Nikon D800 video into a Macbook Pro

So easy. (Nikon FAQ)

1. Turn on the Mac computer.

2. Turn off the Nikon D800 or D600 camera.

3. Connect the USB cable included with the camera to the camera and the USB port on the Mac. Press the “Menu” button on the camera and select “USB” and press “OK.”

Not sure why it has to be live to the MacBook Pro. I have a D300s and just did some testing yesterday. I recorded to an SDHD 16GB class 10 card, then put that in my computer and imported to FCPX. Worked perfectly fine.

If I'm not mistaken, your Mac should also have USB 2. Both cameras have HDMI out, also, the D600 has USB 2.0, the D800 has USB 3.0. Have you tried connecting the cameras to the MacBook Pro with USB? I've seen Thunderbolt to HDMI adapter cables, but I'm not sure it will allow capture to the MacBook Pro. Also not sure if FCPX would do the capturing, or if you would have to use Image Capture bundled with your computer. (I use that to tether my D300s for still images.)

I just did some research and found two things for still capture through the USB port, but I didn't find if they actually work for video capture.

Nikon's Camera Control Pro 2, It's $180 US, but they have a trial download;

http://nikonimglib.com/nccp/index_en_eur.html#os-macintosh

I also found a donation application Sofortbild, but again I don't see if it will capture video. (I actually find this to be better than Apple's Image Capture for stills.)

http://www.sofortbildapp.com/

Have you considered attaching a field monitor to the hdmi output of your camera? B&H sells them for under $300. (it won't help you reach the camera though - you still need a ladder or long arms for that :-) )

This thread may be helpful.

Russ