10 · Organize your cameras and sources
Information cameras write to files
Many cameras write the shoot location and settings they used into the video or into sidecar files saved with it. Merceq reads this information during import. It doesn’t connect to the internet for this; the information is processed on your Mac. If a camera didn’t record some information, Merceq won’t make it up. The relevant field won’t appear.
To see this information, open a clip with Space and show its details (right-click → Show clip details). In the Shooting section of Info, you’ll find Camera, Shooting, Camera settings, and Location rows; in the Frame section, you’ll find Frame rate and Color rows. See section 4 for other details in Info.
What information does each camera write?
| Camera | Location | Camera settings | Where it’s read from |
|---|---|---|---|
| iPhone | Yes | Lens and focal length (35 mm equivalent). ISO and shutter speed aren’t written. | The video’s own tags |
| Android phone | Yes (if the phone writes it) | — | The video’s own tags |
| DJI drone | Yes | ISO, shutter speed, aperture, focal length (35 mm equivalent) | The same-named .SRT file beside the video |
| GoPro | Yes (on GPS models) | ISO and shutter speed. Older models (HERO5–7) write only shutter speed. Aperture, focus, and lens aren’t written. | Telemetry (GPMF) inside the video |
| Sony | If it’s in the video’s tags | Lens name, ISO, shutter speed, aperture, focal length (actual lens focal length) | The |
| Insta360 | Not read | Not read | — |
| Canon, Panasonic, and others | If it’s in the video’s tags | Not read | — |
Some limitations:
- Sony FX3 and A7 series write ISO, shutter speed, and aperture to the video, not the XML file. Merceq can’t read these; it reads only the lens name if it’s in the XML.
- Models without GPS, such as GoPro HERO12, don’t have location information. On a GPS GoPro, a clip has no location if the camera can’t find a satellite in the first minute.
- DJI and GoPro settings may change during a shot. Info shows the median value for the clip.
Keep video sidecar files together
Keep DJI’s .SRT and Sony’s
The Copy to disk first operation copies these sidecar files along with the video. Sidecar files with the same name are also included when you select a clip individually (see section 2, “Copy to disk first”).
Location
For a clip with location information, the Location row appears in Info, for example “Istanbul, Turkey · 41,0082° N, 28,9784° E”. The Open in Maps button beside it opens the location in Apple Maps. Merceq connects to the internet only when you click this button.
- Merceq compares location coordinates against its city list and shows a city name when appropriate. The list contains 279 cities.
- You’ll also see the city name if the shoot is within 75 km of a city in the list.
- For a clip shot somewhere not on the list, only the coordinates appear; the country name isn’t shown either.
To filter by location:
- The Location row in the Find stage shows the six cities with the most clips.
- The All filters (L) → Where from → Location row has With location, No location, and all cities.
- You can type a city or country name in the search box, for example “Istanbul”.
We explain search and filters in more detail in section 5.
Camera settings
For a clip with readable settings, the Camera settings row appears in the Shooting group of Info, for example “ISO 800 · 1/50 · f/2.8 · 24 mm · FE 24-70mm F2.8 GM II”. Unknown values aren’t shown. If no values are available, the row doesn’t appear.
This information appears only for newly imported clips or clips that are reread because they’ve changed on disk. Clips already in your library before this feature won’t be filled in automatically. There isn’t a filter for camera settings yet.
Variable frame rate (VFR)
The frame rate in phone videos may not always be constant. Merceq detects this by measuring the clip’s frame rate. When you open a variable frame rate clip in preview or Lens view, you’ll see the Variable frame rate badge.
Its tooltip says: “Phones use variable frame rates; audio and video may drift over time in some editing apps.” The badge isn’t a button; it’s there to inform you. Check your editing app’s settings before using this kind of clip in your edit.
Log footage
Merceq recognizes footage recorded in Apple Log and Sony S-Log3 (S-Gamut3 and S-Gamut3.Cine).
- Footage recorded in Log format may look flat and gray at first. This is normal. Merceq shows covers and previews for these clips with normal colors so you don’t reject a good take because it looks gray.
- Your original video doesn’t change; the color conversion is applied only to thumbnails and previews shown by Merceq.
- The profile appears in the Color row in Info, for example “10-bit 4:2:2 · S-Log3”. HDR footage says “HDR (HLG)” or “HDR (PQ)”.
- To find Log videos, choose Log in the All filters (L) → Technical → Color row. The same row also has HDR and SDR.
- If you apply your own LUT to these clips (section 4), it goes on top of the preview that has already been converted to normal colors. Use a look LUT with a Rec.709 input rather than a conversion LUT with a Log input.