XAVC/AVCHD workflow? import, proxies?

[Ivanturas]

Hey everyone! Just got my first Alpha... love it! Coming from Nikon (had a D7500, and a D90 before that... and an N65QD first), just getting started dipping my toes in the Sony ecosystem with an A6400 before diving deeper, and I'm a little lost as to the folder structure + ingest/workflow.

I do remember working with some Sony footage before, but most of the times I was given transcoded footage, which isn't always the best choice. Besides, I did notice I have the option of recording proxies as well, which is awesome, but then again, that folder structure, while I'm sure makes perfect sense in terms of indexing, performance, and whatever metadata there is, it just feels too convoluted to be something that should be just transferred copying in explorer/finder (or teracopy, if you want to be safe).

Is there any specific way to import footage? Proxy workflow? I refuse to believe I'm supposed to dig like 4-5 levels to manually copy vid files, then go back and dig again to manually copy proxies (if recorded) aaaaaaand manually link them in whichever NLE I'm using at the time.

 

[garuda]

Which NLE editors do you use most?

I'm slightly confused with terms you use describing your workflow process. Is there a super auto- or trans-feature available besides simply importing the files into NLE ? ie. Premiere just uses pointers for import files, as do most others like AVID, Vegas, et al.

Without knowing your NLE, I'm uncertain how to answer issues like: "folder structure + ingest/workflow". And doesn't the "linking" function internally when the import is executed? It seems the issues/challenges are more related to the NLEs used rather than Sony files/folders structures. Unless I'm missing something here.

 

[Ivanturas]

I'm actually quite flexible in terms of NLE, as depending on the client and project, I may work with either Avid, Premiere, FCPX, Premiere or Resolve. I'd say though that as of late, I've been leaning more towards the latter, unless it's not my decision to begin with or there's a particular set of features I need from the others.

It is indeed a matter that changes between NLE's, and that could be one of those features that makes me choose between one or the other, in the case where I needed to quickly import a lot of data.