Editing HMC150 footage

[custerc]

So I'm shooting my first feature length documentary right now, using an HMC150 and a 60D. I will be editing with Premiere Pro CS5, although the edit is still a long way down the road so if final cut pro X really sets the world on fire I might consider it.

Anyway, currently I'm just storing all my footage by completely preserving the file structure of the cards when they come out of the camera. However, in the long term this won't make for very convenient editing. I've read people say that one should convert all footage to an "editing format" anyway, but I honestly don't know what that really means or why it's necessary.

My HMC, of course, came with some panasonic software for logging footage (I think?) but my computer's optical drive is very dead, so I haven't been able to install it.

My question is: what is out there that I could use to properly log (and convert) my HMC (and 60d if possible) footage so that I can rename the files and restructure folders to make editing much easier? What do you recommend?

I really know nothing about this, so don't assume any kind of knowledge. I've done some doc shorts but they have had comparatively little footage (a few hours) so I've just edited using the AVCHD files as they appear on the cards, not that hard to browse through ten clips to find what you want. But 1,000 clips is a different story...

 

[Denwa]

I just use avcamviwer to pull off the card and inport the files into my NLE. Some NLE's give you the option of copying the files into your project folder. SOme NLE's (FCP for one) do NOT like a tampered with file structure. Others could are less.

 

[8string]

I have a RAID array that I put all the raw card file data on, with upper level folder ids. (i.e. Projectname, IDinfo, etc). Then I bring in clips to my NLE (either Vegas or FCP in my case, depending on the project). My folder structure is PROJECTNAME ID# (i.e. Smith Wedding 2011_001, Smith Divorce 2011_002), and under that folders for RAW FOOTAGE, CLIPS, PROJECT FILES (like Vegas project files or FCP project names), GRAPHICS (or artwork), STILLS, AUDIO, DRAFTS, FINAL OUTPUT.

When I archive these folders, I am guaranteed of having the whole project in one location. Not sure how Adobe forces you to store data, so you need to investigate that. FCP is very strict, Vegas is pretty loose. There's a lot more to this, but you can start from there.