I Got a few 7D editing questions..

marc_vertesi

marc_vertesi

Member
Hey there,

I recently bought the Canon 7d. Now I'm struggling with the video editing. I read a few reports/blog about it, and i found one very interesting which helped me a lot, but i doesn't work that well...

Basicaly, i got Adobe Premiere Pro CS4, MPEG Steamclip and the DNxHD codec. I shot most of the time in PAL (I live in Europe) 1080p 25fps.

I read that the file format (the H.264 codec MOV container) is really bad for editing, therefore you need to convert via Steamclip. I did that, converted to 1080p/25 DNxHD 185 10-bit (is this the right choice? I tried the other options, didn't work great either..) with the RGB color level and all that. Then i make the movie. I tried all the 1080p in the Premiere projects with the 1920 * 1080 size, but no one will run the video smoothly, it's all jerky, and I feel like the clip lost a lot of quality, colours becomes flat... It's absolutely terrible to edit like this.

Do you have any idea how i could fix those problems? Or any other solutions about editing (other programs,

(Oh and I got the Acer Aspire 8930g laptop, with the Intel core2 Quad, 2.0 GHz, 4096 RAM)

Thanks in advance
 
You should try NeoScene from Cineform to convert the files, works great!(convert to AVI cause youre on a pc)

You can try it for free(14days) Much faster than streamclip
 
The best thing I did for my workflow was to buy a Mac. I hate them, but the workflow (7d -> Streamclip (Prores) -> Final Cut Pro) just worked and was easier than the months I spent editing on a PC.
 
Yeah, I was thinking about that.. But I bought my PC not a long time ago, don't want to change now, plus i would loose lots of money selling mine and buy a Mac... But I guess it's definitely the best solution... I will think about it.

No other idea?

 
Check into exporting into some other codecs. A standard AVI isnt bad. Also, if you are going to be exporting to DVD, think about resizing to a SD resolution. I know that sounds like a total step backwards, but if your end format is DVD and limited web, it might be worth it to work with downrezed footage.
 
So, i found somebody who could buy my PC, and I could therefore afford to pay a Mac Book Pro. So what would be the best deal (setup). And what would be the best editing setup?
 
I found a decent deal on a new 2.53ghz unibody. 4 gigs ram, etc
It was like $1300.
If you arent doing super long edits, or arent using a ton of effects, a basic 15 inch MBP will be fine.
 
transcode everything to ProRes 4:2:2 (LT). If your system can't run that, I've found that Apple Photo-JPEG preserves color very well.
 
Yes If your on a MAC.. This guy is using a pc, and I feel DNxHD or Cineforms 4:2:2 codec( inside an AVI container) is a better solution for a PC/PPro workflow
 
Thank you all for your help! Finally found a decent deal on a 15" i7, and a friend lent me his FCP7, so now i've got all I wanted!
I just got one more last question, after that, i promise to stop asking stupid questions! So when i try to import a nice song from my HD, i can run it in the first window (the one in the middle, sorry i don't know the name in english), but when i run the whole project, i've got the sound of the sequence, but the song only makes some repetitive bips, like BIP BIP BIP, and I really can't figure out why the hell it makes that... Anybody got a solution? (I'm sure it's something completely stupid)
 
your audio files need to be AIFF to work properly in Final Cut. For me the easiest way to do that is (assuming you have quick time pro)
Open the song with quicktime Then File Export and choose export audio to AIFF.
 
if your still having problems down the line, lurk the forums at skateperception.com, they have a DSLR Filmmaking section with lots of tips, tricks, and other handy stuff.

www.forums.skateperception.com

 
Adobe Premier Pro CS5 has new settings so you don't have to convert at all and I haven't had any problems with it but I am more a photographer than video but I made a commercial on it using 95% 7D footage and didn't have a problem. You don't need a piece of mac to edit footy perfectly fine, its all about knowing how to do everything efficiently.
 
Hopefully you've figured this out by now, but the playback issue probably is not entirely due to your system.

The first major problem is the DNx185 conversion. This format is designed for finished film delivery from Avid editing systems. It is a great format in which to deliver movies to theaters for playback on 60 foot screens, or to give to visual effects artists for very intricate VFX jobs. But converting 7D footage to DNx185 is like converting a 200x200 pixel GIF image to a 1000x1000 pixel lossless TIFF. It's completly overkill.

The 7D only shoots 8-bit, so converting to 10-bit adds a TON of colorspace that isn't there in the source material. This is why your footage looks flat and probably has some banding in the dark colors. If you compare the file sizes of your source footage and the converted footage, you'll notice that the converted footage is way bigger than the source. Therefore the footage is going to be really hard to play back on anything except a hardware-accelerated Avid system (for which the format was designed). I'd be really surprised if Final Cut Pro (even on a multi i7 core system) played DNx185 files smoothly.

If you want to convert your footage, and you really like the DNxHD codec, try DNx36, or at least something smaller (and 8-bit). Personally, I prefer Cineform's codecs.

Or upgrade from CS4. Like RSP said, Premiere Pro CS5 imports and edits 7D footage seamlessly, so you don't have to waste time converting anything. And the other improvements make it a much much better program than Premiere Pro CS4.

Or get a Mac and convert everything to ProRes.
 
I finally decided to buy a mac because of many reasons: my brother's computer died a few weeks ago, he's a gamer, i couldn't sell my Acer, following the logic, i gave him mine, and bought a Mac with saved money. Plus I had that friend who lent me FCP.

Now I just make some short test edits, with different converting files, and exporting types. Here's one I done today (no really creative angle or whatever, weather was pretty changing every ten minutes, and it's all shot with the 18-135 lens, no color correction, just raw footage from my first day with the camera, all in a row), just tested around, tell me what you think?

http://vimeo.com/13647271

 
embed on that video:

Bowl edit avec Floflo from Marc Vertesi on Vimeo.

That just made me so boner excited for my 7D

 
photo jpeg is great for color correction because its, well, jpegs for frames (aka pictures). Like Landis said, they hold color great, like editing a picture in photoshop.
 
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