D90 and FCE, a simple workflow?

[doublescoop]

Newbie question. I've been shooting a ton of stuff with my D90 and now I want to edit in FCE. What's the easiest way to get the best quality? Do I just import and edit and when I lock picture do I apply an effect like the d90 rescaler to the entire project? Would I be better off using another program to grade the footage before I bring it into FCE?
Thanks,

[brunsona]

Everyone defines "the best quality" differently, mostly depending on the end result of their production process. Distributing on the web has different requirements than DVD or film festival distribution.

That being said, if you need to edit a ton of footage you'll want your system to perform quickly. If you're using FCE you'll need to convert your D90 AVI footage to QuickTime using Apple's ProRes 422 codec. If you're distributing on the web, use the ProRes 422LT version. It creates smaller files with great quality. Otherwise the regular ProRes codec will work fine.

Yes, you'll want to wait to apply effects like the D90 ReScaler until after you've locked your timeline or you'll spend more time waiting for the timeline to render than playing your edit for flow. I hold off on all effects, grading, etc. until the timeline is locked unless it's necessary for the edit.

Grading the footage is best done after edit as you need to see how the clips flow into each other. It's like sweetening the audio track for the final mix.

Hope that helps,
-a-

[mattsand]

iirc you will also have to convert to 25p since fce doesn't support 24p. you can do this with my frame by frame interpreter (same package as the rescaler) or compressor and frame controls (does fce come with compressor). if you need to deliver 24p you can convert back when you're done.