I mentioned awhile ago that I'd directed and shot a project that ended up using 14 cameras to cover a 5 piece Jazz band performance.
I'm trying to shoehorn the edit for it inside other work but I thought the group might be interested in a quick initial report since most people who've done posts on FCP-X's multi-cam have been working with less than a half dozen sources.
The shoot involved 7 DSLR's (5dMkIIs) - and an another 7 GoPro Hero 2's.
The initial shoot went much better than I expected - not without issues since wrangling 4 directed cameras - 3 fixed position DSLRS - and 7 fixed position micro-cams means a LOT of logistics issues. (took us well over a minute on each take just to confirm all were running properly!)
I've included a screen shot of an early test to see if X would bog down with 12 angles of Proxy media (it handled it like a CHAMP) and I've been working with all 14 since then. On my older MacPro with the 30" Cinema Display there is a modest bit of switching lag to get used to - but the clips all play back in sync in the interface really well!
I'm going to move it onto the laptop this week and see if the i7 Duo makes things even smoother.
Bottom line is that Yes, Virginia, FCP-X can handle bunches of multi-cam angles pretty amazingly well for a $300 editing package.
I also haven't had a single editing issue of any kind since 10.0.4 hit my machines including on this complex beast.
My biggest issue so far has been working out naming conventions for my assets and clips. With 12 cameras times two songs, times two performances each, Plus a "behind the scenes" steadi-cam shot that went from setup through the songs and beyond - plus another GOPro doing time-lapse covering the production, the tagging scheme has not been as straightforward as I initially thought and I had to puzzle out stuff like whether I wanted to "bucket" things by instrument, or angle, or solo, or camera position or whatever - in addition to the song/take info.
But I've been having a whole lot of fun - and I'm learning a whole lot about this new world.
More to come as I dig deeper.
"Before speaking out ask yourself whether your words are true, whether they are respectful and whether they are needed in our civil discussions."-Justice O'Connor
