Nikon D5000 HD 720p 24fps sequence settings

Converted to WHAT TYPE of .mov? AVI, MOV...these are containers that enclose many many codecs. For FCP, it would be best to convert the footage to ProRes in the .mov container. Compressor does this.

FCP doesn't just work with any old .mov.

Shane

The trouble with your D-Movie clips is they're in the PhotoJPEG codec within an .avi container. You have to get them into an editing codec that Final Cut likes.

Drop your .avi files into the Compressor program and drag the ProRes422 preset (in the Settings window select Apple -> Formats -> QuickTime -> ProRes422) onto the clips. ProRes422 is correct for this application, ProRes422 HQ is unnecessary. Submit the job.
If you're on a MacPro and you have a lot of of clips look into creating a virtual cluster to speed the process up. With short D-Movie clips I'd stick to about 3 or 4 instances.

The resulting files from compressor will be .mov files with the video in the ProRes422 codec. Now select one of those .mov files and drop a new sequence. FCP will ask you if you want to update the sequence settings to match the clip settings. Select yes. Your sequence settings are now correct and you can play in real time without rendering. Note most sequence setups for 720p24 will be 23.976 frames per second. All Nikon HDSLRs shoot at a nonstandard 24fps, so it's easiest to let FCP handle the sequence settings.

I shoot with a Nikon D90 but same principle applies. I actually just converted my clips the other using an application called Mpeg Streamclip which was a FREE download by the way. I batched all my clips, changed a couple settings and hit GO and let it do all the converting. I have yet to open them in FCP yet...hoping to do that today. I am glad I came across this thread because I wanted to see what was the best Codec to use in FCP to edit with. I did convert them to Apple ProRes 422.

Nikon 5000. It is sbo 24 p 1280 by 720 and I imported into FCP, then rendered the sequences to Apple Pro Res 24p 1280/720. Seems to work, but not sure what is optimum.

I'm sorry, but are you paying by the letter to add text to this forum? Is there some reason you have to write in code? sbo? What sequences settings? Render to ProRes. OK. Seems to work. OK. But what's optimum for what? Please just write in full sentences as best as you can without abbreviations.