Editing Codec for Premiere Pro CS6?

Probably the CineForm codec.

Video Compression
Why It Matters & How To Make The Most Of It

With CS6 you can just edit off the native H264 files coming out of your camera. I'm sure there will be some feedback that this is the wrong way to do things but it works quite well and saves a lot of transcode time. This was worth the move from FCP to CS6 alone.

pigbat said:

With CS6 you can just edit off the native H264 files coming out of your camera. I'm sure there will be some feedback that this is the wrong way to do things but it works quite well and saves a lot of transcode time. This was worth the move from FCP to CS6 alone.

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This is correct. There is a HDSLR preset when you start a new project.

Even though it can handle native h264, it is still recommended to flip the footage to a different codec.

H264 is a processor intense codec to encode, as well as decode upon playback.

I've been editing professionally for a decade across multiple programs, and we always transcode to a friendly codec that works with the software..

Avid would be DNxHD, FCP is either Pro Res or DVCPRO HD if its from a P2.. and recently I've moved to a new studio and we edit on premiere, and still use Apple Pro Res for broadcast spots, as well as other content.

Convert your DSLR footage to Apple Pro Res 422 and use those..

As for After Effects, what codec are you exporting too? If you are leaving it at the lossless default (animation codec) that is overkill, and has a 220+ mbp/s bit rate.. You should export it to a codec that matches your footage in premiere.. so if you transcode them to Apple Pro Res 422.. then your renders from after effects should be the same.

Also, why not just send a clip to AE from premiere? No need to re render exports of speed adjustments, just right click the clip in your timeline, chose replace with after effects composition, and then do the work in AE and come back to premiere to see the results.. yes you have to render, but you can watch it at quarter resolution within the context of your edit. I love that feature as I do graphics and shot cleanup and compositing in AE.. and I can hop right over to premiere and watch it.

Another note to add for AE renders.

Even if you choose the lossless setting (animation codec) and import that into premiere/avid/FCP.. it will have to be re-rendered to match the sequence setting.. so in essence you are chewing up more storage space, and then redering time.. thus why I tend to render my work to match my sequence.

Yes there are times I will spit out an uncompressed/lossless file, but there are specific cases to do so (if it is a vector based graphic sequence for use on a specific digital display, LCD jumbo tron, digital billboard, etc) that require an exact codec that AE cannot create.

For your stills, I have 2 options:

Make the image sequence in after effects, then in premiere, import the AE project, and then a window will appear asking to choose a specific composition. Choose your comp, and now it will act as a clip in your project.

The nice thing is once you edit it down in your sequence, you can right click it and choose 'edit original' and it will open the AE project it came from.. You can then make tweaks, and when you flip back to Premiere it will be updated (render will need to be done)

Other option is to change the duration of still imports in the prefs in premiere. Go to General/then still image default duration. Change it to whatever you need.. 1 frame, 10 frames, etc.

Note that only affects new files upon import, not existing files already in the project.

You can also select 1 or multiple images in your bin, right click and select speed/duration.. change that to what you want and save.. it will change them all.. now you can simple select many images and drag into a sequence and it will put them in order, essentially creating an image sequence.

does that help?