Working with Canon T3i HD footage and FCP X

Hi,

I was wondering if some of the forum members would please share their experiences if they have worked with and edited HD footage shot with the Canon T3i.

Are there any problems transferring footage to the Mac?

Has anyone worked with all the different frame rates the T3i offers?

Have you experienced any problems out putting a final project?

What have your final products been – on-line web videos, films, broadcast TV – and how have they looked?

Could you share some links of your work?

Thanks for your feedback!

Howie

I have the T3i and FCPX on my iMac and it is great. I don't yet have any of my work uploaded but as far as HD footage with the T3i .....I love it. I use a 50mm f1.4 canon lens and get great results. Although I don't have anything uploaded yet I really am enjoying the results from the t3i and FCPX. Hope this helped.

Hi JDM,

Thanks for responding to my post.

What kind of projects have you shot?

Have you had any problems uploading footage to the iMac?

What is the import / transfer process like? Do you transfer directly from the camera or use a memory card reader?

What kind of iMac do you use?

Thanks!

I use the T3i all the time.

Here are 2 projects I shot with it (using vintage Nikkor lenses).

I just use a card reader when transferring the footage, no issues with that.

I usually transcode to ProRes as I usually work with a mixture of footage (but not always). Editing without transcoding also works fine though.

Here are 2 projects shot with the T3i and edited in FCPX (however its best to watch them in HD only):

HI. I use a T3i and I also use a card reader to upload the original footage to my External HDD, then I just import the files from there into fcp x. I usually create proxy media files just to make editing much faster (I'm using a 2008 imac with no upgrades )
When I export, I switch back to original media for high quality exporting. But editing with native footage from the T3i is also fine (again, my imac just struggles slightly with playback in the timeline)
I haven't got any samples to link to, but I can tell you that in my experience with the camera, it works with final cut pro x very well and the results are excellent.

I use a 2011 iMac with 16 gb RAM and class 10 SD cards directly into the side of my iMac. The videos above are great examples of the T3i footage and also great in general.

I've shot several commercials and am currently working on a feature doc in FCPX - mostly shot with the T3i. It's a wonderful camera. I just copy the files directly from the card to my backup drive and then I import to a new event on my RAID drive and select it to copy the media into the event (so I have two copies - very important to always have a backup!)

I love that I can start organizing and even cutting with the H.264 no problem and then at some point it will switch over to the ProRes Optimized files. For small jobs, I don't optimize, but on the feature doc, the performance is greatly improved.

Here is a link to a spot shot on the T3i, edited and colored in FCPX (with the help of some cinegrain)

Simon, fcpguru,

Really nice stuff! You both have got a "film" look to your footage. Definitely not something I get with my Canon AVCHD camera. Intentional or not, this is about the best film look I've seen out of a digital camers.

Are you shooting 24P or 30P? Are you using any particular effects in FCP X to purposely create the film look?

Simon- I really like the color grading results in the top video. It gave it a nice feel without going overboard. (I am starting to see more and more color grading which I just find over done and not necessarily making the video better, just different.)

Thanks,
Dave

That's your work? SWEET. I too have a T3i, just shot a bunch of cooking demos & photos last month BUT... I rented an L-series Canon lens from Borrow Lenses, and the glass does indeed make a huge difference. I have to say though... The Canon 5D Mark II is a noticeably better machine (I shot some bands earlier this year with 4 cameras: T3i, 60D, 7D and a 5D). In my view, I could tell the difference in quality (however slight) between the different models. But still - great job on your spot.

Thank you!

I primarily use a 17-50mm Tamron 2.8 lens. The constant aperture is ESSENTIAL for doing any sort of serious work. The lens has similar characteristics optically to it's L series counterpart by canon at half the price. But the zoom ring and focus aren't as good or smooth and the IS is louder. Still, $500 less ya know?

But renting glass is SO important. The Canon 70-200 L 2.8 IS II lens is one of the best you can put on this to get some amazing shots and rents for abotu $40/day here in LA (it's $2300 to buy!). The other secret I find is to always use lenses with image stabilization, especially if you are handheld. These cameras have pretty slow sensors, so the slightest bump to the camera causes terrible shake.

I always shoot 24p and I overlay Cinegrain's film layers to give it that filmic look. I find that the subtle (and sometimes not so subtle) grain compensates for some of the digital artifacting one gets with DSLR video. FCPX makes this amazingly easy to do because it is able to process the overlay layers in REAL TIME without any rendering. It's amazing. For that particular spot, I graded it purposefully to have that "instagram" look by blue-ing up the shadows and warming up the highlights to give it a split tone look.

If you want to really shoot amazing footage tho, it's really about finding the right lighting no matter what kind of camera you have

fcpguru wrote: Thank you!I always shoot 24p and I overlay Cinegrain's film layers to give it that filmic look. I find that the subtle (and sometimes not so subtle) grain compensates for some of the digital artifacting one gets with DSLR video. FCPX makes this amazingly easy to do because it is able to process the overlay layers in REAL TIME without any rendering. It's amazing. For that particular spot, I graded it purposefully to have that "instagram" look by blue-ing up the shadows and warming up the highlights to give it a split tone look.

Very cool, thanks for sharing that. I went to the Cinegrain site and watched their intro video and signed up to download a few samples.

When you said, "FCPX makes this amazingly easy to do because it is able to process the overlay layers", are you just using a connected clip or an adjustment layer of some sort?

By the way, you mentioned Los Angeles area. I'm in the Woodland Hills area and work in Santa Monica one day a week. Where abouts are you? I've been meaning to go by a LAFCPUG meeting for years, but have just not made the time to get over there yet.

Thanks,
Dave

Launch Motion 5, start a new FCP Titles Template project, delete the text layer, save it as "Adjustment Layer". Works like a charm!

First, I want to thank everyone for their responses and posts. I appreciate the feedback and links. I'll try to respond individually to everyone.

Howie

you should check out borrow lenses (there are other similar companies too). DIRT CHEAP prices, no credit checks, lots of sweet gear besides lenses (mics, bodies, tripods, etc.). They'll ship the gear directly to you.

DaveG wrote: Simon, fcpguru,

Really nice stuff! You both have got a "film" look to your footage. Definitely not something I get with my Canon AVCHD camera. Intentional or not, this is about the best film look I've seen out of a digital camers.

Are you shooting 24P or 30P? Are you using any particular effects in FCP X to purposely create the film look?

Simon- I really like the color grading results in the top video. It gave it a nice feel without going overboard. (I am starting to see more and more color grading which I just find over done and not necessarily making the video better, just different.)

Thanks,
Dave

Hi Dave,

Thanks! I always shoot in 25p (I'm in PAL land).

I favor older lenses for dslr's and I don't really like modern zooms (or image stabilization for that matter). Thats just my preference though, everyone is different.

When I'm holding a camera I usually use a shoulder stock (though in the music video by Bomboy I was actually just holding the basic camera in my hand with nothing added). Otherwise I prefer to use a tripod and lock everything down (most shots in the Kayak video were locked, a few on a shoulder stock).

At the moment I am using vintage Nikkor lenses, as I like the soft 'dreamy' look they give. Most of the look in the kayak video is a result of those lenses. I slowly collected a set from ebay over the last 2 years, looking for bargains when they came up. Currently I have a 28mm f.2, 35mm f.2, 50mm f1.4, 85mm f1.8.

Both of those videos were shot with the 50mm, generally shot wide open (using a variable ND filter outdoors for the kayak video). When shooting wide open those older lenses tend to be very soft, and there is usually some chromatic aberration and a bit of flaring. But I kind of like the lo-fi analog look, rather than a perfectly sharp digital image.

A lot of people don't realize this but you can use your laptop as an external monitor for Canon dslr's using a usb cable and the EOS Utility program. This allows you to tweak all the settings in live view to see how they affect your look (it also allows you to check focus, control the camera remotely etc in controlled environments). Longer USB cables can be found on ebay, so that you can do this easily.

I prefer to bake the look into the camera a bit, rather than trying to achieve the look totally in post through grading (because I'm not much of a color grader). If you know what look you are going for at the beginning of the shoot then it can help to make a preset on the camera. I find that dslrs can only be pushed so far in post, so it helps to be in the ballpark to begin with.

However, I did use Magic Bullet Looks in the kayak video; I applied the Blockbuster preset, and tweaked it to and changed it a bit, but then only used it at a 50% opacity I think, changing all this here and there according the shots. Some shots were not graded at all.

fcpguru wrote:
Here is a link to a spot shot on the T3i, edited and colored in FCPX (with the help of some cinegrain)

That was a very cool video; great combination of music and images. I liked the old 16mm look (the film grain and occasional light leaks). Very nice edit.

Everything I shoot is on a T3I!! You can check out music video and model videos I do on our website or youtube! www.youtube.com/MotifMediaGroup

If that doesn't give you some confidence I donna what will!

jdm4given1 wrote: I use a 50mm f1.4 canon lens and get great results. Hope this helped.

Hi Junior,

Is that a kit lens with IS?

Junior is my boarder status....... Yeah, it is the canon 50mm f1.4 with IS. I am new at the DSLR thing but I am loving it already. It is a lot like the human eye as far as depth of field manipulation. Well worth the money in my opinion. I am coming off of doing all of my work on a small flip camera so this is great to me! I did a lot of research and the one common denominator for this camera was the canon 50mm f1.4 as far as an all around lens on a budget (369.00 US). Once I decided to buy this lens I could not find it in any retailer where I am in Alabama or many place online. I ordered online and am very pleased. Did lots of research first.

Hope this helped Fresh! :silly:

simonpwood wrote: I use the T3i all the time.
Here are 2 projects I shot with it (using vintage Nikkor lenses).
I just use a card reader when transferring the footage, no issues with that.

Hi Simon,

Thanks for posting your videos. Nice job.

Do you need an adapter to use Nikkor lenses? If so, what kind? YOu also mentioned using older lenses with your dslr. Do thye also require an adapter?

What kind of car reader do you use - a portable one or does your Mac have a built-in reader?

Did you re-dub the audio during the interviews? I didn't see a mic on your interview subject.