Is Conversion Necessary?

[Peckhammer]

I am working on a project that contains a DSLR and HDV footage. In another thread I read, the consensus seems to be that you should convert DSLR footage using a program such as Cineform.

So my question is, are there real gains to be made doing so, and what about footage shot on the XH-A1? Should that be converted too?

>--
Peckhammer

 

[Lumiere]

before i move to 64bit imac and cs5 i had to convert 7d footage. but now with new imac without gpu accelarator, ican edit natively sometimes machine seems to getting hard time but when i switch the playback resolution from full to 1/2 there is no problem at all. i've just finished a 5minutes promo video including magic bullet color correction, all done in 1 hour..i've no idea about A1 footage, but i don't think it needs conversion with cs5.

 

[Dave W]

It will depend on your version of Premiere and your computer spec. If you're running CS4, you will need to convert them to (most likely) Prores. If you're running CS5 and have a decent computer, chances are you won't need to.

Best way to find out is to shoot the footage and bring it into Premiere and see if you can manipulate the footage without performance issues. If you can't, then just convert it.