[future_retro]

I'm planning on using Final Cut Express if I ever get around to getting some decent footage with my K7

Will the videos be fully compatible straight out of the camera?*

With iMovie I have to do some sort of conversion to do any advanced editing, I assume that quality is lost in the conversion. iMovie doesn't tell me what it converts to and the max export size is 720

Will I have to do the same process with Final Cut Express or can I just jump in and edit the native files? And will I be able to export in the full K7 resolution if I ever wanted to?

*also, is editing direct from camera a good idea or should I run it through some sort of program first, I've heard of people using a middle man program but I don't know the reason

[stringbox]

I probably shouldn't chime in on this because I just got a K-x and don't know if the video is much the same or not. Though looking at the specs, it looks like it also will have the video as an AVI file which I have had no problem so far with from the K-x to FCE4 or iMovie.

[tuco]

FC Express will edit your video just fine. You'll have to export it out after editing and I don't remember if AVI is an option ( I upgraded to FCP years ago). The K-7 is motion JPEG in an AVI container. And, yes, you will get the same resolution. FCE and iMove convert your source on import if I recall correctly.

Apple has an editing format called ProRes 422 of a few flavors. I don't think you have the capability to convert to that but it is a good format for editing when you need to do a lot of manipulation to your video. You'd then export to format suitable for whatever the target might be, iPod, web, DVD, etc.