Sony FS7 and iMac Retina 5K

Hi everyone

I'm soon to be starting a videography role in a small business and i've been charged with kitting myself out. I've been filming and editing for several years but always with DSLRs and Sony EX1/EX3.

I want to get a Sony FS7 but i've read that FCPX doesn't necessarily like it too much. Is this so and if it is have many of you used it with a particular workflow?

Also, i'm looking at getting the new iMac Retina 5K and souping up the processor and RAM, rather than the more expensive Mac Pro option. Would this be powerful enough to deal with the FS7 footage, in particular if I shot in 4K?

Any help would be really appreciated.

Cheers

Dan

Hi Dan, welcome to the forum.

FCP X works with XAVC-I footage from the FS7 without any problems. But when you record in the XAVC-L format with the FS7 you will have issues importing the footage in FCP X at this time. I heard from a very reliable source that these issues will be solved very, very soon now. So no, you won't have any problems with this camera.

The maxed out 5K Retina will be more than powerful enough to work with this footage. When you work with XAVC 4K you also should have a fast external Thunderbolt drive (preferably a RAID) to store your media.

- Ronny

Hi Ronny

Thanks a lot for this. It was just a worry to go spending that money if it wasn't able to handle it but you've put me at ease!

Cheers

Dan

Ronny is either talking about an updated plugin from Sony, or direct native import for these XAVC-L files being part of the next FCPX update. But in the meantime, you can always use the free Sony Catalyst Browse application to convert the files to ProRes. The next cheapest option is EditReady, the $49 replacement for ClipWrap.