Transcoding Nikon/Canon Digital SLRs H.264 recordings to Final Cut Pro(FCP 7/X) Mac (Yosemite)

If your digital still camera or digital single-lens reflex camera (DSLR) is compatible with Final Cut Pro 7, FCP X, FCP 10, you can import the h.264 mov video into FCP supported format-ProRes and then editing them.

A digital single-lens reflex camera (also called a digital SLR or DSLR) is a digital camera combining the optics and the mechanisms of a single-lens reflex camera with a digital imaging sensor, as opposed to photographic film. The reflex design scheme is the primary difference between a DSLR and other digital cameras.

Hot DSLR Cameras:
Nikon: D4, D3X, D800, D600, D300S, D7000, D5200, D90, D5100, D3200
Canon: EOS 550D, EOS 600D, EOS 650D, EOS 5D Mark II, EOS 5D Mark III, EOS 60D, EOS 7D

If you are one of Canon or Nikon DSLRs users, I think most of you certainly encountered following Feedback:

I own a Canon 550D, which is great at what it does. The only niggle is the difficulty in handling the video files which are encoded in a highly CPU intensive codec (h264). It’s hard to import the H.264 files to FCP 7 on my iMac.

I have a Nikon D5100. What software should I get to transfer video for editing into FCP? I have FCP7. Also, it seems that I can only transfer the video with a USB connection, or is there a firewire I can use? I am not a computer expert so please, don’t be to technical.


If you want to transfer videos from a Canon or Nikion DSLR camera into FCP 7/X editing , the video you imported should first be converted to ProRes 422, a format better suited for FCP, in this case , you will need one professional video converter for Canon, Nikon DSLRs.

Here’s great software that allows you to easily transcode the DSLR movies to the files readable by Final Cut Pro. DSLRs Video Converter for Mac is the one we highly recommended. Applying it, you can transcode Canon/Nikon DSLR H.264 videos to Apple ProRes on Mac OS X for FCP 7, FCP X easy editing (10.10 Yosemite included).

Guide on converting Canon/Nikon DSLR footage to ProRes for FCP 7/X on Mac



STEP 1: Download and install the Mac H.264 MOV to ProRes Converter, then run it. Click on “Add”, and browse your files; select all the .MOV files you wanna convert.

STEP 2: Choose a target format. Hit the Format bar to select Final Cut Pro > Apple ProRes 422(*.mov). Apple ProRes 422 (HQ)(*mov), Apple ProRes 422(LT)(*mov), Apple ProRes 422(Proxy)(*mov) are also the proper format for FCP 7/X.

STEP 3: Hit Settings icon. In the Profile Settings window, you can adjust the video and audio parameters if needed. 1920*1080 video size, and 30fps(or 25fps for PAL) video frame rate is recommended.


STEP 4: Click Convert button. The DSLR Video Converter will start to convert DSLR videos to ProRes for FCP 7/X on Mac OS X immediately.

After the conversion, click the Open button to locate the converted .mov video. From there you can load Canon 5D Mark II/MK III or Nikon D800/D3200/D5200 H.264 MOV footage to FCP 7/X via “File>>Import>>Files…” instantly without long-time rendering.


Related guides:
Transcode C500 to Final Cut Pro (FCP X/7/6)
Import Nikon D5200 H.264 MOV files to FCP X
iMovie hangs on import MPG files- Best solution
Convert Sony 60p/50p AVCHD to Avid Media Composer
Canon Vixia HF G10 Dual Flash Memory 32GB HD Camcorder
Edit FLV files into Sony Vegas Pro 13/12/11/10( Windows 10)
Canon XA10 Professional 64GB Flash Memory HD Camcorder
How to Import ALEXA Mini 4K to Premiere Pro CC/CS6/CS5/CS4
Import Canon EOS M 1080p MOV Files to Final Cut Pro 7 on Mac
Import Canon EOS 5D Mark II MOV footages to FCP X for editing
Transcode Canon EOS 6D H.264 MOV to AIC for iMovie on Mac OS X
MOV to ProRes Converter for Mac- Get H.264 MOV files into FCP easily
Convert 1080/50p AVCHD to MPEG-2 for importing to Premiere Elements