Easy way to make FCP import MXF files from Sony XDCAM

November 19, 2013 6:31 pm / Posted by Taylor Scorpio to Cameras/Camcorders

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Final Cut Pro 7 is claimed to work with the Sony XDCAM footages by using the third-party Sony XDCAM Transfer plug-in. In order to make the .mxf from XDCAM be editable in FCP, you also need to enable the "Log and Transfer" function. It really does work for some XDCAM owners. However, others are still fighting against incompatibility between Sony XDCAM MXF format and FCP, due to its lower version of FCP or missing some procedures. Is there any way to guarantee you to import XDCAM MXF file into FCP without any hassle? Yes. Here I would like to an easy way out.

In order to edit Sony XDCAM .mxf file in FCP, you need a third-party program-Doremisoft Sony XDCAM MXF to Final Cut Pro Converter, which helps you to convert the MXF footage from Sony XDCAM PMWEX3, PMWEX1R, PMW200, PMW100, and PDWF800 to ProRes natively supported by Final Cut Pro (FCP X) without quality loss.

Step-by-step guide on how to import Sony XDCAM MXF into FCP for editing:

Transfer the Sony XDCAM .mxf footages to your Mac via USB cable and launch the Sony XDCAM MXF Converter for FCP program. Then, click "Add File" to locate the MXF file into the application. You can load multiple files at one time. Also, you can preview the added video on the right preview window.

Click the "Profile" menu bar to select the Apple ProRes 422 as output file format, as shown in the following screenshot. The ProRes 422 is also well compatible with FCP X. That's to say, you can edit any MXF footages from Canon XF300 to FCP X in this way.

In fact, the Mac MXF Converter can also do some practical editing job, like trim a certain MXF segment file to smaller ones, get rid of black edges of source file, add video effects, etc.

Hit "START" to start converting XDCAM MXF to FCP ProRes.