Convert Canon RAW and XF-AVC to a format that Lightroom will ingest

Question

I'm trying to find a solution to my "problem" and poking down several paths. My basic problem is I'd like a "Lightroom for video" where I can save all of my footage, add tags (keywords), perhaps create groups (collections), etc. And, of course, LR allows me to search so I can say give me all the images (or footage) with these dates and these tags. LR currently does not ingest Canon's CRM files nor their XMF files.

One thought is to use Bridge but then I would have two separate places -- one for photos and one for videos to go look for things. Thats ok but Bridge adds files to each folder. I used bridge some back around 2002 but I haven't used it since and I don't recall being enthralled with its features or interface.

The other idea is to convert the footage to something else that LR would ingest. I would keep the original files. These new files would simply be "reminder" entries in LR that I could tag, etc. And then if I really wanted to use the footage, I would need to remember to go to the folder and use the real original file.

So my first question is if there are any suggesitons on other approaches to address my "problem"?

I'm currently on the second track of looking for a way to convert the raw files into something that LR will ingest. One person suggested convert the footage to CinemaDNG but it is as if CinemaDNG has pretty much been killed off. Is that right? I can't find anything about it inside Media Encoder or any generally available applications that advertise that they can output to CinemaDNG.

This new file could be an extremely reduced quality to save space. And whatever process I come up with, it needs to be as automatic as possible.

Is CinemaDNG dead? Are there any specific formats to use or to avoid for these "reminder" files? Any pointers one how to automate as much of the process as possible?

David Arbor · Answer

If you haven't used Bridge in 20 years, it's hard to say that it won't work for you now. It's not my favorite program, but it has had features added for video in the last several years. Most pieces of software that can't embed metadata directly in the file (usually because the file is a proprietary format) will store data in some sort of XML file. This is also how Lightroom works if you use your camera's native raw format and don't convert to DNG. Many apps will have an option to store this metadata in a different folder so it doesn't live next to your file, but if that data is moved or deleted, then you would lose your tagging inside the app.

Lightroom is not a video cataloging application and I wouldn't use it for that. Bridge is far more suited for what you're looking to do and you sholdn't have to convert your files.

CinemaDNG was created for raw or cinema formats and never gained the popularity that its fans wanted it to. Now that ProRes is cross-platform for both reading from and writing to, it has become an even common format for acquisition and archiving. There's no need to convert your files just so a program can view them, you should be using something that can read all of your media in its original structure and still allow you to organize and it how you want. I'm sure there are even better, more dedicated video cataloging applications out there, but since you already have access to Bridge, I'd give that a go on a single folder of video and see if you like it or still think it's not up to the job. If Bridge doesn't satisfy what you're looking for, I really don't think Lightroom will.

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