There is a workaround here but you must be careful! You have to spoof the version number of Mac OS X. (This also works for Snow Leopard and the Canon XF plugin)

Open -> Terminal

Type: sudo nano -w /System/Library/CoreServices/SystemVersion.plist

Enter you password.

You'll get this:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "www.apple.com/DTDs$
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
<key>ProductBuildVersion</key>
<string>12A269</string>
<key>ProductCopyright</key>
<string>1983-2012 Apple Inc.</string>
<key>ProductName</key>
<string>Mac OS X</string>
<key>ProductUserVisibleVersion</key>
<string>10.8</string>
<key>ProductVersion</key>
<string>10.8</string>
</dict>
</plist>

---

Change both places where it says: <string>10.8</string> to: <string>10.7</string>
and ctrl-O to save.
----

Install the XF plugin and then make sure you set these back to 10.8! (also, it's a good idea to backup the SystemVersion.plist file before you edit it)

Thanks for taking the trouble to post, benherb4. I'm not sure I'm brave enough to try. I mean, look at my user name...

But it seems fairly straght forward and if I back up as you suggest...

Hmm. I'll gather my courage during the day and see if I dare try it. If it works its better than waiting two months for Canon to write a simple app.

Thanks again.

That issue only comes up if you buy a new Mac with ML preinstalled, or if you install ML onto a wiped disk. If you "just" upgrade, there's no problem.

Almost, ccbier.

I bought a new Mac with lion installed, then upgraded it to ML onto a disc that was not wiped, ie, had all the apps on except XF Utility - and there's the rub.

If XF had already been on, I think I'd have been ok.

So, if you're planning an upgrade to ML, I suggest you make sure you've got everything on you need, or that whatever you might want to add, is ok with ML.

I'm going to try the workaround suggested above and will report on whether that works, today or tomorrow.

What a saga!

Benhereb4 - I owe you one large beer! Or Several.

The workaround worked. Fingers trembled, heart stopped a few times but gritted the old teeth, followed your instructions to the letter, and now have XF working on ML. Everything seems fine and the importer plugin for Canon files is also working in FCPX.


Thanks again.

Just to round this off: make sure XF utility (and probably other apps also) are already on BEFORE you upgrade to ML. There might still be problems, but this seems sensible right now.

I fortunately still have FCP7 to fall back on in this situation but it's still an annoying extra step and shows how inept Canon is in regards to their software. Sure you should check if your software is still compatible but my Retina MBP shipped with ML... Kind of ridiculous Canon are waiting months to update such an essential plugin. It's not like ML was any kind of surprise. I wonder if they'll ever actually release an update, seeing as 10.0.6 is rumored to have MXF support

Totally agree, Super_Plus. Canon need a swift kick up the corporate butt. They try hard to sell these cameras then ignore such a basic and simple piece of software that allows you to use the damn things. "Wait until October...maybe."

Fortunately, the two methods mentioned in this thread both allow you to get Canon files into FCPX. The one by benhereb$ is maybe best as it lets you install the Canon utility but make sure you know what you're doing. I took a risk and it works fine. Good luck.

@ Stewpid.

I need to edit a project from a Canon FX100 in the next few days, and the client brought in a CF card today with some test footage, which I copied to my desktop using finder. Anyhow what I have is a folder called:

14/09/2012 JUVENILLE ARTHRITIS ( 1 ) / CLIPS001 and within there, there are a whole bunch of individual folders.

AA0272
AA0273
AA0274 etc....

I've followed benhereb4 insructions and managed to install xpfm-2-1-0-6-9l, however when I open FCPX and try opening the 14/09/2012 JUVENILLE ARTHRITIS ( 1 )/CLIPS001 folder, I get the following error message.



Any suggestions?

Also will I need have the XF Utility installed for this to work?

Hi Blimpmedia (some great user names on this forum!)

I'm no computer expert so please be aware... But, I know you don't need BOTH xpfm and XF utility. They do the same job, basically. Although XF has a few more features, both will get your Canon XF footage into FCPX at identical quality.

So, any way you can get either in is fine. I sometimes have problems finding files with XF U so my advice would be to fire up FCPX and put the card into a card reader, rather than transfer anything to the computer directly. You can try (in FCPX) "open a new camera archive" to see if that works, and if not, try "import from camera", both with the card in the reader.

Have you tried installing the Canon plug in? That's what benhereb4's workaround allows you to do. That's what ultimately solved my problem.

I suspect that's not much help but it's about the limit of my knowledge in this area. Hopefully someone else can chip in. Good luck.

Hi Blimpmedia (some great user names on this forum!)

Thanks Stewpid

Regarding some of your questions:

• fire up FCPX and put the card into a card reader

Heres problem number 1. I don't have the CF card, I actually copied the content from the card to my desktop via finder. From what I understand in the above posts, I guess I should have used the XF Utility to do this, wish I researched this before handing the card back.

• You can try (in FCPX) "open a new camera archive" to see if that works, and if not, try "import from camera", both with the card in the reader.

No go... Can't try this as I don't have the card.

• Have you tried installing the Canon plug in? That's what benhereb4's workaround allows you to do. That's what ultimately solved my problem.

Yep that's what I did, thanks to benhereb4's workaround I managed to successful installing the plugin. For anyone who want's to attempt this, heres my 2cents worth, MAKE SURE YOU MAKE A COPY of the SystemVersion.plist before attempting it. I managed to screw up my first attempt, but luckily for that copy I restored it right away.

So at this stage with all of my attempts above, and not having the CF card, I managed to workaround the re-wrapping by XfcpX2, which might I add WORKED PERFECTLY. So at this stage I'll get by with this plugin till Canon release their ML update in October.

One question though, the guy who gave me the test footage said he shot the footage in 1920x1080 50i, however when I import the media in FCPX, it show otherwise?

Any idea why?

Well, I'm glad you got the footage in ok, albeit after a bit of a saga.

I don't have an answer re why "i" would show as "p". I wonder if you have a transcoding setting that could be doing it? Again, I won't be much help on this. My skills are in actual editing, rather than knowing how programs work. As long as the buttons I push do what I want, that's the limit of my inqusitiveness!

You could post a separate thread if it's a problem. Cheers.

@ Stewpid,

Thought you'd be interested in my findings today.

I decided to call the chap that wants me to edit footage from his XF100 this weekend, and explained it was extremely important we try nudge these problems out before Sunday.


Anyhow he popped around today and brought his camera again. I plugged the cable in, opened FCPX, and yet again I was unable to read the files on the CF Card. I took the cards out, inserted one of my own, formated it and shot a 10sec test shot. We'll what do you know, after opening FCPX, the file came straight up.

I thought we'll let me see how the tree structure looks in finder. I noticed the main folder was called CONTENTS, then CLIPS, then the individual files inside.

I when back to his cards and noticed the CONTENTS folder was missing. I asked him, is there any change someone played with the files on this card, he turns and answers, oh yeah I decided to rename the folder to keep track of the job that was on the card..!

YEP..and there you have it, EVERYONE calls themselves a professional

Also the other thing I found was bringing the files in from FCPX kept the files as 1920x1080 50i, but attempting to convert them using the XfcpX2 app, changed the files from interlaced to progressive... VERY INTERESTING!

Well,it's good to know both FCPX and the XF utility weren't to blame. And it's sort of hard to blame clients, at least to their face!

Greetings.

I had no issues with using my XF105 with FCPX on Lion and it also worked fine after upgrading to Mountain Lion.

Unfortunately, my MBP didn't have the utility installed prior to upgrading to ML and, as is well known here, it was too late after.

HOWEVER, thanks to what's written above, I was able to get the installation completed and all is working fine.

So thanks a ton!

For the record, my MBP is a May 2011 device running OSX ML Version 10.8.2.

Thanks for your post, this allowed me to get the installation done and continue doing what I need to do!

Sincerely,

Adrian

All's well that ends well. Can't think where I heard that...

It is a William Shakespeare play title.

Very true. Shakespeare also wrote about FCP X in Hamlet:

"Though this be madness, yet there is method in 't.".

"We have nothing but beer, and beer itself!"
- Some Famous Dude

"That way madness lies" King Lear by the same geezer.

I'm pleased to see even more kulcha on this great site.