Q: My mac doesn't recognize my new Canon Vixia HF R600 camcorder, any ideas why?

Your camera is shown as supported in iMovie 10: Cameras supported by iMovie - Apple Support

but not in iMovie 9: http://help.apple.com/imovie/cameras/en/index.html?lang=en_US

Are you running iMovie 9  (=iMovie '11)?

Geoff.

Actually iMovie 10 requires Mac OS 10.9 or 10.10.   if you update the OS you can download iMovie 10 for free and iMovie 9 will still be available to use.  iMovie 10 is a big change from iMovie 9 and some capabilities have been removed.

I am nevertheless a little surprised that when you connect your camera via USB that it does not appear as an external drive on your Mac (check in the Finder for a volume probably called "Untitled").  I assume you have read the info that came with your camera that might well include how to connect to a Mac.

Geoff.

I am having a similar problem.  I am trying to import video clips from my Canon HF R600 into iMovie.  I am able to get iMovie to recognize my camera, but it says there are no clips to import.  A second import screen pops up where I can see my Canon camera on the left-hand side where it says "Cameras."  The screen on my Canon says USB connection and the rest is a black screen.  I am using iMovie 10 and my iMac is the 10.10.5 OS X Yosemite.  Can anyone tell me what I am doing wrong?

Did you manage to resolve this?

I just got this camera and I managed to get my footage into iMovie relatively easy via a card reader. The folders didn't show the files though. They showed just one video file.

Also when I finish and output, it's at 720p not the 1080p 60 fps that I shot at. And even in imovie it's not sharp footage at all, even though I tested the focus a lot and had face detection too.

I'm wondering if you guys have any tips?

"The folders didn't show the files though. They showed just one video file."

If you recorded in AVCHD you will see what looks like a single file but is actually a package, the contents of which you can see by right clicking > Show Package Contents.

"Also when I finish and output, it's at 720p not the 1080p 60 fps that I shot at."

The resolution of a project is set to the resolution of the first clip put into the timeline.  Create a new project and put any known 1080p clip into the timeline then copy all from your original project.  It should now be in 1080p.  You can then delete that first clip from the project.

Geoff.

I spoke with someone from Canon and he informed me that Macs do not recognize AVCHD format, but a PC would.  I idiotically recorded in AVCHD.  I recorded some footage in mp4 format as a test and voila, the clips appeared in iMovie for import.  I ended up importing all the AVCHD footage onto a PC then Emailed it to myself.  I then used Handbrake to convert the files over to a readable format for iMovie.  Record in Mp4 for iMovie! 

This is incorrect.  iMovie does read AVCHD.  In fact I used this format exclusively with my Sony NEX 5N with iMovie 10 (before switching to FCP X).  I suggest you try importing from  the SD card directly on your mac.

You can also right click on the AVCHD bundle > Show package contents and navigate to the STREAM folder from which you can drag and drop your clips into an imovie event pane or project timeline.  The AVCHD driectory structiure is as follows:

Geoff.

I find the easiest and fastest way to download from this camcorder is to just pop the memory card out, pop it into a reader, and use the Finder to copy files where you want them.

Same question but on Samsung HMX-F80 with late 2006 OS X 10.7.5.

This camcorder is not shown as compatible with iMovie 9 or 10.   If it uses an SD card you can try connecting this to your mac with an SD card reader and copying its entire contents manually to your Mac.  You should then be able import from there to iMovie, assuming you are using version 9.

Geoff.  

I understand your using .mp4 file format which for this program it does not support it however.  It your using

H.264/AVCHD(.mts .m2ts)

WAVE(.wav .wave)

Then you can transfer the files over with this program.  Hope it helps others using Mac OS X.

http://canondl.pixela.co.jp/oem/canon/app_dl/transferutility_le_12/?lng=en

Back to the original question by LLH873, My newer Vixia HF R72 is not recognized by my iMac but my older Vixia HF R300 is recognized. The files on the camera are both recorded in AVCHD format, not that it should matter. The fact that one camera is recognized and the other isn't should have nothing to do with the files on the drive. And BTW 'eidco' I am not using a removable recording media like an SD card, I am recording to the internal drive on each camera. I see this as possibly a camera issue in that maybe the new camera is not identifying itself to the iMac over the USB connection in the same way the older camera does.

Any thoughts on this?