Based on what you usually see on this site, you might think came out of nowhere, but it took many hours to figure this out, and there is precious little information on the net with actual answers.
Canon’s current consumer and prosumer camcorders (HF M40, HF M41, HF M400, HF S30, HF G10, XA10, and others) encode in AVCHD, and have the ability to record in 30p. However, in the Canon specs, this is described as “30p progressive (records at 60i)”.
The common first-100-google-hits about this suggest doing one of two things:
1. Edit in a 60i (29.97i) interlaced timeline.
2. De-interlace the footage, and edit in a 29.97p timeline.
There are problems with both of these.
It’s not obvious, but it seems that the “PF30” footage (as the Canon cameras call it in their configurations) is recorded as “Progressive Segmented Frame“. In layman’s terms (and believe me, I’m a layman when it comes to this), this means an entire frame is captured in the camera, and then it’s recorded into two separate fields in the 60i recording. The two fields, together, make up the frame.
Sounds a lot like interlaced footage, right? No. With true interlaced footage, half of the frame lines are recorded in each field…but each field is 1/60 second apart. So there are no two fields which, when combined, will yield a complete frame at a single point in time.
So this demonstrates the problem with both #1 and #2 above. If you edit in an interlaced timeline, you’re using footage that isn’t really interlaced. And if you de-interlace it, you’re close but you may not end up with what the camera recorded…and, it’s an unnecessary step, since the footage isn’t interlaced.
Ideally, the editor would detect this PF30 footage, and import it as 30p. However, most editors today do not. Here’s an article about this, re the Canon XA10. In Final Cut Pro X, importing this footage just using Import From Camera will show it as 29.97i.
So what to do? I’ve found two ways to get this footage interpreted correctly as 30p by Final Cut Pro X:
1. Use ClipWrap, a third-party tool (see article). Or…
2. Simply import into FCPX twice; do something like the following:
- Use Import From Camera to import your footage into Event1.
- Then, use Import Files, and import the files in Final Cut Events / Event1 / Original Media – and copy them into a new Event2.
When you import the second time, the files are just copied over – you can compare the timestamps if you want – so you’re not losing any quality. And after you do this, you’ll see the footage after the second import is shown as 29.97p…and will not need to render if dropped into a 29.97p timeline. Whew!
When I was trying to find the difference between the first and second import, I noticed the second had the Field Dominance Override set to “Progressive”. Aha, I thought…one could simply change this setting on the original first-import footage, and it will be interpreted as 29.97p. And at first glance, it appears to work. However, if you take this footage and put it in a 29.97p timeline, it will have to render, and this should be unnecessary. Just using a second import step eliminates this problem.
So anyway, hopefully this will save someone else a few hours of research!
This was a life saver Greg, thank you SO much! I have the M400 and I’m able to get it to work now with the 29.97 but neither one of the methods work with 24fps, I’ve tried the double import trick and ClipWrap, any ideas there?
BJ, I think Compressor (if you have it) is the way to go for the 24p. It has the ability to remove the 3:2 pulldown (aka reverse telecine) from the footage, and then you can import the result into final cut.
Hi again Greg,
I’d been using the double import feature for months with great success, but since updating to FCPX 10.0.3 it doesn’t seem to work for me anymore.
Have you updated and notice this as well or know of any other workarounds?
My previous process was:
1. “import from camera” and select scene
2. close FCPX
3. reopen FCPX and “import media files”
4. Select previously imported scene from Events/Original Media
5. Now the new file would show up right alongside the original but the timestamp numbers would be separated by _ instead of :
I could instantly delete the old file with the :’s which appeared to be nothing more than a reference file at that point because looking in the Original Media folder there was still only one file. So I would delete that and be left with the same file with _ separating the timestamp numbers and it instantly acted as it should as 1080p
Now in the new version of FCPX, I get stuck at step 4 where nothing happens, no new file appears in the FCPX browser and it still reads as 1080i
Hope I’ve given enough information and if you have any suggestions, I’d love to hear…
Thanks again!
Both ways did not work for me. I have HF M40, recorded in pf30. When I bring it into FCP it still either renders when I put it to 29.97p or creates new project with 29.97i if I put the clip to empty project.
Neither Clipwrap nor the double import worked for you? If so, not sure what to tell you – they both repeatably work for me and others…
I was recording in AUTO mode with quality set to FXP . Does it make any difference?
I did couple of more tests. Indeed when camera is set to AUTO mode, both ways do not work – the clips are still marked as 29.97i. However when I set the camera to M mode, the Clipwrap works.
Interesting – thanks for the follow-up!
May I please ask for assistance with XA10 choppy staggering during recording?
If you don’t mind please any assistance welcome
Thanks
Thank you! I’ve had a Canon Vixia HF-G10 since 2011 and I thought I was going crazy because I swore that the footage was interlaced and there was nothing I could do to stop it! I downloaded Clipwrap and am trying it out now.
Thanks very much for this post. I’ve been following the links and learning lot. I have one question, though, that I’ve not been able to answer. What about Canon’s PF24 frame rate stuff. I found a simple solution to changing Canon’s PF30 to truly progressive at http://www.provideocoalition.com/psfs_missing_workflow_part_10_fcp_x but what about PF24? Same thing? I can change it to progressive easily enough, but the frame rate still reads 29.97.