Sony a6000/a5000 tips in iMovie-Editing Sony A5000/A6000 MTS to AIC .mov for iMovie on Mac (Yosemite)

In this article you will get the best workflow to import Sony A6000/A5000 AVCHD MTS files into iMovie and edit with native supported AIC .mov codec.

A5000: For beginners looking to upgrade from their point-and-shoot, searching for an affordable mirrorless camera and don’t mind making compromises, as long as the image quality as good, the camera is small and handy and all that for an affordable price.

A6000: For both advanced photographers (or if upgrading from an entry-level model), looking for a highly-capable mirrorless camera, and don’t mind paying more in favor of a viewfinder, better AF system, higher-res LCD, might take advantage of the Multi-interface shoe and very fast burst speed.

Movie Format: AVCHD 2.0 / MP4

Video Compression: AVCHD: MPEG-4 AVC/H.264, MP4: MPEG-4 AVC/H.264

The Sony A5000/A6000 can both record videos saved in the MTS extensions of the AVCHD format (Press the MOVIE button to start recording beautiful movies that are notable for their sharpness and lack of visual “noise”—in your choice of 60p/50p, 60i/50i or 24p/25p*) . But you will be disappointed when you import footage from Sony Alpha A6000/A5000 to iMovie for further editing and find all 60p MTS files are greyed out.



There are mainly two reasons why you can not transfer video files from Sony A6000/A5000 to iMovie, including iMovie 8/9/11. Firstly, the recordings with the codec H.264/MPEG-4 are highly compressed for saving storage space and smooth playback, but the H.264 files are not suitable for editing, so editing H.264 MTS files in iMovie is always a headache for editors. Secondly, up to now, iMovie can not always successfully recognize footages at 60fps (60p). So if you want to ingest 60p AVCHD footage to iMovie, you will sometimes meet the importing problem.

Well, no worry. Here I’d like to show you an easy way to fix the issue. Since Apple InterMediate Codec(AIC) is the most compatible codec introduced by App which ensures maximum editing quality and efficiency when working with iMovie, the common practice for working Sony a6000/a5000 MTS with iMovie is, get a Mac MTS to iMovie Converter and transcode Sony a6000/a5000 .mts footage to AIC MOV, which will save you both time and trouble. All you need is to drag the result videos for prompt editing.

This Mac AVCHD Converter comes with supports for a wide range of video editing software and media devices, including iMovie, Final Cut Express, Adobe Premiere Pro, Avid Media Composer, Final Cut Pro and. It helps you convert Sony as well as Panasonic, Canon AVCHD recording to any editable format like AIC. mov, MPEG-2, DNxHD, ProRes, etc as you need without any quality loss. Overall, the program is an easy-to-use yet professional app which can be used a Mac AVCHD MTS Converter under OS X Leopard (10.5), Snow Leopard (10.6), Lion (10.7), Mountain Lion (10.8) and Mavericks(10.9), Yosemite(10.10). It is free, clean and safe to install and use.

The Steps: Converting Sony A5000/A600 MTS to iMovie 11/10/09/08
1. Launch the top Sony MTS Converter for Mac, load .mts files from your Mac hard drive backed up from your Sony A5000 or A6000 and then click "Format" to choose "iMovie and Final Cut Express > Apple Intermediate Codec(AIC) (*.mov)" as output format which is the best compatible video format you need for iMovie.



2. Click the "Settings" icon to make the best settings for editing Sony A5000/A6000 MTS in iMovie on Mac. You can set the video frame rate as 30fps, video size as 1920*1080 to keep the best output quality.



3. Start the MTS to AIC MOV conversion by pressing the big "Convert" button.

After the conversion, you will be able to get the output files compatible with iMovie effortlessly. So there you have it. Pretty Simple! Now you can effortlessly import Sony Alpha a5000/a6000 mts footage in iMovie 09/'11 without problems.

Additional Tips:
If you want to edit Sony a5000/a6000 MTS clips in Final Cut Pro X or FCP 7/6, you just need to choose the "Final Cut Pro > Apple ProRes 422 (*.mov)" as output format in the second step; For Avid Media Composer, choose "Avid Media Composer > Avid DNxHD(*.mov)" as output; For Adobe Premiere Pro or Vegas Pro, choose Adobe Premiere/Sony Vegas> MPEG-2(*.mpg) as output.

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