOR, OR AT LEAST A TV.
1. Disable overlays on the canvas
2. Make sure you've rendered everything (no green bars at the top of the timeline
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=24787
DV footage requires large amounts of data and many computations. In order to maintain frame rate and be viewable at a normal size, only about one-fourth of the DV data is used in displaying the movie to the screen. However, the DV footage is still at full quality, and is best viewed thru a TV or NTSC monitor routed thru your camera or deck.
For this, and other exciting stock answers visit www.proapptips.com

Camera for FCP

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