EX1 Workflow - Copy or Import?

A

alichek

New member
Just picked up my EX1. Testing it out, looks awesome. Can't find an answer however to the question about what to do with footage on the cards.

Is there any advantage to copying folders that contain mp4's with metadata with clip viewer and import to FCP later? Or should I import straight to FCP from cards?

And then, with either of the two options, how do i back up? Seems that if I copy, then import to FCP using a folder on another drive i'll get two copies. However that seems like too much to do if I have to offload a card quickly in the field.

I have a shoot coming up on Monday. Probably won't bother with backup on this job but need to figure out the import/copy dilemma.

Thanks for advice.
Alec.
 
Alec,
First, make sure you have the latest version of XDCAM Transfer 2.5.1. Then, open Final Cut. Insert the card. In FCP Import XDCAM, it will now appear in your drop down Import menu. It'll automatically open the Transfer program. All the clips need to be named. Then select All and hit the Import tab at the bottom of the screen. It'll then load into FCP with named clips. Click over to FCP and watch them fill in to a bin. Then, in the Finder, name the Camera card (Camera 1, Scene 4,5,6 or something) and drag the BPAV file from it over to the Final Cut file with the new corresponding name (all the clips are importing into that card file while you do this). The BPAV Must be moved wherever the clips go in FCP---it's the codec. This all takes a few minutes, but it's a routine you need to get into. Finally, drag that file you named and added the BPAV to over to a backup hard drive. Depending on the size of the card/file, this can take about 5 minutes.
 
I'm not sure I follow you. When I import into FCP i create .mov files from the mp4's plus metadata in the folders. I'm able to work with it without copying anything else. Codec is already there to read it.

When I copy the BPAV folder, with the clip browser or in the finder, i copy the data from the card. Then if I copy it to a backup drive, as you suggest it seems I've made three copies, 1 in FCP and two copies of card data. Am I confusing something here?
 
I'm coming from a PC-centric workflow, but the concept should be the same:

I make folders on the system hard drive with the following hierarchy:

Date ----> Card number ---> BPAV (and all the subfolders)

The idea here is to make a perfect backup copy that you can use like the data on the original cards. All options are preserved this way.

Other options are to import and rewrap from the card/camera, but you have fewer options with what you can do with the files. It is best to preserve ALL meta data.
 
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