How to import Olympus E-PL5 H.264 MOV to FCP X for editing?


Summary: If you encountered troubles while loading E-PL5 H.264 MOV to FCP X for further editing, we would recommend that you transcode E-PL5 H.264 MOV to Apple ProRes, the best editing codec of FCP X, which FCP X reads and handles well.

olympus epl5“Hi, there, I have a lot of Full HD 1080p files recorded on a Olympus E-PL5 camera. They are encoded with H.264 codec in MOV wrapper. I want to open and edit the E-PL5 MOV footage in FCP X so that I can create my own home video. Unfortunately, the latest version of FCP X doesn’t recognize E-PL5 MOV files at all. I’ve been looking for a workflow for importingOlympus E-PL5 H.264 MOV clips to FCP X since last two weeks, but there is no go. Can anyone advise what should I do to make FCP X accept E-PL5 H.264 MOV? Many thanks in advance!”

As far as we know, the Olympus E-PL5 records footage either in MOV (MPEG-4 AVC/H.264) or AVI (Motion JPEG) file type. In MOV movie mode, it is able to capture Full HD 1920×1080 in 30p (29.97fps), and HD 1280×720 in 30p (29.97fps). In AVI movie mode, it is capable of shooting HD 1280×720 in 30fps and SD 640×480 in 30fps. If you encountered troubles while loading E-PL5 H.264 MOV to FCP X for further editing, we would recommend that you transcode E-PL5 H.264 MOV to Apple ProRes, the best editing codec of FCP X, which FCP X reads and handles well. To do format conversion, third party converter utility is required, considering the ease of use and lossless output quality, we would recommend Video Converter for Mac, which works decently as an Olympus E-PL5 Video Converter for Mac.

Free download a trial of Video Converter for Mac
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How to import Olympus E-PL5 H.264 MOV to FCP X for editing?

As mentioned above, to be able to import and edit Olympus E-PL5 H.264 MOV video files in FCP X, you will need to convert E-PL5 media to ProRes previously using HD Video Converter for Mac. To do format conversion, follow these steps:

Step 1: Install and run this Olympus E-PL5 Video Converter for Mac. When the main interface appears, click ‘Add File’ to load Olympus E-PL5 material.

Step 2: Select Apple ProRes 422 as output format for FCP X
In order to transcode Olympus E-PL5 .mov files to ProRes for FCP X or FCP 6/7, from the Format bar, navigate to ‘Final Cut Pro’ catalogue, and select ‘Apple ProRes 422 (*.mov)’ as target format. Apple ProRes is the best suited editing code for FCP 6, 7 and FCP X. When loading them into FCP (X), you needn’t wait for a long time for the rendering process.

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.

This Mac Olympus Video 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: Custom video and audio settings (for advanced users)
Click ‘Settings’ button, the ‘Profile Settings’ window pops up, on which you are allowed to custom video and audio parameters like bit rate, frame rate, resolution, sample rate, and audio channels.

Step 4: Start transcoding Olympus E-PL5 .mov files to ProRes for FCP X
When ready, click ‘Convert’ button to encode E-PL5 H.264 MOV files to Apple ProRes for editing with FCP X. By the way, if you don’t want to wait around in front of your computer for the converting process, you can tick off ‘Shut down computer after conversion’ and go away to do other things.

Step 5: Click ‘Open Folder’ button to get the generated ProRes QuickTime files
When the conversion is done, simply click ‘Open’ button to get the exported ProRes files for using within Final Cut Pro X or the former version FCP 6 and FCP 7.

Also read
Is it possible to open Olympus E-PL3 AVCHD files in FCP X?
How to import and edit Olympus E-PL3 AVCHD video in iMovie?
Olympus E-PL5 and iMovie import issue – transcode E-PL5 MOV/AVI to AIC