1 Correct answer
Shucks, I don't get to break the news on anything anymore...
Premiere Pro 4.2 does in fact add AVC-I and offers some additional fixes too. Should be out soon.
Regards,
Dennis
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Replies
Yo Dennis (how'd you know I have a Brooklyn accent?? Even worse, born in Jersey. lol!), I'll make this request a good one, because I think there's something big happening here. I've now had Production Premium since it shipped last year and the 5D2 since January, and most of 2009 has been welding all this together. We'll get there! And skip all the whiners and gripers, this 5D2 is from another planet (especially for still images, it's nuts). I'm not sold on the 7D yet, cramming 18 million cells on a crop sensor just makes them too small, you lose the great low-light advantage of a full frame sensor's larger cells (over 6 microns...). But, we'll see what Canon did in the firmware, they have some excellent engineering over there.
Hunt, thanks for the advice, I'll keep it as lean as I can... nobody reads 4-page resumes any more either. Oh, you can drop the "n" in my name, I think that's for dames. 
PaulieDC wrote:
Yo Dennis (how'd you know I have a Brooklyn accent?? Even worse, born in Jersey. lol!), I'll make this request a good one, because I think there's something big happening here. I've now had Production Premium since it shipped last year and the 5D2 since January, and most of 2009 has been welding all this together. We'll get there! And skip all the whiners and gripers, this 5D2 is from another planet (especially for still images, it's nuts). I'm not sold on the 7D yet, cramming 18 million cells on a crop sensor just makes them too small, you lose the great low-light advantage of a full frame sensor's larger cells (over 6 microns...). But, we'll see what Canon did in the firmware, they have some excellent engineering over there.
Hunt, thanks for the advice, I'll keep it as lean as I can... nobody reads 4-page resumes any more either. Oh, you can drop the "n" in my name, I think that's for dames.
Okay, last post of the night.
Fuggedaboutit! Jersey? What exit? Mine's 7a. Really... I've lived in NJ for nearly my whole life and in a humorous turn of events defend it on the airplane when people give me that look when I tell them I'm from Jersey. It's called the Garden state for a reason you know! 
Yup, know all about the 5D vs. the 7D and am inclined to go with the 5D. Saw a rumor site that said 5D can do 24FPS with firmware update but the rolling shutter artifacts are too extreme right now.
Anyway, right now, the simple way to use 5Dmk2 footage is to convert it. I know, bummer, but it works and it works well and it works in the background. Create a watch folder with AME convert it to a file of your choosing (I use P2) and cut hard...
Cheers,
Dennis
Just added my feature request to the pile for the 5D2. And I hope Adobe will jump on this request with both feet! There is such a demand for this camera that even B&H can only get 300 pieces at a time and those sell out as soon as they arrive.
The 7D adds 24fps and 720p, but is not a full-frame sensor, so you'r right back to limitless DoF and limited wide angle lenses. The real draw of the 5D2 is the ability to shoot with an 85mm f/1.2 or a 17mm f/4. I agree that, if Adobe can get this right, there is a whole new market waiting for them. 
All good feedback here! Honestly, after much sweat and forum-squinting over the last 10 months, I think we have a good workflow with NeoScene and an i7 920 to the rescue. BUT, I still think Adobe can seize the moment by shining the spotlight on this newcomer (the DSLRV that is) and not just expect the still photogs to know what to do and where to turn now that big video is in their life. I'm on the photographer boards and believe me, they don't have a CLUE, they need guidance. they think Roxio 8 will probably work for them. On my own I inhaled Lynda.com videos and Adobe CIB for Premiere and went everywhere I could to understand video over the last several months. THIS forum is advanced, you guys probably don't think so, but your normal speak would make a new guy shaky. I eat it up when you talk video. That's why I say Adobe could become that big brother to all of its Photoshop devotees that are totally clueless about what NLE even stands for or what timebase means (I was there). I mean, for pete's sake, Adobe has all of the TOOLS to offer, but because Vincent Laforet used FCP on Reverie, they figure they're supposed to (seriously). I want to break that assumption and start waving the Adobe flag. Imagine an ad with the purple/black Production Premium box next to a 5D2 or 7D with the caption "The Perfect Match", with smaller text talking about how much the new DSLRV shooter can do with PP CS4. Us still guys would leap all over that. It's not too late with the release of the 7D.
Yes, I'll copy and paste some of this in my plea to Adobe. Where's that Marketing Director, we need to talk!
But you never know - there may be a 4.3 update...
Hey, I already lost my bet that the next release would be CS5. I'm staying out of any CS4.3 discussion - I'm broke!
Hunt
UCDG - Where on the Adobe site do you see anything that says Adobe will not support the Canon 5D and similar cameras? Adobe can play them right now natively, just not very well. We offer a transcoding solution through the Adobe Media Encoder today. Finally, we have every intention of supporting it better via native solution as soon as possible.
Let me be clear - Adobe has the best native support in the NLE space today and we don't plan on changing that any time soon. The problem becomes supporting the most important ones as quickly as possible. Right now the Canon scores pretty high in this area!
Dennis
Hey Dennis, I didn't get a chance to respond the other day when you asked why I don't use AME to convert 5D2 files to an editable format in Pr CS4. Get ready, here somes the big answer: I didn't know you could! (DOH!!). OK, it's probably a no-brainer, but here's a perfect scenario of how all of this DSLR/Video stuff has gone in the last 12 months. This may be long but I hope it adds insight. The events:
- 5D2 gets release, and many of us still-photo shooters buy one (when you CAN) and go bananas over video. We're hooked, plain and simple. Veteran video folks start rolling eyes all over the country, lol.
- We get the camera, and realize we need Photoshop CS4 to open RAW natively, and while we're at it, we need Premiere, so we figure, just hunker down and spend the bucks on Production Premium CS4. I actually preordered it 4 months before I even reeled in a 5D2. ::::bowing left:::: :::::bowing right:::
- We load up PP CS4 and try our hand at video, and notice out three year old computers sort of choke and sputter. We have no idea WHY (remember, we're still clueless at this point, we think Roxio 8 from 2006 will probably do us just fine).
- So we hit the PC boards and discover we're insane trying to edit video on a Dell laptop or a HP with a P4 processor, SO, we (meaning "I") build an Intel i7 rig with 12GB ram and three disk systems and two graphics cards SLI'd together (then sell one of the cards when we later discover that Premiere doesn't leverage GPU, and yes, I know that's coming!!).
- Now our raw 5D2 .MOVs play smooth as silk in QT and WMP! Yahoo!! So we import into Premiere, and chunk, chunk, chunk... barely editable. OK, now what?? Back to the forums... come across a bunch on video editors who aren't all that accomodating (not Adobe.com, I'm talking other sites... hadn't found you guys yet), but one of them states that Premiere cannot edit 5D2 video, you need FCP. Huh??? So now I have this wrong notion that Adobe "can't support" my camera, and I should have taken out a mortgage and bought Mac hardware and FCP. Ouch. (hang with me, it gets better).
- I come across this thread that talks about this NeoScene thing, so out goes another $99 (at VideoGuys.com, cheaper than Cineform's site BTW). I get it, convert files, and it works!! Smooth editing video in Premiere! Yippee! I then notice my audio is out of sync. NOW what?? Why did that happen?? Plus the files are DOUBLE the size now, which is OK, but backup space eats up real quick-like. (BTW, turns out the 8/12/2009 NeoScene update fixed the audio issue).
- Finally I'm churning out projects, and everything works. Hooray! After months of hair pulling but I finally pieced it together (BTW, have a look out there on other sites, many 5D2 owners are still whining, not knowing all this, and still expecting their 2004 HP $399 desktop to edit video). NOW I have to really dig into Premiere and learn this app and editing in general.
- So the time spent recently has been in Premiere CiaB and Lynda.com videos about Premiere and downloading Podcasts for my iPhone about, you guessed it, Premiere (including instructing in general editing in an NLE regardless of version). I've got several books and websites marked. BUT, there are other parts of this puzzle, called AME and AE and Encoder and bears oh my. How do I use those to my best ability?
Now, you came along and tell me I've had the ability to convert my 5D2 files with AME! That's great! But as you can see in the progression of events, how or where would I have found that out at this point in time, right? I'm still eating Premiere, I haven't had a chance to even eat any part of the AME or AE or Encore elephant yet... good thing I know Photoshop inside and out, one less elephant to eat. So THAT'S why I wouldn't even know you could convert 5D2 files with AME. Of course, NOW I realize it should have been something obvious to try, but, I can only eat one elephant at a time!
So, you keep hearing "what about native support in Premiere? FCP has native support!". That's because most still photog's are 100% absolutely clueless about what video is all about (I'm getting better, I actually now know what timebase and 4:2:2 means... ). FCP doesn't natively support the 5D Mark II, FCP happens to have, by coincidence, the right H.264 support (I guess that's why raw video runs in QT OK?). Plus, I've never heard that Apple embraced the 5D2 specifically at all. Here's where all that comes from: when Vincent Laforet did the Reverie video in September 2008 with a pre-prod 5D2, people saw it and went nuts and wanted to do video (yeah, me included). Reverie hit 1 million downloads the first weekend and literally shut the Canon servers down, something they never expected (this will make sense in 10 more seconds). In an interview, Vincent says" the 5D Mark II is incredible and with a few good lenses you can make amazing video so easily." He then states "the 5D Mark II files open right up and edit smoothly, just a breeze to work with." THAT was the line that most people got "confused" with. Vincent was a sports shooter for the NY Times, but his father was a major movie and video producer and Vincent was on sets in his growing years all the time. He had LOTS of exposure to movie and video production. Plus Vincent has these insanely powerful rack-mounted Apple servers in his studio, as well as the full FCS. No KIDDING he was able to edit video smoothly (translation: he also knew what he was doing, it's not just the gear). However, many interpreted that as "Buy a 5D2, pop the files on your PC and be a happy video dude."
Naturally when I bought Production Premium I expected the same ease Laforet talked about. It didn't happen, and you read all I went through. So when NeoScene got discovered and "saved the day", we all believed it was the ONLY solution to edit in Premiere, so hence the outcry of "why doesn't Adobe make Premiere support the 5D2"... see the connection? Premiere will work. Us inexperienced newcomers need direction on making it work. We don't even KNOW that AME can help us, however that would be. That's where Adobe could seize the moment and captialize on the DSLR newcomer. I'm talking marketing marketing marketing, the tools are there, and the training is there. Us video newcomers need to be told we need it. Then our responsibility is to do the work of learning the video world properly and thoroughly. For me it's been a blast! I was crazy enough to drink out of a firehose for the last 12 months but others will need some coaching.
I've submitted all of this to Adobe in the feature request, but really it is marketing advice. There's not so much a needed feature in Pr, photographers just need some help in knowing how to make their DSLR video work in Premiere, just to get started. Presets that say Canon 5D Mark II or even 1080p DSLR Video would be a huge start!
Hope this long-winded soap-box shed some light on the new brand of customer Adobe now has.
That's OK Dennis, there's bigger fish to fry. You don't really have to respond (unless you'd like to), I just got chatty and decided to publish "Confessions of a Newbie". 
I admit, I'm a die hard Adobe nut, look at all we can do these days...
It's a good time to be a videographer, editor and/or photographer!
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