Red Giant software have just released Magic Bullet Grinder for converting H.264 files from your DSLR camera to Pro-res of Photo JPEG format. There is only support for Canon DSRL’s at the moment. It seems like a useful piece of software and reasonably priced at $49.
So why use this over Canon’s FCP plugin utility? Well the main reason for me is the speed. I have not tested the software but it claims to make use of multiple processor cores on your machine, meaning that if you have an eight core Mac Pro you should be able to fly through the transcoding process. It also allow simultaneous process of proxy files for offline editing which could be useful for those tight on space or running slower hard drives. You also have the option of burning in the time code and file name to the proxy files which could be useful during the client review process.
Another useful feature is the ability to conform all you footage to the same frame rate. Previously I used Cinema Tools to do this, but it is useful timesaver to have one piece of software that will process and conform your files in one step.
The downsides are that this software seems to cater mainly for the American market. As far as I can see you can only conform to 23.98fps. There is also no option to convert to ProResLT.
More information can be found on the Magic Bullet website
