Sony Alpha a7 III XAVC footage won’t import to Premiere

How can I expect a smooth workflow between Sony Alpha a7 III XAVC media and Adobe Premiere? If you are having troubles editing Sony Alpha a7 III XAVC footage in Premiere, you may wish to read this tutorial. It walks you through how to convert Sony Alpha a7 III XAVC video files to Premiere preferred DNxHD or ProRes codec for a smooth workflow.

"Hello fellows, I have very limited experience with Premiere. I'm trying to learn premiere pro but it's not intuitive at all. When I try to import Sony Alpha a7 III XAVC footage into Premiere, the whole thing has frozen and stopped responding. I can't figure out a way to go through this. Can anyone help please!!!"

Regarding Import, do NOT use "File > Import" with this kind of footage. Best practice is to copy ENTIRE contents of SD card to a NEW FOLDER on the hard drive. Then in Premiere, use Media Browser to do the actual import. That will get you the best results, with many benefits. If that doesn't work, transcoding Sony Alpha a7 III XAVC media to DNxHD or ProRes codec would be a solution. Here's how.

• Part 1: How to transcode Sony Alpha a7 III XAVC files for use in Adobe Premiere on Mac?
• Part 2: How to transcode Sony Alpha a7 III XAVC files for use in Adobe Premiere on Windows?

Here's what you need

Video Converter (It is available for Mac and Windows, simply download the proper version depending on your computer's OS.)

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Part 1. How to transcode Sony Alpha a7 III XAVC files for use in Adobe Premiere on Mac?

Step 1: Import Sony Alpha a7 III XAVC files Start up Video Converter for Mac and click "Add File" to load Sony Alpha a7 III XAVC videos that you need to convert into this program. This converter supports batch conversion, so you can import a bundle of Sony Alpha a7 III XAVC files into it to do conversion at a time.

Step 2: Click "Profile" to select output format. For Mac based Premiere, we would recommend choosing "Final Cut Pro" > "Apple ProRes 422 (*.mov)" as output format. The ProRes 422 codec will ensure a good balance between file size and file quality.

Tips: 1. This converter only outputs Apple ProRes files up to 1080p. If your source video is 4K and you want to keep its original quality, you can select "4K Video" > "4K H.264/MPEG-4 AVC Video (*.mp4)" as target format for use in Premiere. To select 4K H.264 as output, please make sure your computer has enough power to handle 4K H.264.

2. If necessary, you can click "Settings" button to modify video and audio parameters like encoder, resolution, frame rate, bitrate, aspect ratio, sample rate, and audio channels. You can also "Enable 3D Settings" to add 3D effect to your source media.

Step 3: Start file conversion. Click "Convert" to start transcoding Sony Alpha a7 III XAVC media for Premiere on Mac. As soon as the conversion is complete, click "Open Folder" to get the generated files for editing in Premiere Pro on your Mac with optimum performance.

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Part 2. How to transcode Sony Alpha a7 III XAVC files for use in Adobe Premiere on Windows?

Step 1: Import Sony Alpha a7 III XAVC files Start up Video Converter for Windows and click "Add File" to load Sony Alpha a7 III XAVC videos that you need to convert into this program. This converter supports batch conversion, so you can import a bundle of Sony Alpha a7 III XAVC files into it to do conversion at a time.

Step 2: Click "Profile" to select output format For Windows based Premiere, we would recommend choosing "Avid Media Composer" > "Avid DNxHD 1080p(*.mov)" as output format.

Tips: 1.This converter only outputs DNxHD files up to 1080p. If your source video is 4K and you want to keep its original quality, you can select "4K Video" > "4K H.264/MPEG-4 AVC Video (*.mp4)" as target format for use in Premiere. To select 4K H.264 as output, please make sure your computer has enough power to handle 4K H.264.

2.If necessary, you can click "Settings" button to modify video and audio parameters like encoder, resolution, frame rate, bitrate, aspect ratio, sample rate, and audio channels. You can also "Enable 3D Settings" to add 3D effect to your source media.

Step 3: Start file conversion. Click "Convert" to start transcoding Sony Alpha a7 III XAVC media for Premiere on Windows. As soon as the conversion is complete, click "Open Folder" to get the generated files for editing in Premiere Pro on your Windows PC with optimum performance. That's all. Hope this post will help those who are having issues working with Sony Alpha a7 III XAVC footage in Adobe Premiere Pro.