How to import Olympus E-M5 video to iMovie

The best workflow to import Olympus OM-D E-M5 videos to iMovie is to transcoding to Apple InterMediate Codec, which ensure best results when working with iMovie. Here is how.



The E-M5 is the first camera in an OM-Digital lineup that will run alongside the PEN series and, according to the company, its Four Thirds models. For reasons of clarity, it should be stated that this isn't a continuation of the old OM line - the OM-D models won't be SLRs and are based around Micro Four Thirds, not OM lens mounts. However, they do embody the spirit of the much-loved camera line - a small, well-built camera designed for enthusiasts. And, particularly in silver and black form, the E-M5 is one of best looking cameras we've encountered in some time.

Most Olympus cameras support capturing 1080/30p full HD video and maybe you often use E-M5 to record videos. If you're take a glance at the footage, you may find the E-M5 recorded video is formatted in MPEG-4/H.264 MOV or AVI format. The files you are getting out of Olympus E-M5 are suited to be delivered as is, which is not one you want to use for editing within iMovie. Therefore, in order to import Olympus E-M5 videos to iMovie 08/09/11 for editing smoothly, you need to convert them to a more editing-friendly format, such as Apple Intermediate Codec which ensures maximum editing quality and efficiency when working with iMovies.


First you need to download Brorsoft Video Converter for Mac, a powerful high-quality video converter, player and editor. If you're editing with iMovie, chances are you already installed this great free utility. If not, download it it from below.

(Note: Click here for OS X 10.5)

So, what does the workflow look like?

1) Install and run the Olympus camera video converter on Mac, drag the footage files directly from your camera to the converter list window.



Tips:
1. If you want to combine all the files together for easy importing to iMovie, please tick the box "Merge into one" on the main interface.
2. Double click on the selected file and you can have a preview on the viewer.
3. You can click the Browse button to choose the output destination as you like. After the conversion, you can click the "Open" button to find the converted AIC files.

2) Hit the Format box to select the specially designed video codec for editing in iMovie: iMovie/FCE --> Apple InterMediate Codec(AIC) (*.mov).



3) Click the "Arrow" button to start transcoding Olympus E-M5 MOV/AVI to AIC MOV for iMovie immediately.

You're done. Your Olympus E-M5 files will be converted into .MOV files ready to be imported iMovie.

Additional Tips:
If you want to edit Olympus camera video files 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.