Downloading C300 Footage

Canon provides a piece of software called the Canon XF utility, which is used to playback and download clips off their original media. It also has the ability to view clip metadata, mark timecode, and even apply a LUT to Canon Log footage for viewing. The XF Utility is hard to find on the internet, so here is the latest version (also including Log & Transfer and AMA plugins). The C300 records to Compact Flash cards, so a simple CF card reader is all that is needed to attach C300 media to your computer. Launching the XF Utility gives you the window below:

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As you can see, my attached CF card showed up as the ‘Canon’ drive in the upper left corner. The drive underneath ’201202092901′ is some previously backed up footage. The name is based on the time of the backup. Looking at the image above, you can see that some clips have the letters ‘CP’ in a box next to them. This means that a custom picture profile was used when recording the video. Clicking on View -> Custom Picture in the menu reveals exactly what was set in the camera.

The word ‘LOG’ appears next to some of the clips, letting you know the footage was shot in Canon Log Gamma mode. At the bottom of the utility, there is a button labeled ‘LUT.’ This is meant to turn on a Look Up Table that makes the Canon Log footage look more normal. On my system this did not seem to have an effect, but the intent is to make it easier to preview the end result of color grading Canon Log footage.

The footage on the CF card can be backed up with the XF Utility by clicking on the ‘Backup’ button on the upper left corner. Before doing so, make sure you set the location to store your footage in the Preferences menu.

Backing up the footage will store the clips in a unique folder based on the date and time of the transfer. Here is the folder structure that results:

Now my footage is backed up and ready for ingesting into an NLE. Make sure you always back up your original Canon footage before ingesting into any editor. This original footage contains information that will be lost when converted into a QuickTime MOV for Final Cut Pro, but it works natively with AVID and Premiere.

Final Cut Pro 7

To bring your Canon C300 footage into Final Cut Pro 7, use the Log & Transfer function. This requires the latest Canon XF Plugin for Final Cut Pro, which is included in the above download or can be found here. Once this plugin is installed, you can launch Final Cut Pro to begin the import process. In Final Cut Pro, launch Log & Transfer:

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To locate the C300 footage saved by the XF Utility, click on the folder icon in the top left corner of the Log & Transfer window. Locate the folder you downloaded:

Make sure to select the top folder to open. If you select anything below the top folder, FCP will not recognize the footage. Now your footage should load, and you can start trimming and adding notes to each clip as needed. Anything done in this window won’t effect the original footage but will be stored in your FCP project file. Before bringing in any clips, we want to adjust the way clips are imported by Log & Transfer. Final Cut 7 works best with clips in the MOV format, but Canon clips are stored in the MXF format. Because of this, Log & Transfer will either convert the footage to ProRes or just re-wrap clips into MOV format. Re-wrapping means that the video is not recompressed, but rather just put into the MOV holder that Final Cut likes best. To change this setting, click on the small flower-shaped icon in the top middle of the Log & Transfer window, which will open the Import Preferences panel.

Scroll down to the Canon XF Plugin section to can choose how the footage will be imported. It defaults to ProRes, which will make the imported files larger and also increase the import time considerably. You can instead choose to bring in the files in ‘Native’ mode, which will allow you to edit in the camera’s original format. FCP is designed to work best in ProRes, but the native format edits just fine. Because ProRes is generated from the original C300 footage, there is no quality improvement in the video when converting to ProRes. Depending on your workflow, choose what fits best. Click OK when you are done, and continue to import your footage by clicking ‘Add Selection to Queue.’ Now your footage is in FCP 7, and you can start editing.

Avid Media Composer 6

To bring your Canon C300 footage into Media Composer 6, we are going to use the AMA function. This requires the latest Canon XF Plugin for Avid Media Composer, which is included in the installer above or can be downloaded here (click on Drivers & Software, and then chose your OS). Make sure to get the 64-bit version if you are running OS X Lion, as this is not included in my installer above. Once these plugins are installed, you can launch Media Composer to begin the importing process. When you are in Media Composer, click on ‘AMA’ under settings.

Open ‘AMA’, and click on Volume Mounting. Enable AMA Volume Management.

Click ‘OK.’ Now you can link to the footage. To do so go to File -> Link to AMA Volume. This will open a finder window for you to locate the footage.

As you can see from the image above, I have a Canon folder with two different stored cards in it. If you choose to click on one of the stored folders, say ’2012020220510,’ AMA will make a bin with the same name and populate it with the C300 footage inside that folder. If I choose to bring in the Canon folder itself, AMA will ask how I want to bring in all the different footage inside.

You can bring the footage from each stored card into individual bins or together. I chose to bring the footage in based on the SubFolder name, so I will get a bin for each card stored. Now my populated bins look like this:

You can see that the bins have the same name as the folders I imported. Each clip has a tiny link icon next to it, which indicates that it is an AMA clip. In MC 5.5, AMA clips appeared yellow. In MC 6, the link icon appears instead. We can now start editing the material, or we can choose to transcode it to Avid format through Clip -> Consolidate / Transcode.

Adobe Premiere 5.5

To bring your Canon C300 footage into Premiere 5.5, you don’t need any special software. Premiere supports a huge range of formats without any plugins. To start, launch Premiere and make a new project.

Select ‘New Project,’ and then choose your settings to get going.

Select from the Canon XF MPEG2 drop down menu, and choose the format in which you shot. I shot in 1080 24p. Click ‘OK,’ and Premiere will open up. To import clips, simply click File -> Import. This will open a finder window:

Pick the folder you want, and click ‘Import.’ Premiere will look through the folder for anything it can bring in, but because it only reads the actual Canon MXF files you will get some errors. It is letting you know that it can’t read some of the other metadata files in the folders, but it won’t prevent any clips from coming in. You could also go into the folder structure and find the individual MXF files, but this would take longer to do. Now your clips are in Premiere and ready to edit.

Apple Final Cut X

Final Cut Pro X is getting better every day, and version 10.0.3 brings a lot of updates, including multi-cam editing and support for external IO devices like AJA’s Io XT. It can be a bit tricky, though, to bring your Canon C300 footage into Final Cut X. FCP X does not natively support the Canon MXF files, and Canon has not yet written a plugin. So to bring in footage, we have to first convert the Canon files into QuickTime (MOV) format. We first tried converting the footage with Sony’s XDCAM Transfer application, which converts Sony MXF into QuickTime, but we found that this caused audio skips and other issues. Searching the internet I found a program called XfcpX, which was written to convert Canon MXF into working MOVs. Download XfcpX, donate to the nice guys over at Pika, and open up the app.

With the app open, click on the ‘Locate’ button and find the folder that contains your different Canon footage. XfcpX expects that you used the XF Utility to download your clips. If you manually copied the data off the cards then it may not work. I chose my Canon folder, which contains two folders of footage.

Choose your destination folder and click on the ’1..2..3.. Go’ button. XfcpX will start working and should convert each clip fairly quickly. Canon splits long video clips into 2GB pieces, which you won’t notice in the other NLEs, but XfcpX just converts the individual chunks into QuickTime files. Nothing is lost along the way, but you’ll have to recombine all these pieces on your timeline to edit. (Hopefully, a Final Cut Pro X plugin for Canon clips will come along soon.) Now open up FCP X and import the files you just converted.

Then find the footage that you just converted. Mine is in a folder called ‘Process’.

Choose the converted files and bring them right into FCP X. Now you are ready to edit.

For an even more in-depth look at the C300 and its workflow, check out our C300 Workshops coming soon up in NY and LA.

When Arri released the SUP 4.0 firmware for the ALEXA, they also added the ability to create color ‘Looks’ to load into the camera. These Look files are similar to scene files found in other cameras, but they aren’t burned into the Log C recording of the camera. Instead, they can be used in post by converting them to LUTs using Arri’s LUT Generator. These looks then travel as metadata with the clips recorded (through the XML file). Look files can be created by saving a still from the camera and loading it into the Arri Look Creator, which can then modify the still and output a look. A company called Pomfort, based out of Munich, was actually the first to work with Arri Looks. Their software, Silverstack SET, manages data on set and allows the manipulating of Arri Looks before sending them into a NLE or Color Grading suite. Silverstack SET is a fantastic tool for working with ALEXA material in general, and now Pomfort has come up with a new piece of software to take the process of Look creation a step further.

Until now, the missing piece in the generation of Arri Look files was the ability to preview the look before loading it into the camera. The Arri Look Generator allows you to see the corrected image on your computer screen, but the ability to manipulate the image on a production monitor was missing. However, Pomfort has put together their LiveGrade application to tackle that problem. The software uses the Blackmagic Design HDLinkPro box to take the ALEXA’s output (in Log C) and manipulate it with the same tool found in the Look Generator. The corrections can be done with a mouse/keyboard or with the Avid Artist Panel (aka Euphonix MC Color). The corrections can be saved as Arri Looks and then imported back into the camera, or exported into a 3D LUT directly. This really improves the Alexa workflow on set and through post. LiveGrade is still in beta, so you can download it now for a test run.

Learn more about working with Looks and LUTs in our upcoming ARRI ALEXA Workshops.

So…is film dead now?

Pundits have been predicting the end to film as a production medium for decades, but now it seems that the writing is on the wall. Digital Cinema camera technology has advanced to the point that nearly all production for television has moved to electronic acquisition. Currently the majority of high-end features are still produced on 35mm film, but it appears only a matter of time before this completely transitions as well. Most lower- to medium-budget productions are already being shot digitally, and numerous notable high-end productions are as well. In particular, shooting digitally for 3D productions is significantly more advantageous compared to film. This has also spurred the rollout of digital projection, as this is again far easier to accomplish for 3D presentation. The final nail may be the financial advantage to studios distributing movies digitally rather than with film prints. Fox has already notified theater chains that it plans to eliminate film prints sometime next year. Without the steady income stream of film prints, plus TV and commercial production, the economic model supporting film stock producers and processing labs will eventually no longer function. We may look back on 2011 as the last year film had a significant, dominant position in the industry, before becoming relegated to “niche” productions.

What are people shooting with?

It’s no secret that it is a 35mm-sized sensor world right now. Many have desired the large sensor look for years, starting perhaps with the Pro35 optical adapter, which debuted only a relatively short time after the venerable Sony F900 made HD a serious option. Many cameras and many adapters followed, with the ARRI D21, Panavision Genesis, Sony F35 and Phantom HD taking the highest-end market, thanks to their more direct approach of native Super-35 sized sensors.

The RED One, followed by the Canon HDSLRs, made affordable large sensor production a reality, and much of the production community quickly switched over. This transition happened even though many of these productions were in fact poorly served in making this change to a larger sensor. Sometimes a smaller sensor camera is preferable for certain work, and often a certain form factor and workflow is more appropriate for particular shooting styles. But the sudden shift certainly alerted manufacturers as to how strong the desire in the community was to shoot on larger sensor cameras.

So 2011 was the year that refined Super-35 sensor cameras took over the industry. Released in 2010, but largely available in 2011, the ARRI ALEXA took over much of the episodic television production market in the US, as well as abroad. The ALEXA cameras also made significant inroads into the medium- and even high-budget feature world, with notable productions such as Drive, Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close and Hugo, which was also a dual-camera 3D production. RED’s EPIC and then Scarlet cameras began to ship in sizable quantities in 2011, some directly to studio feature productions. The ALEXA Studio model features both an optical viewfinder with spinning mirror shutter and a large 4×3 shaped sensor to properly accommodate anamorphic lenses.

On the more affordable end of the production market, Panasonic’s AF100 arrived just at the start of 2011, followed by the Sony PMW-F3 in February and then the Sony FS-100 in May. These Compact Cine cameras answered many of the needs filled by the HDSLR market, but did so as proper video production cameras, with controls and form factors better suited to professional production. In a telling sign of the changing expectations of the marketplace, Sony offered the F3 with 4:4:4 Uncompressed HD output in S-LOG, a refined level of video signal previously only available on cameras four times as expensive. These cameras quickly became wildly popular with our clients, as many happily relegated their recent HDSLR purchases to B-roll and home movie status. Productions no longer asked about “film v. F900” but instead “ALEXA v. F3.”

Announced in 2011 and shipping this month, two more cameras will spur all levels of production. Canon’s C300 brings the company into the professional video production community with their first Compact Cine camera. Mixing the community’s desire for a more professional camera system with the conveniences and form factor that Canon has learned from decades of manufacturing still cameras, the C300 is a unique camera platform that promises to have a significant impact on the industry.

Meanwhile, Sony has raised the bar at the highest level of production with the F65 Digital Cinema camera, which features an unprecedented 20 million photosite sensor that the camera can use to capture a “true 4K RAW image.”

Another interesting aspect of these S-35 sensor cameras is that they break previous sensitivity and dynamic range barriers. Just a few years ago 320 ISO and eight stops of exposure range was the norm. Now it is “the new black” to have 800 ISO native sensitivity with a noise floor low enough to push a few more stops and an exposure range from 11 to an amazing 14 stops. I don’t know when I’ll need to dial up a camera to 20,000 ISO and still expect to see even further into the shadows while retaining bright details, but it’s nice to know it can be done.

What about the glass?

Lens choice used to be dictated by format, and generally there were only a few options. This has changed dramatically as new players have entered the field and cameras opened up to different options. In PL, it used to be Zeiss or Cooke primes and Angenieux zooms. Now Illumina, Leica, RED, Schneider, Sony and UniqOptics have introduced primes, while both Cooke and Zeiss have new, additional sets of primes. Angenieux practically owned the market on 35PL zooms for years, with only a few lenses from Cooke available. Angenieux introduced another zoom (45-120) this year, and there are now, or will soon be, 15 different PL zooms from ARRI/Fuji (Alura series), Canon, Duclos Lenses, Focus Optics, Fuji (Premier series) and RED.

That is just in PL mount, but one great outgrowth of the two-year HDSLR wave was that clients became comfortable with the options of relatively inexpensive stills lenses from manufacturers such as Canon, Nikon, Leica, Tamron, Tokina and Zeiss. Compact Cine cameras from Panasonic and Sony have very shallow mounts, allowing room for various adapters so that an assortment of optics old and new could be mounted. At AbelCine we developed our HDx Optical Adapters so that 2/3” B4 mount lenses could be used on these cameras, which allowed our clients used to the extreme zoom ranges available in 2/3 to shoot with these new cameras.

This new generation of interchangeable mount/interchangeable lens cameras has created a new interest in optics and the various capabilities and choices available. There’s so much more to it than a focal length and an f-stop, and with a sudden array of choices presented to them, cinematographers have to become versed in the options. While some might be considered “lens aficionados,” others would accuse them of being “lens snobs” – either way, having more available choices can only be a good thing.

On recording

The lenses and lens mounts became separated from the camera sensors, and so too did the recording format become separated from the camera. Where we were once relatively trapped in uni-body camera designs with all aspects of the camera kit in an “all or nothing” design, 2011 saw the parts pulled apart. Nowhere did this become more evident than with the explosion of camera-mounted small video recorders. While the XDCAM-recording nanoFlash was already available for a year, 2011 saw the first delivery of ProRes (and sometimes DNxHD) recorders like the AJA KiPro Mini, followed by the Atomos Ninja and Samurai, and the Sound Devices PIX220 & 240.

The quality of these codecs is extremely high, higher than anything that had been available on all but the most expensive cameras. In 2011 they became available for just about any proper camera for only a few thousand dollars – this was a major step. Recording in a high quality codec which also not-just-so-happened to be the native format for the most popular editing software meant a major advance in image quality and speed of turnaround, while remaining in a straightforward video production workflow. One of the keys to the success of the ALEXA camera is its ability to record internally directly to ProRes (DNxHD coming soon). If you wanted an even higher quality recording, then there were the new options of Convergent Design’s Gemini 4:4:4 uncompressed full sampling recorder and the Blackmagic Design HyperDeck Shuttle, which can record an uncompressed 4:2:2 signal.

The ability of the ALEXA cameras to record to ProRes makes for an interesting study in the difference between perception and practice within the industry. The ALEXA and ALEXA Plus have a native resolution of 2880×1620 and can output an Uncompressed RAW image file, but almost everyone shoots with the signal converted to video and super-sampled to 1920×1080. Then that resolution is compressed into ProRes, either in 4:4:4 12-bit or 4:2:2 10-bit. Why knock it down so much? Because it’s easier. The most common functional resolution of production today is 1920×1080; it is what we generally finish to and present in. By converting to ProRes, one can load the material directly into a laptop and edit in real-time with no transcoding or additional processing needed. With all production time is money, and the more streamlined the post-production path the easier, and therefore less expensive, the proposition. The proof is that ALEXA has taken over the vast majority of television series production, almost all in ProRes 4:4:4.

The Monolith known as “Post Infrastructure.”

Post facilities have long been complexes of machine rooms with multi-million dollar suites featuring fancy hand-installed and lovingly-maintained Rolls-Royce-level finishing systems. Through glass doors one could see positive-pressure machine rooms stuffed with racks of shiny signal processors, converters, routers, decks, deck controllers, signal generators, scopes, regulators, etc. Many of these “heavy metal” facilities were based on the workflow of a tape-based system, namely Sony HDCAM SR. This format is the recording medium for the Panavision Genesis, Sony F35 and Sony SRW-9000, and is also the format of choice for a master deliverable for much high-level video production. The double-whammy of the ease of the ALEXA workflow and the tragic tsunami that destroyed Sony’s ability to manufacture HDCAM SR tape for months shifted a great deal of television production away from the HDCAM SR format in 2011.

Now Sony has SRMemory, solid state memory cards that can hold up to a terabyte of information and can read/write at incredible data rates. This allows for the real-time use of high frame rates, high resolution, high bit depth and bit rates, Uncompressed or lightly-compressed files, dual streams of 3D, and much more. It is a forward-thinking format with huge capacity to easily transport enormous amounts of data. The new F65 will be able to record in either HDCAM SR codecs or 8K Uncompressed RAW files directly to SRMemory cards, and the format may well become the new currency for post facilities the way HDCAM SR tapes and DPX files are now. Other systems may be the story for 2011, but SRMemory may just be the takeaway for 2012 and beyond.

Another trend in Post is how so much of it is being taken out of the hands of the post facilities and moved onto or near to set. But the players keep changing. 2011 was the year of ProRes capture, but it was also the year that saw Apple introduce Final Cut Pro X, an update of the software that made it more like an expanded iMovie program than a next-generation professional editing system. Where does that leave many ProRes and FCP users? Moving to other systems, and just in time Avid introduced Media Composer 6 (Did you miss it? It was the same day that Canon unveiled the C300 and RED announced the new Scarlet camera). MC6’s huge leaps forward, including the new DNxHD 4:4:4, made many re-embrace a company that had been steadily losing traction in the industry due to an aging infrastructure, based on what some perceived to be a closed and antiquated system.

IRIDAS was purchased and absorbed into Adobe. Blackmagic Design purchased DaVinci, maker of one of the most advanced set of color finishing systems available. And then BMD stunned everyone by taking DaVinci’s premiere product, the Resolve color correction system, and offering low level tiered systems for only $1000, later followed by an entry level version for free. That’s a zero-cost access to a powerful finishing tool that used to only reside in $1000/hour post suites. Heavy metal indeed.

Technology is a moving target. Today’s expensive top-of-the-line tool is tomorrow’s middle-cost meat’n'potatoes tool and the next day’s consumer-level tool. It used to be that you could learn a new camera or film stock and then be covered for several years as the glacial pace of the production industry puttered along. Now an iPhone 4S can shoot and post an entire movie in 1920×1080. Change is faster than ever before, and if we do not keep moving forward we are falling behind.

In order to find a drive that works, you should first calculate the data rate requirements for the compression format you are recording. SSDs are usually rated in terms of maximum read speeds in megabytes per second (MB/s), however most compression is described in megabits per second (Mb/s). To converts bits to bytes, just divide by 8. For instance, ProRes HQ is a 220 Mb/s compression; divided by 8, it is 27.5 MB/s. Most drives, however, only list their maximum data rate for reading or writing; for video, we need a drive that can maintain a consistent data rate. That’s why determining the average sustained read/write speed is so important.

Fortunately, there are many great websites out there that do all sorts of testing on drives. One of my favorite sites for this is Anandtech – they have an SSD comparison tool that is a great reference. You can compare various drives and see their average read/write speeds during heavy use, as video is one of the heaviest uses of a drive. This average doesn’t guarantee the drives will hold a sustained date rate, but it is a pretty good indication. ProRes HQ has a relatively low data rate, but I found that if the average data rate (read/write) of the drive is well over 27.5 MB/s then it will work well. Uncompressed video, though, has a data rate that is quite a bit higher. Recorders such as the CineDeck, HyperDeck Shuttle, and Gemini 4:4:4 all record uncompressed, which can be up to 1.5 Gbps (187.5 MB/s) or higher in the case of the Gemini, which records in 4:4:4. Looking through all the different drives that are available, it may seem that there are many options, but each drive needs to be tested in the given device to make sure it can give consistent results.

Manufacturers will often list all the drives that they support; this is usually the best reference. The PIX240 suggests their own drives, which are the 256 GB Samsung 470 series (MZ-5PA256). CineDeck has a FAQ, which can be viewed here, suggests a super fast PhotoFast drive for uncompressed recording. Blackmagic Design has five recommended drives including the OCZ Vertex 3 drives, which we carry – you can view the full list here. Atomos suggests that you use only Intel SSDs, however we have found the same Samsung 470 drives used in the PIX240 work nicely. Finally, the Gemini 4:4:4 from Convergent Design will only work with their own proven drives, which are chosen to guarantee the best performance.

Earlier this week, I visited Createasphere 2011 and I spent some time checking out gear that our friends from Assimilate, Litepanels, and Sony had on display.

Litepanels demoed their new Croma dual-color, on-camera light for me, as well as their Sola 4 and Hilio lights. I took a look at Sony’s PMW-TD300 fixed lens 3D camera, which features slow and quick motion recording in 3D, a first for a shoulder mounted camera. Finally, I got a tour of a new, compact DIT Station that offers Scratch 6 and is compatible with RED and ALEXA, as well as Panasonic and Sony cameras.

Watch my video above for details on all these products.

Sound Devices is known for their high-quality and robust sound recorders and mixers, so we were all surprised to see them announce a video recorder. However, after receiving our first demo units, we were not surprised to see how well made they are. Like all Sound Devices products the PIX 240 is very durable and solid. If you haven’t read about it yet, the PIX 240 records in ProRes or DNxHD formats onto SSDs or Compact Flash cards. It has both HD-SDI and HDMI inputs, as well as timecode and sync connections. And, it also works as a nice small monitor; the built-in LCD has a 800×480 resolution and wide viewing angle. Watch my video above to learn more about the PIX240 and all of its different options.

This is huge news for many reasons. Thunderbolt offers transfer speeds up to 10Gb/s, so this device will work as a fast way to download SxS cards. Anyone using a Sony XDCAM EX camera or ARRI ALEXA will love this new option, especially since most SxS card readers are USB 2.0 based. Additionally, Sonnet makes many adapters that will work with the device including a CF Card reader, SDHC card reader, SATA adaptor, USB 3.0 adapter, and a Gigabyte Ethernet adapter, allowing it to fit into a wide variety of workflows. USB 3.0 is going to start showing up on many card readers and other devices found in our business, such as the new Panasonic AJ-PCD30 P2 card reader. With the io Express or MXO2, the adapter will enable full HD input and output. So I can see many applications for the ECHO-E34 which will be available in October for $150 (you will also need to purchase a Thunderbolt cable from Apple). See a full list of Sonnet adapters and some of the other devices that it will work with here.

This is an old topic of discussion, but it always seems to come up again and again. Some cameras, such as Sony’s FS100, will record in 1080 24p, but output only 1080 60i over HDMI. The FS100 does this to make its output compatible with monitors and other devices. The internal video recording is true 24p, but the output has gone through a 2:3 pull down process, whereby the 24p is converted into 60i. Because 24 frames do not evenly split into 60 interlaced fields, this process stretches 24p into 60i which does result in some obvious interlacing artifacts. Here is a quick illustration showing how four frames (from 24p) split into interlaced fields.

For anyone wishing to record the HDMI signal coming out of the FS100, this can be a major headache. Recorders such as the Ki Pro Mini or the HyperDeck Shuttle can easily record the video coming out, but unfortunately they cannot remove the 2:3 pull down to convert the video back into 24p. Here are a couple quick examples of how to remove the pull down and get good results.

Removing 2:3 Pull Down with Apple Compressor

Compressor is available with Final Cut Pro Studio, and also available now from the App Store for only $50. With Compressor you can set up a quick setting that will remove pull down and output a video format that works best for you. In this case, I have chosen ProRes 422 (HQ) as my output format.

Step 1:  Add a video clip into the main window of Compressor.

Step 2: Drag a default Compressor setting onto the video format. I started with ProRes 422 HQ. In the following steps, we will edit these settings.

Step 3: Double-click on the setting that was just dragged in and it should appear in the Inspector window.

Step 4: In the Inspector window click on the Encoder settings, and then open the Video Settings window. In the Video Settings window change the frame rate to Custom and enter 23.976.

Step 5: In the Inspector window, click on the Frame Control setting and then enable frame control by clicking on the star symbol. Under the Deinterlace drop-down, select Reverse Telecine. This will auto-detect the cadence of the 2:3 pull down in the video and remove it.

Step 6: Save your settings. I called mine 2-3Remove. Now you can test the process on one clip by clicking submit.

Step 7: Now in the settings window, choose to save the 2-3Remove setting as a Droplet. This will make a file on your desktop (or anywhere) that, when you drag video clips onto it, starts a batch conversion process. This way you can quickly apply this setting to a number of clips.

Step 8: Try out your droplet.

Another option that I like is a program called JES Deinterlacer, which is available as a free download. It is available for Mac and PC, and I find it to be a bit faster than Compressor.

Step 1: Open JES Deinterlacer and on the Input tab select the file you would like to convert. On this same page, also make sure the Top Field First check-box is selected.

Step 2: Under the Project tab select Inverse Telecine from the top drop-down box. Then check the box for Detect cadence breaks and Output frame rate 23.976.

Step 3: Leaving Color alone, go to the Output tab and in the video output select Direct output and chose your compression option. I went with ProRes 422 HQ. You can also choose the Export option and specify a different format video to export. In the top box, select the destination where you want your files to go by clicking on Put.

Step 4: Click OK and JES will start working.

Step 5: Finally you can also turn JES Deinterlacer into a droplet for batch processing. Activate this in the Preferences dialog under File.

I did a couple of tests with footage from an FS100 with a Ki Pro Mini, which can be downloaded here – Original 60i & 24p convert. Happy deinterlacing!

To solve some of these issues, Technicolor and Canon have teamed up to release a custom Picture Style designed to increase the dynamic range of the images produced by the Canon HDSLRs. Loading the Technicolor CineStyle profile replaces the standard REC709 profile with a log color space for maximum latitude.

When you load the Picture Style with Canon’s EOS utility software, you can see that it adds the “CineStyle” profile to the standard drop down list.

I’ve included some sample images of the Canon “Standard” and “Neutral” styles compared to the Technicolor CineStyle.

Canon Standard

Canon Neutral

Technicolor CineStyle

While the Technicolor CineStyle appears flat and washed out, the low contrast image provides a true, neutral starting point for your colorist.

Technicolor has also released an S-curve LUT (Look Up Table) for Apple Color and Magic Bullet LUT Buddy. Both the Picture Style and S-curve LUT are available from Technicolor’s website here.

In addition to some of the new hardware offerings we showcased at NAB, we were also happy to introduce our revamped Digital Media Services department. As Apple Authorized Resellers, we are now able to offer complete post-production turnkey systems. We can also design and engineer multi-camera video switcher fly packs and data management solutions for productions of all sizes. I spoke with Jonathan Epner, the Director of Digital Media Services, and had him explain a few of the new services AbelCine is offering.