A while ago, we took a look into the basics of shooting an HDSLR video (camera settings, audio, lighting and aperture). This time we’ll take the process one step further and discuss video conversion for editing in Final Cut Pro X.
Unfortunately, the codec HDSLR videos are saved in, h.264, is unsuitable for editing in Final Cut Pro X. Therefore, we need to convert them into Apple ProRes 422 or Apple ProRes 422 (LT) first.
To do this, I strongly recommend a free application called MPEG Streamclip (there are versions both for Mac and Windows). It does the job beautifully and very quickly as well.
With the application installed, simply connect your DSLR to the computer or insert the memory card into your computer. In MPEG Streamclip, go to List > Batch List. Then, simply drag all the video footage from your card to the Batch List Window and select Go.
This is a really practical, no-hassle way to convert all the files at once and will save you some time as you’ll only need to select the settings once. Below you can take a look at the MPEG Streamclip export settings I commonly use:
That’s it. Now you can import the video files into a Final Cut Pro X Event and start editing. Stay tuned as next week I’ll show you how to optimize the Final Cut Pro X preferences to smoothly edit your video as well as how to perform an advanced Multi-Cam Edit.