How to import Sony A7S XAVC S and AVCHD to FCP X?


If you are shooting with a Sony Alpha A7S Mirrorless Digital Camera, you may have troubles while working its XAVC S or AVCHD footage in FCP X. To resolve this problem, you will need to transcode Sony A7S XAVC S/AVCHD to Apple’s ProRes, the best suited editing codec for Final Cut Pro X, FCP 6 and 7.
a7s and fcp workflow
“Dear all, I was wondering if you can help please!!! I just have a Sony Alpha A7S Mirrorless Digital Camera on hand. It is able to shoot video files either in XAVC S and AVCHD format. When I attempted to import the A7S footage to FCP X to do basic editing, the FCP X recognized my Sony A7S video streams, I got to check the files to import but when it started to import it suddenly crashed. I have enough memory and all the requirements seem to be ok. Any idea about what could cause the crash? Does that mean I need to transcode them before start editing? If so, which software will you recommend? Any advice would be greatly appreciated. MacBookPro, Mac OS X Mavericks (10.9.2). Thanks in advance.”

As world’s first full-frame sensor camera, the Sony Alpha A7S is capable of recording Full HD 1920×1080 footage at 60p, 30p, 24p and 1280×720 footage at 120p in XAVC S recording format with MP4 wrapper, and Full HD 1920×1080 footage at 60p, 60i, 24p in AVCHD recording format with M2TS wrapper.
a7s recording format
Sony A7S recording format

If you could not import Sony A7S XAVC S or AVCHD files to FCP X, we would recommend that you use third party software like HD Video Converter for Mac to transcode Sony A7S XAVC S/AVCHD to Apple’s ProRes codec for using with FCP X. The ProRes codec is also available for the former version of Final Cut Pro 6 and Final Cut Pro 7.

Download a free trial of HD Video Converter for Mac
free trial

How to import Sony A7S XAVC S and AVCHD footage to FCP X?

To be able to convert A7S XAVC S and AVCHD to FCP X’s editable format, do as below:
Sony XAVC S to FCP

Step 1: Run HD Video Converter for Mac as a professional Sony A7S Video Converter for Apple. When its main interface comes up, click ‘Add File’ to load Sony A7S XAVC –S MP4 or AVCHD M2TS media to it.

Step 2: Select ‘Apple ProRes 422 (*.mov)’ as output format for FCP X. The ProRes is able workable in the former version FCP 6 and FCP 7.
sony a7s and fcp x

This Mac Sony A7S format converter program offers a couple of ProRes formats for users to choose from, including Apple ProRes 422, Apple ProRes 422 (HQ), Apple ProRes 422 (LT), Apple ProRes 422 (Proxy), and Apple ProRes 4444, you can select one as target format depending on your requirement in post production.

Apple ProRes 422 – Higher quality than Apple ProRes 422 (LT);

Apple ProRes 422 (HQ) – Keep original video quality for editing in FCP;

Apple ProRes 422 (LT) – Get a smaller file sizes than Apple ProRes 422;

Apple ProRes 422 (Proxy) – SD levels – 480i/p and 576i/p. Used in offline workflows.

Apple ProRes 4444 – Edit and finish 4:4:4 material.

Step 3: Adjust video and audio settings (for advanced users)

Step 4: Click ‘Convert’ to transcode Sony A7S MP4 and M2TS files to Apple ProRes 422.

Step 5: Click ‘Open Folder’ to get generated ProRes QuickTime files for using in Final Cut Pro X/7/6 with optimum performance.

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