TOPIC:

Hi, I have footage from GH5 and Vazen 28mm anamorphic lens. The Vazen 28mm is a 1.8x anamorphic lens.The format is 4K 25 fps 10 bit 4:2:2 150mbps LongGop. GH5 has 4:3 sensor and in the camera settings shows size 3328x2496. So that is the 1.3333 ratio.

I am not sure how to proceed. I have read quite a bit about using proxy (some say definitely, some say not needed), optimized files, transcoding...Just not sure what workflow to decide on. At first I created a 4K project. Then when I imported a clip to timeline it said that the file has an unusual format and I should use custom settings. Maybe the GH5 saved anamorphic meta data and that is why FCP says that.

Should I just choose a standard 4K project setting then squeeze the y axis by .55? Or make custom project where I multiple X 3328*1.8 to get 5990x2496? Then do I also apply transform of the X axis? See, I am just not quite sure... My computer is from 2016. It is 4.01 GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i7 64 GB 2400 MHz DDR4 Radeon RX 480 8 GB. The video files are on an SSD drive separate from where FCP is. OS: Catalina.

Any tips appreciated on the steps I need to take in FCP so I can get up and running with editing!

(I also have new Macbook Air M2 512GB. Not sure if that would be better for editing or maybe worse with much lower RAM).

I'd suggest going with a standard 4K project size.

The M2 Air will likely outperform the 7yo Intel easily, though in either case that long-GOP anamorphic source footage should be transcoded to ProRes / square pixel for edit. Especially if you don't want to pull your hair out midway through the project. ;^)

Hi, do you mean in FCP choose ProRes encoding when I import a file? Is there a ballpark estimate for how much space FCP will need to save 4K 150mbps 10 bit 4:2:2 LongGop to ProRes?

WHen you say square pixel do you mean keeping X and Y scale the same? If so, how would I then edit such that I see things desqueezed?

Also, I am somewhat new to FCP especially its transcoding, proxy settings, but I have already done an edit with no transcoding, including grading, crops, FX, and yeah, computer is pretty slow, but now that I know the footage I am using could I have FCP transcode just what is on the timeline and continue editing? That would be great...

thanks

bhuether wrote:

Hi, do you mean in FCP choose ProRes encoding when I import a file? Is there a ballpark estimate for how much space FCP will need to save 4K 150mbps 10 bit 4:2:2 LongGop to ProRes?

FCP can "optimize" media on import, as well as creating proxies. But, you are limited in terms of "desqueezing" anamorphic footage. You can apply effects (changing distortion or scaling) to de-squeeze after importing, but that can add more of a load on your Mac.

One alternative would be to use something like Compressor to convert your footage to ProRes422, and to change the aspect ratio at the same time. For a QFHD deliverable (3840 x 2160), you could set Compressor to create a 3840 x 2132 (1.8:1) frame size during the transcoding. Then, you could import the resulting ProRes422 files and create proxies in FCP to reduce the load on your Mac during editing. This way you'd see the proper aspect ratio during editing. You could optionally create a custom Project/timeline frame size for editing (3840 x 2132) if you don't want letterboxing.

3840 x 2160 ProRes422 files take about 212 GB/hr of footage in storage space and have a bit rate of 471 Mb/s (~59 MB/s). For other frame rates, variants of ProRes, and frame sizes, take a look at the ProRes White Paper, available from www.apple.com/final-cut-pro/resources/ .

bhuether wrote:

WHen you say square pixel do you mean keeping X and Y scale the same? If so, how would I then edit such that I see things desqueezed?

I believe @dmetz meant that you'd de-squeeze the footage so that things look right when editing.

bhuether wrote:

Also, I am somewhat new to FCP especially its transcoding, proxy settings, but I have already done an edit with no transcoding, including grading, crops, FX, and yeah, computer is pretty slow, but now that I know the footage I am using could I have FCP transcode just what is on the timeline and continue editing? That would be great...

thanks

With transcoding and using proxies (as described above), you should have pretty decent responsiveness. A key thing to note is checking to make sure your drives can handle playback well enough.

Again, taking some training in FCP, or reviewing some YT videos, should help. Also, perusing the user guide is quite helpful.


Cheers.