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The Phantom 4 is a beautifully designed camera drone. The onboard camera shoots 4K footage at 30 frames per second. When got smooth and stabilized 4K video shootings from DJI Phantom 4, how can we import and edit Phantom 4 4K video in FCP X/7? What's the best workflow for 4K footage from DJI Phantom 4 to Final Cut Pro? Some tricks are listed in the following paragraphs.

Well, compatibility is very critical for a successful editing of 4K videos so you should not proceed without an assurance on this one. Your videos should come with a format that is compatible with Final Cut Pro otherwise you are going to experience challenges in editing. Based on our testing, we found H.264 encoded MP4 or MOV file format from DJI Phantom 4 is beyond the compatibility of FCP 7.

Learn from Apple official site, we know that FCP X can support editing and monitoring 4K video, including 4K ProRes, Sony XAVC and REDCODE RAW from version 10.1. But the point here is, Final Cut Pro 7 still uses 1080p as primary delivery format and will continue to do so for a long time. In this case, to import and edit Phantom 4 4K clips in FCP 7 smoothly, you are advised to convert and downscale 4K to 1080p from DJI Phantom 4 for FCP 7 before editing.

To achieve the goal, a professional 4K Video Converter for Mac is the key. Dimo Videomate for Mac is highly recommended here. The program is an easy-to-use yet professional Phantom 4 4K Converter for FCP. It's able to convert Phantom 4 4K MP4/MOV files to Apple ProRes 422, Apple ProRes 422(HQ), Apple ProRes 422 (LT), Apple ProRes 422 (Proxy), and Apple ProRes 4444 for Final Cut Pro. Besides, this Mac 4K Video Converter is also available to customize the output resolutions to any size like 1080p, 2K, 4K as users want.

Plus, this 4K video app can also encode any 4K videos including 4K XAVC/XAVC S, 4K MOV, 4K MP4, 4K AVI, 4K MTS, etc to Avid Media Composer, iMovie, Adobe Premiere Pro, Davinci Resolve, etc. on Mac(OS Sierra). If you are working on Windows (Windows 10 included), please turn to Videomate which can transcode 4K to Apple Prores for FCP on Windows. Just download it and follow the tutorial below to get the work done.

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Tips Editing DJI Phantom 4 4K MP4/MOV in Final Cut Pro

Step 1: Load 4K footage to the converter

Run the best 4K to FCP Converter and click "Add File" button, browse to the DJI Phantom 4 footages and load them to the converter for conversion.

Step 2: Choose a proper output format

Click "Select Format" bar to choose output format. You are recommended to choose "Format -> Editor -> Final Cut Pro 7" or "Format -> Editor -> Final Cut Pro X" as the target format.

Tip: Advanced 4K video settings

Click "Settings" button if you'd like to customize advanced audio and video parameters like Video Codec, aspect ratio, bit rate, frame rate, Audio codec, sample rate, audio channels. Usually 1920*1080 video size and 30fps video frame rate are recommended for FCP editing.

Note: If you want to get original 4K resolution, just keep the video size as original to get 4K ProRes for FCP.

Step 3: Start converting Phantom 4 4K to Apple Prores

When you finish all settings, hit "Start" button to start transcoding DJI Phantom 4 4K video for Final Cut Pro on Mac. You can follow the conversion process from the pop-up windows. After the conversion, it's freely to import Phantom 4 4K MP4/MOV footage into FCP X/7 for natively editing.

Simple Steps to Edit converted 4K Video in Final Cut Pro

1. Load Files

You can decide to click "edit" on the menu bar then "load media files" which is very easy. If you have no time to do all that, just drag the files and drop them to the program timeline.

2. Customize

Click on "settings" and that will allow you to change key parameters in the best way possible. You will be able to adjust parameters for both video and audio if applicable.

3. Actual Editing

You will get to make all the changes you want to the video and apply that. Be aware that Final Cut Pro will edit only sections of the 4K video that have been marked for that so don't expect a miracle.

4. Save

Make sure you have clicked the "save" button once through with editing to make the changes applicable and permanent. After editing, you can re-encode them to a suitable format for your iPad/iPhone/Android and free share edited video from FCP onto your mobile devices with Videomate for Mac/Win.

Additional Tip:

Get Dimo Video Converter Ultimate for Mac/Dimo Video Converter Ultimate with Only $45.95, which can save you $63.9(BDmate $39.95 + Videomate $39.95 + DVDmate $29.95 = $109.85), then you can enjoy any Blu-ray/DVD/ISO or common movies freely on Mac(OS Sierra).

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