You won't believe this but I usually still edit in FCP7. I'm a coward and afraid to transition to X but now that I have the Osmo I better do it.

Today I did my first real world Osmo shoot and I tried to import but something is screwy. I shot in MOV 3840x2160 4K 30. I did a Select All, then Import All. Should I have transcoded? The clips that I drag into the timeline, can't tell if they are tanscoded yet but they look pretty bad: aliasing, not sharp. However, when I drag the MOV clip from the SD Card icon directly into QT Player, wow, it looks great!

If the rest of the timeline will be made up of 1920 x 1080 30fps clips, should I even bother shooting in 4K?

I will start learning FCPX ASAP, probably on Lynda, but can anyone tell me what I am doing wrong? Thanks!

What's the specification/configuration of the machine that you're running FCP X on? Older IMacs will struggle to edit 4K videos of any length; however, modern iMacs can handle 4K video from the Osmo without the need to transcode.

I have a late 2014 iMac and find that I can edit 4k video files straight from the camera to the timeline.

One big advantage with working in 4K and delivering in 2k or 1080p is the flexibility in the edit process -- crop, stabilize, zoom, Ken Burns, etc. You can lose a lot of pixels and still look good.

LenMiddx Posted at 2016-5-12 07:25
What's the specification/configuration of the machine that you're running FCP X on? Older IMacs will ...

Thanks Len. I am using a 27" iMac built late 2012, OS X 10.9.5, totally tricked out, using a Thunderbolt drive. I think my issue may be that I had not waited until the importing footage was totally transcoded, so probably my user error.

However, I have noticed that there are some things that are too good: Low light looks soft, out doors running water confuses the light level sensor, etc. So I feel I will only use the Osmo in certain easy situations where the light is all the same. As to my post with X I will need to just sit down and learn it.

Thanks,

Ned

ChicagoVideogra Posted at 2016-5-12 17:19
Thanks Len. I am using a 27" iMac built late 2012, OS X 10.9.5, totally tricked out, using a Thund ...

Stick with FCP 7
FCP X has about as much respect in the pro editing world as Eddie the Eagle Edwards did in the Olympics all those years ago.
If you want an editing platform that actually is future facing then look at  Avid or Premier pro.

ChicagoVideogra Posted at 2016-5-12 17:19
Thanks Len. I am using a 27" iMac built late 2012, OS X 10.9.5, totally tricked out, using a Thund ...

"...As to my post with X I will need to just sit down and learn it..."

Just start using it and you'll never look back.

I stayed with FCP 7 for about a year after X was released, and then moved over (by which time a couple of updates had taken place). The learning curve's not that steep -- and you'll like it.

The Osmo's certainly not a low-light camera, but a plug-in like NEAT Video can reduce the noise.

Out-doors, exposure can be a bit hit-and-miss like most cameras on automatic, but you should be able to fine-tune the exposure to get what you want if the shot's important and you have the time. There's a few example videos that people on this forum have published, and that include running water -- and the exposure looks good.

But, yes -- the Osmo is not a general-purpose camera, and I'll only be using it (in most cases) when it can do what my usual video camera can't.

Here is my solution: http://brorsoft.com/4k-workflow/ ... meire-and-avid.html

I'm using a 2013 21" iMac and FCPX and it struggles a bit with 4K but will do it. So I import Proxy and then switch that off when I export. That works well. Also an i7 processor is apparently much better for video than an i5.... something to do with multi-threading?

The way Apple is dragging its heels with the Mac line (yes, I know, the iMac just had a minor bump and the iMac Pro is coming soon.... yawn) I don't think they'll support FCPX or Logic much longer. We already lost Aperture and that broke my heart, it was brilliant. Why they couldn't have sold it to someone is beyond me.

So I'm seriously thinking of getting into DaVinci.... looks pretty good and the lite version is free! That or Adobe as I'm sure they'll be sticking with software for decades to come.... I don't think Apple will.

You do transcode to ProRes though right?  h.264 is crazy processor intensive. Also helps to have fast drives. I use a 20T RAID5 setup but even a smaller config with a couple of drives striped together in RAID 0 would work.

FCPX isn't going anywhere anytime soon. DaVinci is great for color correction not there as full featured editor yet however IMO.

iMac i7 and 395x GPU is the best performance at the moment.  Even better than the current trashcan Pro.  The new iMac pro will be $4K us.  Crazy money.  I cut multiple streams of 4k right now no problem on my 2015 iMac. Was working with 6 simultaneous streams in multicam earlier today.  

I hope you're right Dr Nick.... FCPX has really grown on me.... but so did Aperture and look what happened