How to Solve Nikon D800 Video and iMovie Importing Problems

Summary: Have problems importing Nikon D800 video to iMovie for further editing? If so, follow the quick-start guide to learn how to prepare D800 MOV videos for editing in iMovie without quality loss.



The Nikon D800 Digital SLR Camera is more than a DSLR, it's a broadcast quality video camera as well. When it comes to HD movie capture, the D800 shoots broadcast quality video in two D-Movie formats at 1080/30p full HD. However, when you attempt to import Nikon D800 video to iMovie for editing, you may encountered many problems, like import it slowly, and couldn't edit videos smoothly. And you may encounter problems like this one:

"I can import and play D800 video into Aperture 3 without difficulty, but IMovie import of the same video files is very very slow and then crashes."

So what's the matter? What's the available workaround for importing D800 video to iMovie? As far as I know, the Nikon D800 uses the sophisticated H.264 compression method for recording video files to the camera's memory card. This is an ideal file type for video capture in an SLR camera, delivering relatively compact file sizes with image quality noticeably superior to alternate video compressions (such as Motion JPEG). However, the H.264 compression format is not ideal for importing and editing with iMovie. In order to ingest and edit Nikon D800 H.264 MOV files in iMovie smoothly, the H.264 format requires that files be transcoded into a format better suited to editing, effects, and color grading; this would usually be Apple InterMediate Codec.

To do the H.264 MOV to Apple InterMediate Codec conversion task, you're recommended to use EaseFab Video Converter for Mac. By running it, there's no need to set the codec by yourself: the Mac program has a optimized preset for iMovie (iMovie '11 included). The Mac job would be finished with only 3 clicks without losing video quality. See how below about converting Nikon D800 MOV files to iMovie format.

How to transcode Nikon D800 footage for editing iMovie

Step 1: Go to the folder where you have saved the MOV videos, and then directly drag and drop the video files to the program dock. The files will be imported to the application automatically. The program supports batch conversion, you can add multiple files to convert at a time.



Step 2: Go to the Editing Software category and click "iMovie" to set it as the output format. By selecting the "iMovie" preset, you needn't to adjust the video settings like video format, video resolution, frame rate and more by yourself.



Step 3: Hit Convert button and the smart Video Converter Mac will do the rest for you. When finished, the output file is ready for being imported to iMovie for editing. All iMovie versions are supported, including iMovie '11, iMovie '09, iMovie '08, and iMovie HD.

Finally, launch iMovie. In iMovie, go to the File menu, choose Import > Movies, and then navigate to the folder that your output Nikon D800 MOV files are saved. Select the files and click "Import".

By converting MOV to iMovie compatible, you can easily enhance your video and make high quality movies with iMovie.