Headless mode¶

Headless mode runs the same converter without a window, for batch jobs, render farm scripts and pipeline tools. It starts whenever --convert is on the command line, and the output is identical to pressing Convert with the Advanced tab at its defaults.

"Canon R7 EXR Converter vX.Y.Z.exe" --convert CLIP [CLIP ...] --out DIR [--log FILE] [--prores] [--no-exr]

Options¶

Option	Meaning
`--convert CLIP ...`	One or more clip files. Every argument after it that doesn't start with `--` is a clip. Folders and wildcards are not expanded: list the files (see batching).
`--out DIR`	Required. Output folder; created if missing.
`--log FILE`	Write progress and errors to FILE (overwritten each run). Essential with the exe: it is a windowed program and has no console. The folder must already exist.
`--prores`	Also write a ProRes `.mov` (422 HQ, 10-bit).
`--no-exr`	Skip the EXR sequence. With `--prores`, writes ProRes only.

Fixed settings¶

There are no flags for the Advanced-tab options. Headless mode always uses:

Setting	Value
Camera colour space	Detected from the clip (Canon Cinema Gamut if exiftool is missing)
Output colour space	ACEScg (AP1), scene linear
Size	Full (source resolution)
EXR	16-bit half, ZIP, frames numbered from `0001`
ProRes	422 HQ, 10-bit, with the clip's timecode and audio

For anything else, use the app. Output goes where the app puts it (Output), and existing files are overwritten without asking.

Running the exe¶

The exe is a windowed program, so a shell that starts it neither waits for it nor sees any output. Make the shell wait, and read the result from the log and the exit code. The installer puts the exe in %LOCALAPPDATA%\Programs\Canon R7 EXR Converter\; a zip copy runs from wherever it was extracted.

PowerShellCommand Prompt / .batFrom source

$exe = "$env:LOCALAPPDATA\Programs\Canon R7 EXR Converter\Canon R7 EXR Converter v2.3.0.exe"
$p = Start-Process $exe -Wait -PassThru -ArgumentList `
     '--convert "D:\Shoot\A001.MP4" --out "D:\Shoot\EXR" --log "D:\Shoot\convert.log" --prores'
$p.ExitCode

start "" /wait "Canon R7 EXR Converter v2.3.0.exe" ^
      --convert "D:\Shoot\A001.MP4" --out "D:\Shoot\EXR" --log "D:\Shoot\convert.log"
echo exit code %ERRORLEVEL%

In a development checkout, output goes to the console, so --log is optional:

.venv\Scripts\python.exe -m r7convert --convert A001.MP4 A002.MP4 --out EXR

The exe name includes the version

After an update the exe is called ... vX.Y.Z.exe with the new number. Scripts that should survive updates can look it up instead: (Get-ChildItem "$env:LOCALAPPDATA\Programs\Canon R7 EXR Converter\Canon R7 EXR Converter v*.exe").FullName

Batch a folder¶

A run stops at the first clip that fails, and all clips are read before any are converted. Running one clip per invocation keeps one bad file from stopping the rest, and gives each clip its own log:

$exe  = (Get-ChildItem "$env:LOCALAPPDATA\Programs\Canon R7 EXR Converter\Canon R7 EXR Converter v*.exe").FullName
$out  = "D:\Shoot\EXR"
$logs = New-Item -ItemType Directory -Force "D:\Shoot\logs"
Get-ChildItem "D:\Shoot\*.MP4" | ForEach-Object {
    $log = Join-Path $logs "$($_.BaseName).log"
    $a   = "--convert `"$($_.FullName)`" --out `"$out`" --log `"$log`" --prores"
    $p   = Start-Process $exe -ArgumentList $a -Wait -PassThru
    if ($p.ExitCode -ne 0) { Write-Warning "$($_.Name) failed - see $log" }
}

Log and exit codes¶

Exit code 0 means every clip converted; 1 means something failed, and the last log line starts with error:. A successful log:

Canon R7 EXR Converter v2.3.0
ffmpeg: C:\...\tools\ffmpeg\ffmpeg.exe
exiftool: C:\...\tools\exiftool\exiftool.exe
9O4A4288: 3840x2160, 135 frames
  135 frames written

Watch for exiftool: None (gamut can't be detected, so Cinema Gamut is used), Colour space not found in clip and Warning: clip is ..., not Canon Log 3. None of these stop the run, so a script should check for them.

Gotchas¶

Situation	What happens
`--out` missing, or the `--log` folder missing	Unhandled error before logging starts: nothing reaches the log, and the exe may show an error dialog. Always pass `--out`, and create the log folder first.
Stopping a run	There is no cancel flag. Ending the process leaves partial output: the frames written so far and an unplayable `.mov`.
Trimmed test clips	Clips cut with `ffmpeg -c copy` lose Canon's metadata, so the gamut falls back to Cinema Gamut. Test with camera originals.
Speed	About 0.35 s per 4K frame (about 3 fps), so a 5 s clip takes about 45 s. Running several instances at once rarely helps: the bottleneck is moving frames between processes, not the CPU.
Updates	Headless runs never check for or install updates.