Alpha a7R III Mirrorless Digital Camera from Sony is a versatile, high-performance camera characterized by not only its resolution, but by its multimedia versatility. Revolving around a full-frame 42.4MP Exmor R BSI CMOS sensor and updated BIONZ X image processor, the a7R III affords an impressive 10 fps continuous shooting rate along with improved autofocus performance for faster, more reliable subject tracking along with wide frame coverage. This updated Fast Hybrid AF System employs a combination of 399 phase-detection points and 425 contrast-detection areas for quicker acquirement of focus in a variety of lighting conditions, and also maintains focus on subjects more effectively. Full HD 1080p recording is also supported in frame rates up to 120 fps, and both resolutions utilize the 100 Mbps XAVC S format contained within an MP4 wrapper with 4:2:0 sampling.

For guys who are going to have some professional editing work of Sony Alpha a7R III 4K XAVC S with NLEs such as Final Cut Pro, Avid Media Composer, iMovie, Adobe Premiere, etc, you’re in the right place. Here is the best Sony Alpha a7R III to FCP/iMovie/Avid/Premiere workflow which can help you a lot in editing Sony Alpha a7R III 4K XAVC S footage.

Issues: Editing Sony Alpha a7R III 4K XAVC S in FCP, Avid Media Composer, iMovie, Premiere Pro

When you directly import your Sony Alpha a7R III 4K XAVC S into those NLE, you will probably find that the error message pops up sometimes, or the rendering process lasts forever, or the editing work is not smooth at all.

The video shot under the XAVC-S mode with MPEG-4 AVC/H.264 compression codec, which cannot be natively supported by those NLEs, they need to render the XAVC-S mode into other compatible mode if it can be recognized. It’s a long time process and sometimes it’s interrupted or crashed during the process.

And then, the video shoot under the XAVC-S mode of Sony Alpha a7R III with 4K resolutions also requires a powerful CPU and Graphics. Generally speaking, even the NLEs such as the FCP X, Avid, iMovie has ability to handle the 4K video, editing in an old or low configuration PC/Mac can be a pain.

Solution: Transcode Sony Alpha a7R III 4K XAVC S to a more edit-friendly format

Although, there are some plugs such as AMA, which provides support for XAVC and XDCAM/XDCAM HD files in Avid Media Composer, editing experience of 4K XAVC S in NLEs is still not good as users expect. Therefore, we’d like to suggest the best workflow: transcode Sony Alpha a7R III 4K XAVC S to the nativie format or codec for each NLE. For example, ProRes MOV to FCP, DNxHD MOV to Avid MC, AIC MOV to iMovie/FCE, MPG to Premiere, etc.

Here UFUSoft Video Converter (For Mac) is highly recommended as the best XAVC S converter. With it, you can directly choose the preset format for the NLEs such as the FCP, iMovie, Adobe Premiere, Avid, etc or some players like QuickTime. Several optional buttons you can take around to adjust your output videos, for example, “Settings”, “Edit” or “Options” provide more exciting videos for you.

Price: $35 (Lifetime)； Platform: Windows or Mac

Guide: Transcode Sony Alpha a7R III 4K XAVC S for FCP/iMovie/Avid/Premiere

1. When you download and install the best 4K XAVC S converter program, with two buttons on the main interface we can easily load our source files in. “Add video” and “Add from folder” can both help you in that way.

2. Click “Format” bar, from its drop-down list:

a. Select “Final Cut Pro” > “Apple ProRes 422 (HQ)” or “Apple ProRes 422 (LT)” or “Apple ProRes 4444” as the desired format for editing in Final Cut Pro.
b. Select “iMovie and Final Cut Express” > “Apple InterMediate Codec (AIC)” as the desired format for editing in iMovie.
c. Select “Avid Media Composer” > “Avid DNxHD(*mov)” as the desired format for editing in Avid Media Composer.
d. Select “Adobe Premiere/Sony Vegas” > “MPEG-2 (*.mpg)” as the desired format for editing in Premiere.

Tip: You can click the Settings to pen profile window to adjust output video and audio parameter settings according to your own preference.

3. After all the setting is over, go back to the main interface and hit right-bottom “Convert” button to start Sony Alpha a7R III 4K XAVC S to the native supported codec you have selected conversion process.

When the conversion is done, you can click “Open” button to get the generated video files. Now, you can import the converted Sony Alpha a7R III 4K XAVC S files to Premiere/FCP/iMovie/Avid with the native codec and edit flawlessly..