AX53 and FCP 7 Workflow- Ingest/Import Sony FDR-AX53 XAVC S 4k to Final Cut Pro 7 (FCP X)

If you want to import Sony FDR-AX53 XAVC S to Final Cut Pro 7, FCP X, it won’t work. So, is there any possible way to smoothly edit XAVC S files from Sony AX53 in FCP 7/X perfectly?

FDR-AX53, which offer 4K video quality along with Balanced Optical SteadyShot? image stabilization, Fast Intelligent AF and a new onboard microphone, ensuring high-quality sound in a small package. With a 1.6x larger sensor than it’s predecessors and 20x optical zoom, the FDR-AX53 looks to be a feature full camera system, for a price around $1000 and available next month.

Regardless of the NLE, I think editing in 4K is a potential exercise in frustration. XAVC-S format differs from XAVC in that it uses GOP codec of H.264/AVC for video file compression; it’s not an ideal editable format for NLE based on many users’ experience. So, how to make Sony AX53 XAVC S clips workable in FCP 7/FCP X perfectly?



Alternatively, since Final Cut Pro does not have native editing support for XAVC-S footage, you can transcode Sony AS100V XAVC-S to Prores codec, which has been designed to work especially well as high-quality, high performance editing codecs for Final Cut Pro(no matter FCP X or FCP 6/7).

Through multiple testing, we found Brorsoft Video Converter for Mac can be used as a professional Sony XAVC S Converter Mac under OS X 10.11 (EI Capitan) 10.10, 10.9, 10.8, 10.7 and 10.6, Leopard (10.5), Snow Leopard (10.6), Lion (10.7), Mountain Lion (10.8), Mavericks (10.9), Yosemite (10.10) and 10.11 EI Capitan . The program comes with several optimized format for Final Cut Pro, which enables you to transcode Sony AX53 raw footage to ProRes 422, ProRes 422 HQ, for using in Final Cut Pro X or FCP 6/7 directly. Just download it and follow the tutorial below guide to achieve your goal.

(Note: Click here for OS X 10.5.8)

Converting Sony FDR-AX53 XAVC S for Editing in Final Cut Pro

1. Install the program on Mac and run it. Drag the XAVC S files to the software. Or you can also click "Add" button on the top of the main interface to import video to the program. It supports batch conversion and joining multiple video clips into one file.



2. Click the "Format" bar and select Final Cut Pro> Apple PreRes 422(*.mov) as output format. This format is specially designed for FCP, so that you can edit your original Sony AX53 video in Final Cut Pro perfectly without quality loss.



Tips: Adjust video, audio settings

Click the "Settings" button and customize proper video/audio parameters including Video size, bitrate and fame rate and mroe. Usually 1920*1080 video size and 30fps video frame rate are recommended for FCP editing. Well, if you prefer to work with 4K video, you can adjust video size to get 4K ProRes for FCP

3. After all necessary settings, hit the convert button to start the XAVC S video to ProRes conversion on Mac OS X. Once the conversion process shows in 100%, click Open to get the output videos. Create a project and start editing Son FDR-AX53 XAVC S video in Final Cut Pro 7 or FCP X with light speed.

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