Import Canon EOS Rebel T4i footage into Final Cut 6/7 – MOV to Apple ProRes Redering

“I have used a Canon GL2 and Final Cut 6/7 for years and have now graduated to the Rebel T4I for video… it’s pretty scary for me! I don’t understand why my Rebel T4i mov files won’t work in my Final Cut Pro 7 program, it just freeze!”

While Final Cut Pro 7 does work with Canon .mov footage, most users encounter problems when importing Canon T4i recordings to FCP. In case that Log and Transfer does not recognize the Canon camera, a feasible solutions is installing EOS Plugin from Canon, but it seems that some frames were dropped when transcoded to ProRes 422. Worse off, the H.264 shootings with T4i are usually clunky to edit and require long-time rendering in FCP 7 timeline. This is because the Canon T4i records full HD 1080P H.264 videos at a very high bitrate, which is not ideal for post-production. In order to process Canon T4i footage fast and seamless in Final Cut Pro 7, it requires that the H.264 .mov videos to be transcoded into a format better suited to editing, and this would usually be Apple ProRes codec, which is the best intermediate codec developed specifically for seamless Final Cut workflow. Below guide shows you how to convert Canon EOS Rebel T4i footage from MOV to ProRes video.

Required software: Pavtube Canon to FCP Converter for Mac

Working as a DSLR Camera to FCP Converter, Pavtube software helps you import CanonT4i MOV to FCP, encode Canon 5D Mark III MOV for FCP X, edit Canon G12 MOV with FCP, convert Canon EOS 550D video to FCP, as well as transcode Nikon D3200 MOV to ProRes for FCP X. This program supports more variety of Canon DSLR cameras than FCP does, and Video Converter reads standalone .mov and .mts files from Canon memory card.

Step through: Converting Canon EOS Rebel T4i footage from MOV to ProRes video for FCP

Step 1. Run Pavtube Canon Video Converter for Mac. Click ‘Add’ button, browse to the footages and load them to the converter.

HD Video Converter

Step 2. Select the items to be converted, and click on ‘Format’ bar to set a FCP friendly format in Final Cut Pro template. There are Apple ProRes family, DVCPRO and HDV codecs for your choice. Basically, "Apple ProRes 422 (*.mov)" is the best format for converting 550D footage to FCP. If you prefer smaller file size, choose "Apple ProRes 422 (LT) (*.mov)" instead.

HD Video Converter

Step 3. Click the "Settings" button and set proper video/ audio parameters. You can reset set the video size, bitrate and fame rate. If you would like to use default settings, simply skip this step.

Step 4. Click the “Browse” button next to the Output File Name field and select a location on your HDD for the output video file.

Step 5. Click the ‘Convert’ button to start conversion. After conversion you can click the "Open" button to locate converted video files.

Importing rendered T4i footage to Final Cut Pro 6/7

The T4i footage can be imported to FCP instantly when the MOV videos are transcoded into Apple ProRes 422 codec. From there you can open up FCP 6/7 and load Canon DSLR footage via “File>>Import>>Files…” instantly without long-time rendering.

FCP