My 7D workflow

The Canon EOS 7D records video natively in the h264 codec which is not optimized for video editing. So before importing 7D footage into Final Cut Pro I need to convert it into something FCP can handle natively.
My codec of choice is Apples ProRes (LT) codec that has a bitrate of 85Mbps in 1920×1080 25fps which is about 30Mbps more than the native h264 codec the 7D records.

I’ve seen some people (e.g. Vincent Laforet) write about their 7D workflows, telling that they convert it to the standard ProRes codec, resulting in a 122Mbps file in 1920×1080. I don’t see any advantage in having higher bitrates when the source material is already compressed but I may be wrong. You can always correct me in the comments.

If you’re working on Final Cut Studio you can convert the h264 footage with Apples Compressor, but I prefer Squared 5’s MPEG Streamclip. In my opinion it is much faster, batch processing works more reliable and gives me the same results as Compressor. And it is free! Download it for mac here!

After converting and importing my footage into FCP I usually start editing and treat the footage as I would my old XDCAM clips, but when it comes to postproduction and colorgrading I found one very useful tool to eliminate camera noise resulting from higher ISO rates: Neat Video. They have a specific plugin for FCP which takes quite long to render but it is by far the best noise remover I’ve seen. In one of my upcoming articles I’ll post some before and after pictures when using Neat Video including a more in-depth review of the software.

Update: I’ve added one more step to my workflow. Read about it here.