Canon’s new 5D Mark II DSLR with 1080p video mojo has been showing up in the hands of new users for the past few days, and the footage is hitting Vimeo faster than you can say “What’s a Scarlet?” One of the most pressing questions by Mac users is how to edit the compressed HD footage, which is captured as Quicktime H.264 files at 38.6 Mbits/sec. Reports suggest that FCP can edit the footage natively, but playback is likely to be choppy. That being the case, FCP users are recommending transcoding the footage into ProRes 422, for realtime playback and editing. ProRes is several times the bitrate of the MPEG-4 source files, but it should solve the playback issues.
An alert reader dropped me a Tweet this evening however, and he’s got a great workflow idea for those that can’t justify the additional disk space that ProRes transcoding requires. His workflow uses the free cross-platform MPEG Streamclip app to transcode the source files into the 35 Mbits/sec XDCAM EX codec, which can then be played back and edited in realtime in FCP. A tutorial video is embedded below…
How to Convert 5D Mark II H.264 Footage to XDCAM EX for Native Editing in FCP from Tyler Ginter on Vimeo.
This approach is reportedly faster than roundtripping through ProRes, and the disk space requirements should be less than the source files. That being the case, this obviously won’t be the most high-quality option for users (though the EX codec is no slouch). MPEG Streamclip also offers a few handy features that users may fine helpful. For instance, you can combine multiple clips into one stream on output. You can also set in and out points in a batch list, and just export the clip segments you need. It’s sort of a poor-man’s Log and Transfer for 5D footage. I’d liken it to Sony’s Log and Transfer software, sans a few automated features. It’s worth noting that Long-GOP XDCAM EX codec isn’t without it’s own gotchas, you may have to wait while your edit conforms upon output. However, it’s another option for those who wish to skip ProRes, and there are a few handy options in MPEG Streamclip to help ingest your footage.