How To Import Video from Canon Video Cameras to a Mac

Quick-torial:

If you're a Mac user with a Canon video camera, and you edit using Final Cut Pro, or if you just want to watch your movies using QuickTime Player or other standard video players, this article will help you work around the two big problems that Canon created:

1. Canon's video transfer software that ships with their consumer-grade cameras only works on PCs; there is little or nothing for Mac users.
2. Canon consumer standard definition (SD) video cameras use an odd-ball MPEG2-like format called ".MOD". Playing video files in this format using QuickTime, MPEG Streamclip or other video players, may result in soundless stretched-out or compressed images because .MOD files aren't quite standard MPEG2 files (as the box that your Canon camera came in implies). To correctly view and hear your videos you'll want your video files converted into a more standard ".MOV" format.

Both of these problems can be solved on a Mac using Apple's iMovie video editing software that ships with new Macs, as of this writing.  iMovie can also be purchased as part of Apple's iLife software suite. It's a nice consumer-level editing tool that will allow you to create very high quality home videos if that's all you need.

But if you use Apple's professional video editing suite, Final Cut Pro,  you'll need to convert your .MOD video files into a standard format that Final Cut Pro can work with.  Fortunately iMovie does the job for you. It downloads your .MOD-format video footage, right from your video camera, onto your Mac, and automatically converts it into the .MOV format.

Before following the steps below, I recommend getting familiar with iMovie. Apple provides clear video tutorials to get you started and there are on-line resources, as well. Unless you're planning to use iMovie you only need to learn how to import your video from your camera.

Also, while we're on the basics, before reading further, turn on your video camera and verify that the memory chip in the camera actually contains video footage. I know this sounds dumb (you just shot a bunch of video, after all), but hardware problems happen. So verify that what you just shot is present on the camera's memory card by playing some of the clips you've shot on the camera viewfinder. If you're not sure how to do this read the manual that came with the camera.

Now verify that your computer has enough hard disk space to hold the video files you are about to put there (on whatever drive you plan to use). Keep in mind that after the transfer you want to be sure the drive has more than 10% free space, and hopefully much more. If transferring your video files will fill your disk beyond 90% full, it's time to buy a new external drive for your computer. Trust me on this, everything you do on your computer will slow down if there is less than 10% free disk space available.

Once you've verified your footage can be played back on the camera, and that you have sufficient disk space, proceed to Step 1:

Step 1. Connect power cord to your video camera (do not turn camera on yet).

2. Connect Canon-supplied USB cable to your camera's USB terminal, and to a USB terminal on your computer.

NOTE: Video files are generally very large and can take a while to transfer from your camera. While you can use a USB terminal on an external USB Hub, for the highest possible transfer speed, try using a USB terminal on your computer.

TIP: To free up a USB port on your computer, you can temporarily (or permanently) plug your USB keyboard, mouse or printer into an available terminal on your external USB Hub. Digital cameras, video cameras and external USB hard drives work best when connected to very fast USB terminals. The USB terminals on your computer may be faster than your external USB Hubs.

3. Open iMovie and give it a few moments to get going.

4. Turn on your video camera.

5. The camera will now ask you to select the USB setting for importing footage to a computer. Select "PC or Printer" (Canon certainly could have made the USB options more clear to prevent user frustration, but they didn't.)

In a few moments an icon should appear on your Mac's screen (the desktop) that looks similar to the "Macintosh HD" icon that's likely already there, usually in the upper right corner of the screen. This new icon will probably be white and named "CANON" (NOTE: It's likely the same style of icon that pops up on the desktop when you plug an SD card or other memory chip into a card reader to download photos shot using your digital camera). There may be some numbers following the name. This icon represents the SD card in your video camera, and you can double-click it to open it in a finder window to view it's contents--but wait, you don't need to do that--unless you're curious.

If you've followed the steps above, iMovie should notice that your camera has now been connected to your computer, and will begin looking for video footage on the camera's SD card. Depending on iMovie's default preferences (or the ones you've set), it may ask you if want to import your footage from the camera. If iMovie doesn't do this, you can start the import process by going to iMovie's "File" menu and selecting "Import From Camera".

6. If iMovie has already detected your video camera the video import process will begin.

If iMovie hasn't detected your camera, check that your cables are properly attached to the computer and that you've followed the above steps in order. USB cables are "hot-plugable", meaning you can connect and de-connect them while the computer is running, but in my experience, I have found video cameras and editing software can be timing-sensitive and the order of connecting "x" to "y" may matter.

Before the import process can begin iMovie needs to know which folder on your internal hard drive, or on which folder on which external drive you want the footage to be stored. You can tell it to store everything on your computer's internal hard drive (typically called "Macintosh HD) or on another internal or external hard drive, if additional drives are attached on your computer. For most users "Macintosh HD" will be the best or only choice.

Regardless where you decide to put your video files make note of the location so you can easily find them once iMovie is done importing (yes, I know this sounds like more dumb advice, but on today's large hard drives it's easy to lose track of where you put things.).

The import process can take a while, depending how many minutes of video your camera contains.

Be aware that iMovie will create a folder for your video files and other folders for a few files that it uses to do its work (e.g., there's a thumbnail folder with small images that iMovie uses to represent each separate clip you've shot - a clip is defined here as the portion of your video stored by your camera for each Record/Stoprecord cycle.). Unless you will use iMovie for editing, you won't need anything but the .MOV files, because that's all Final Cut Pro will need for editing.

Once iMovie is done importing and converting your original .MOD files into .MOV files you can copy them to a new location on any available hard drive. It's a good idea to copy these files rather than move them, because then you have a backup in case something goes wrong.

In fact, if you haven't backed up your system for a while, before doing any of this, go back-up your computer right now (and I mean right now!).

Now you can start editing with Final Cut Pro using your new .MOV video files.


LINKS:

1. A bit dense, but useful if you can hang in there:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MOD_and_TOD_%28video_format%29

2. Information on Apple's latest iMovie version:

http://www.apple.com/ilife/imovie/

3.  Information on Apple's latest Final Cut Studio version:

http://www.apple.com/finalcutstudio/finalcutpro/

NOTES:

1. This procedure was tested using a Cannon FS100 (Standard Definition) Flash Memory Camcorder on an Intel-based Macintosh computer running OS X 10.5.8. It was also tested with the Canon VIXIA HF R100 (High Definition) Flash Memory Camcorder, which uses an MPEG4-AVC / H.264 video recording system.
2. The above steps likely work with other Canon SD video camera models.
3. This Quick-torial does not cover Apple Final Cut Studio or Adobe's video editing products.

Errors or additions for this Quick-torial? Make appropriate changes, add your name and the date to the Copyleft line, and re-issue Quick-torial to interested parties.

CopyLeft: Pass it on - Jerry Scott - June 2, 2011.