Blackmagic Raw on FCP 7?

Hi guys,

Having been out of the editing scene for far too long, I've been offered an absolute gem of a film to edit. However, it's shot on Blackmagic Raw. Is there any way I'd be able to edit this on FCP 7 using my 2009 Mac Pro?

Won't work directly, you'll need to transcode.

Might be better to try and learn Resolve. You can operate 15 on that MacPro or you can try 16, even if it's not officially supported under High Sierra. Which GPU do you have?

Won't work directly, you'll need to transcode.

Might be better to try and learn Resolve. You can operate 15 on that MacPro or you can try 16, even if it's not officially supported under High Sierra. Which GPU do you have?

Hi Uli, thank you for your reply.

I have an NVIDIA GE Force GT 120, running on an 8 Core Mac Pro. I'm also on El Capitan and not High Sierra.

When you say Transcode, do you mean transcode the 4K to something like ProRes?

I will also look into Resolve today.

Yes, transcode to ProRes.
Your GPU is also insufficient, but I doubt it really makes sense to upgrade that machine.

Why not get a current iMac for such a camera?

Yes, transcode to ProRes.
Your GPU is also insufficient, but I doubt it really makes sense to upgrade that machine.

Why not get a current iMac for such a camera?

Thanks Uli. My plan is to upgrade this machine later this year. I just wasn't expecting to get such a top project so waited. And then when it came, it came in this format.

Can I use Compressor on my machine to transcode it? Or would that also not be possible?

your computer will not play or transcode BRAW with your specs!

need mojave and a AMD GPU supports metal
cheapest is the sapphire pulse RX580 8GB (200.-)
and premiere 2020 with plugin or better resolve 16

your computer will not play or transcode BRAW with your specs!

need mojave and a AMD GPU supports metal
cheapest is the sapphire pulse RX580 8GB (200.-)
and premiere 2020 with plugin or better resolve 16

Thanks Mark. I've gone back to the drawing board again and have asked the director if he could convert the files to ProRes for me to try on my FCP7.

Failing that, I'll need to bring forward my purchase of an updated Mac from end of year to now.

I had to use FCP 7 to open and old project. That experience was the equivalent of looking at a dinosaur. That was 2 years ago. How long have you been out of the game

Why not try Resolve (as others have suggested)? Hell, even Premiere is better at this point just simply because it hasn't been dead for 10 years.

Also, it might be better to work with the original codec rather than encoding the files to ProRes. I don't know whether encoding the BRAW files to Prores before they have been color corrected has any negative effects on the original BRAW files (others can chime in on that), but it sounds like it's time to upgrade that Mac if you want to edit this project properly. So you should honestly assess whether you can work on/edit this project properly with your current set-up. Doesn't look like it imo.

Good luck.

I had to use FCP 7 to open and old project. That experience was the equivalent of looking at a dinosaur. That was 2 years ago. How long have you been out of the game

FCP 7 is still in wide use and actually was used to edit the film Parasite, which won an Oscar this year for Best Picture

IMHO, DR has more similarities with FCP7 than it's sucessor, FCP-X.

FCP 7 is still in wide use and actually was used to edit the film Parasite, which won an Oscar this year for Best Picture

Wow Brad. That's actually amazing. I did not know that. I can't imagine what that workflow was like. The question I have though, is why? FCP 7 is terrible by today's standards. Some people just refuse to move on I guess. Kinda like those Japanese soldiers stranded on remote islands that refused to acknowledge that WW2 had been over for like 30 years.

I'm actually going to look into how Parasite was shot/edited (do you know Brad?). Wouldn't be surprised if the editor used some low res proxies and then they exported an EDL to finish it on something else. No way that was colored/finished on FCP 7 (but I guess anything is possible with enough money/time/determination). (Edit: yep, ProRes HD proxies: https://blog.frame.io/2020/01/13/parasi ... n-and-vfx/)

I think it would be better for OP to edit this on a system that can handle BRAW, however (like Resolve).

Some people just refuse to move on I guess. Kinda like those Japanese soldiers stranded on remote islands that refused to acknowledge that WW2 had been over for like 30 years.

I think it's more that they are so efficient after spending so many years working with the same system that upgrading to anything else would entail a big productivity hit for months until they get used to the new software. I agree that switching to Resolve for editing would be less of a learning curve than switching from FCP7 to FCPX; many of the default keyboard shortcuts for editing in Resolve are the same as those in FCP 7, and Resolve is a traditional track-based NLE unlike FCPX (which is incredibly efficient but takes some time to understand).

There were actually two Oscar-winning pictures this year edited on older or non-standard NLEs -- FCP 7 and Lightworks (used for The Irishman). I think it was the same reason for both: the editors were so experienced and proficient in using these NLEs, anything else would have slowed them down or stifled their creativity.