Downloading from FS700 to Mac?

S

Scott Ransom

Member
What are you FS700 shooters doing to download material from cards to a Mac based system? Need Windows right? What is the most efficient way to create a workflow. Cheers SR
 
EDIT: DM beat me to it.


I don't have a FS700 yet but I'd imagine it wouldn't be much different from any other camera.

Pull out the SD card from the camera
Stick in into a card reader
Drag and drop the files to your computer.
Convert to whatever flavor you like. (Optional)

Unless I'm mistaken.
 
Macs write invisible files to external drives so it's recommended to lock SD cards before inserting them into Apple computers.
 
Am using FCPX, sucking in AVCHD as per usual, transcoding for more involved edits. As previously mentioned, ClipWrap for transforming your rushes into something for FCP7 edits and CS6 edits if I'm not the editor (CS6 would deal with AVCHD natively, but if I have time, ProRes is nicer).

Sony's Content Management Utility software is only there as an 'if you don't currently own anything that will handle our rushes, this will work' option. Ideally, Sony would release APIs and nurture a developer network so that they'd create the stuff we'd buy to pull FS footage into any edit system, but Sony 'have to' supply something in the box to prevent what happened to the JVC HD100's implementation of HDV.
 
More information Scott. FCP or CS6? I use CS6 on a Mac Pro. Just open up the card and copy the files to your RAID. Import and play. With Final Cut Pro 7 you have to use the pain in the ass Log and Transfer.
 
I always bring my Macbook Pro.... just take out the SD card from the camera, insert the card directly into the MBP and drag and drop. Why is this an issue?? I didn't even have to look in the manual, I just tried it per intuition when I got the camera.

Adobe programs have no problem eating MTS files when in 24 / 25p, even with sound. But ClipWrap is a nice little program to convert the files into Prores or what ever.

So in short and in cement... NO, you do not need a windows machine to get the files out.
 
Not sure why the OP would think the FS700 wouldn't work with a Mac?

My Mac workflow is to use FCPX's Camera Archive tool to make a copy of the SD card on my Backup drive then import into the Event from the archive. This way I have 3 copies of the media and have another level of organisation.

I found that it took a considerable time for the FS100 to connect to FCPX and using a card reader was by far a better solution.
 
Peter
I have FCPX and Mac Pro. Above advice all looks pretty solid and easy.....I just didn't understand why the Management dvd wouldn't have a Mac version. But I think I'm set now......Thanks
SR
 
Panasonic recomends ShotPut Pro for coping, & verifying, AVCHD files to Macs. Imagine it be just as good with Sony's files.
 
I've got a 2012 MacBook Pro with SD card reader, running Mountain Lion (10.8). When I insert the card from the FS700, I only see a folder called "private" containing a file called "AVCHD" and an empty "SONY" folder.

Few things I've found:
Double-clicking the AVCHD file brings up an "Open Clip" Quicktime window, showing an index of your shots. You can highlight multiple items to open at once. But this only opens them in Quicktime.
Dragging the AVCHD file into ClipWrap lists all of your shots (00001, 00002, 00003, etc) and you can rewrap/transcode/etc.
Right-clicking the AVCHD file and choosing "Show Package Contents" reveals another similar file, in my case it's called "BDMV". Right-clicking and choosing "Show Package Contents" again brings up the normal folder structure (CLIPINF folder, PLAYLIST folder, STREAM folder with MTS files in it).

Of course, I'm sure everything still shows up fine in FCP's Log and Transfer, but as I'm moving over the CS6 I'm trying to find the best workflow. Right now, seems like ClipWrap is the easiest.
 
@jshbckr...

what you're experiencing is perfectly normal - all this 'private' 'stream' nonsense is to scare off 'mere mortals' from mucking around in there.

FCPX will import your footage using the standard import menu, but you can go through ClipWrap if you want to use FCP7.

Adobe Premiere will use the AVCHD in its native state, but first copy off the whole disk contents to your hard drive. If you navigate to your copy via Premiere, it will use the files natively.

Premiere has a preference setting that, if set incorrectly, will re-save all your original files with Premiere metadata, thus rendering it unusable by the camera and by some other software. IMHO it needs to be turned off so it writes separate 'side car' files. A bit of googling will explain how and why.

But the basic good news is that CS6 and FCPX will take your FS700 rushes 'au naturel', park them somewhere safe and look after them without you necessarily having to open 'Private' folders.
 
I primarily use the AF100, but imagine some of the same issues exist with Sony's AVCHD files.

Macs write invisible files to external drives, so to be safe lock your SD cards before inserting them into the computer.

It's also best to copy your PRIVATE folder to the computer, or another external, before transcoding. I always download to two external drives before reusing any card. Drag & Drop works, but the safest method is to use ShotPut Pro, which will verify the data, & dupe to two externals, but the higher the verification is set the longer the copying will take.

Lastly there was a quirk with the MacBook Pros that occasionally corrupts part of the transcode. The quirk is related to QuickTime, & programs that use it's engine, such as FCP 7. The AVCHD original wil not be affected, & if the footage is retranscoded most likely the issue won't show up. I don't know why this primarily affects the Mac laptops, & have never seen it occur with Towers. If you use ClipWrap, or other programs, that don't use QuickTime's engine then this issue will not surface.
 
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