Does iMovie support Nikon D800/D810/D800E cameras?


Summary: If you have Nikon D800/D810/D800E video to iMovie problems and try to figure out a way to import video from Nikon D800/D810/D800E to iMovie, you may come to the right place. This post explains what to do if iMovie refused recognizing video files from a D800/D810 camera.

Assuming you are looking for a way to import video from Nikon D800/D810/D800E to iMovie, you can open iMovie, click ‘Help’ in the menu bar, and choose ‘Import video from a USB camcorder or camera’.There you will find a two-minute movie explaining how to import from your camera. But what to do if iMovie refused recognizing video files from a D800/D810/D800E camera?
nikon d800

According to our experience, you will need to transcode D800/D810/D800E footage to Apple’s InterMediate Codec (AIC), the native editing codec of iMovie, which iMovie reads and handles quite well. To do format conversion, third party software is required. If your concerns are ease of use and lossless output quality as the original, you can give Video Converter for Mac a shot.

Download a free trial of Video Converter for Mac
try nikon video converter for mac

What to do if iMovie not working with Nikon D800/D810/D800E video?

To make iMovie work with NikonD800/D810 video, you can convert Nikon D800/D810/D800E footage to AIC before start post-production. To do format shifting, follow these steps:

1. Install and run Video Converter for Mac as a Nikon Video Converter for Mac. When its main interface appears, click ‘Add File’ to load your Nikon files to the program.

2. Select output format for iMovie
To create editable files for iMovie from NikonD800/D810/D800E video, you can click the Format bar and choose ‘Apple InterMediateCodec (AIC) (*.mov) as output format from ‘iMovie and Final Cut Express’ column. Note that the AIC codec is also accepted by Final Cut Express and Final Cut Pro (HD 4.5 through 5), but rarely used in Final Cut Pro as of Version 6 since it now uses the ProRes codecs instead of the Apple Intermediate Codec.

Important: If you’ve loaded a number of video clips to do batch conversion, please do remember ticking off ‘Apply to All’ option before you start.

3. Click ‘Settings’ button and go to ‘Profile Settings’ window to custom video and audio settings. (for advanced users)

4. When ready, click ‘Convert’ to start transcoding NikonD800/D810 media to AIC – the best suited editing format for using within Apple iMovie’11/9/8.

5. When the conversion process is done, click on ‘Open Folder’ button to get the generated AIC QuickTime files and open them in iMovie to create your own masterpieces.

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