If you are shooting with Sony’s cool new Hi-Def camcorders, (the FX-1 or Z1U) you will marvel how Final Cut Express makes quick work of capturing and breaking down your footage into individual browser clips without any effort on your part.

1. After launching Final Cut Express HD, bring up the Easy Setup window by pressing Control-Q on your keyboard.

Choose the appropriate HDV – Apple Intermediate Codec from the list. In most cases you will use the 1080i60 preset because this is the camera’s default setting out of the box.

2. From the file menu, choose “Capture” or press Command-8.

Note: You will need to rewind the tape in your HDV camcorder. Final Cut Express will not allow you to log and capture your footage. You will need to perform a “capture now” and if your tape is not rewound, FCE begins capturing where the playhead is currently parked.

3. Final Cut Express HD prompts you to name your incoming clip.

Final Cut Express HD begins capturing your HDV footage while transcoding it on the fly into the Apple Intermediate codec.

Note: This is where a fast G5 makes a big difference. On slower Macs, you will notice that your capture window actually lags behind the LCD monitor on your camera.

After capturing, Final Cut Express examines the clip looking for “pause” or “stop” data written into the data stream, then uses that data to create individual clips in your browser. Your source footage is now completely broken down ready for editing.

And in case you’re wondering if Final Cut Express actually makes real media clips from the movie file and not just subclips, look at this screen shot below.

Yup, those are individual media files that have been captured to your capture scratch folder. What will they think of next?