Mike Chambers

code = joy

Converting Nikon D90 Videos to work with Adobe Premiere Pro CS4

with 17 comments

I recently bought my first DSLR, the Nikon D90, which I have been having a blast with. One of the cool features of the camera, is that it supports creating HD video clips (of up to 5 minutes) (view an example here). However, the way the clips are created seems to confuse Adobe Premiere Pro CS4, which won’t open or import the clips without a little work on your part.

I found instructions here on how to use the terminal to get Premiere to understand the clips, and based on that (with some tweaks and fixes), I have put together a bash script that will “fix” all of the Nikon D90 AVI clips in a directory so that Premiere Pro will recognize them.

Usage:

d90topremier [dirWithClips]

The “dirWithClips” argument is optional, and if not specified will assume the clips are in the current working director.

The output will look something like this:

./DSC_0002.AVI --> ./DSC_0002.mov
./DSC_0003.AVI --> ./DSC_0003.mov
./DSC_0004.AVI --> ./DSC_0004.mov
./DSC_0005.AVI --> ./DSC_0005.mov
./DSC_0007.AVI --> ./DSC_0007.mov
./DSC_0008.AVI --> ./DSC_0008.mov
./DSC_0009.AVI --> ./DSC_0009.mov
./DSC_0010.AVI --> ./DSC_0010.mov
./DSC_0011.AVI --> ./DSC_0011.mov
./DSC_0014.AVI --> ./DSC_0014.mov

 

Requirements

The script requires the “setfile” command, which is available in the free Mac OS X Developer SDK.

Script

#/bin/bash

#################################################
#
# Bash script that modifies Nikon D90 AVI Video
# file so they are reconized by Adobe Preiere Pro CS4
#
# Created by Mike Chambers
# http://www.mikechambers.com
# Based on original script at:
# http://www.alexbeckett.co.uk/blog/2009/07/02/techie-importing-d90-dmovie-video-into-premiere-pro/
#
#################################################i

oldExt=mov
newExt=AVI

d="./"

if [ -n "$1" ];then
        d="$1"
fi

if [ ! -e "$d" ]; then
        echo "$d does not exist"
        exit 0;
fi

for filename in "$d"*.$oldExt
  do
        if [ ! -e "$filename" ]; then
                continue;
        fi

        setfile -t "VfW " "$filename"

        newFileName="${filename%$oldExt}$newExt"
        mv "$filename" "$newFileName"

        echo "$filename --> $newFileName"
  done

 
Just place this into a file called “d90topremier”, place it in your path, and make sure to chmod it like so:

chmod 755 d90topremier

If you run into any issues, or have any improvements for the script, post them in the comments.

Written by mikechambers

August 2nd, 2009 at 12:43 pm

Posted in General,Photography

Tagged with , , , ,

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17 Responses to 'Converting Nikon D90 Videos to work with Adobe Premiere Pro CS4'

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  1. [...] terminal to get Premiere to understand the clips, and based on that (with some [...] Pingback by Convert Nikon D90 Videos to work with Adobe Premiere Pro CS4 at Mike Chambers — August 2, 2009 @ 7:43 [...]

    Techie: Importing D90 dmovie video into Premiere Pro | Alex Beckett

    3 Aug 09 at 2:15 am

  2. [...] Converting Nikon D90 Videos to work with Adobe Premiere Pro CS4 at … [...]

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    4 Aug 09 at 10:44 pm

  3. [...] damit die Videos von der Nikon D90 von Adobe Premiere korrekt erkannt werden. Mike Chambers hat ein Batch-Skript erstellt, damit man die Umwandlung nicht händisch vornehmen [...]

    » Videos von einer Nikon D90 anpassen für Adobe Premiere Pro CS4 » Fundfetzen

    5 Aug 09 at 12:51 pm

  4. [...] In un post sul suo blog , Mike Chambers, product manager di Adobe, ha spiegato come poter importare i video HD della Nikon D90 (ne parla da utente, ne ha appena comprata una) all’interno di Adobe Premiere Pro CS4. Non è possibile farlo direttamente, ma con le istruzioni che vengono proposte in questo post, potrete farlo senza problemi. Grazie Mike! [...]

    Convertire video Nikon D90 con Adobe Premiere Pro CS4 | JumperNews

    21 Aug 09 at 7:02 am

  5. Hi, thanks for your work on this!
    I have the exact same problem with my D90 and Premiere CS4…
    I have created the file (d90topremiere), and placed it in the same directory as my AVI files.
    I have the following in the terminal:

    localhost:Video_Clips Chris$ chmod 755 d90topremiere
    localhost:Video_Clips Chris$ d90topremiere
    -bash: d90topremiere: command not found

    I downloaded the developer tools too.
    What am I doing wrong? is there supposed to be a file extension on the code file?

    Chris C

    29 Aug 09 at 3:29 am

  6. @Chris

    If you are in the same directory as your d90topremiere file, then you have to run it like so:

    ./d90topremiere

    best bet is to just place the file in your system path.

    Hope that helps…

    mike chambers

    mike chambers

    6 Sep 09 at 10:01 am

  7. Hi Mike,

    thanks for the reply.
    I tried this to add the file to the path:

    localhost:Movies Chris$ echo ‘export PATH=/usr/Chris/Movies/d90topremiere:$PATH’ >> ~/.bash_profile

    and I get:

    ./d90topremiere: line 1: {rtf1ansiansicpg1252cocoartf949cocoasubrtf540: command not found
    ./d90topremiere: line 2: syntax error near unexpected token `}’
    ./d90topremiere: line 2: `{\fonttbl\f0\fswiss\fcharset0 Helvetica;}’

    What do I do?
    Thanks for your help!

    Chris C

    8 Sep 09 at 4:23 am

  8. Should it be oldExt=AVI newExt=mov ?

    Martin

    25 Sep 09 at 1:11 am

  9. Hi Mike…. greetings !

    I’m form Mexico, and I have this nikon d90.. so I also have the same problem with Adobe Premiere…
    (my english is not that well… so I hope you clearly understand all I’m saying.. )
    I’m on Mac OS X 10.5.8, just to make you know.
    A have never used the “terminal” aplication… And I’m a complete newbie at this…. I really don’t understand what should i do.
    Im lost from beginning…. when you use: “Usage:

    d90topremier [dirWithClips]“… don’t know what this means….

    when you talk about the “setfile”…. is the same for me…. don’t know what this is… I click on the link and got a XCodeTools.mpkg that have lot of things… but I can’t figure out what is the “setfile”….(should I say I’m also new with MAc ¿?.. ha!)

    Well… this is looking really bad for me… but, to have a N D90, and can’t edit the videos on Premiere… is such a big problem right now.

    Hope you could help me…. THANKS A LOT !!!

    once again…. GREETINGS FROM MEXICO CITY!!

    Jav

    5 Oct 09 at 9:44 am

  10. wow thats something different to the average photographer.

    Mike you should make a video of the whole process. it would massively help thousands of people!

    David

    david

    15 Dec 09 at 4:16 pm

  11. Martins right, the old and new extensions have been swopped in the script

    Gareth

    7 Feb 10 at 1:59 pm

  12. Hi Mike, I was wondering if this is just the GUI for your script:

    http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/video/nikopre.html

    Terry

    18 Feb 10 at 4:22 pm

  13. @Terry

    Not sure. Looks like it basically does the same thing though.

    mike chambers

    mesh@adobe.com

    mikechambers

    18 Feb 10 at 4:40 pm

  14. Thanks for your reply Mike :-)

    Terry

    19 Feb 10 at 8:30 am

  15. Does anyone know where one would find non-techie, plain English instructions on how the hell I can import, work with or use video from my Nikon D90 into CS4. I use Windows 7. In my opinion this is something that Adobe should have included in the latest package. And trying to reach someone at Adobe is like trying to get an audience with The Pope (for whatever reason you’d want to do that).

    There has got to be instructions that an old non-tech guy like me can use to do this, without having to download a dozen party programs.

    As you can tell, I am frustrated so, if you can help please let me know.

    Later,

    Harve

    Harve

    7 Apr 10 at 7:04 am

  16. Hey Mike,

    I was looking at some photos you had on flickr of NSGA Skaggs Island. I was stationed there ywice in the 80′s. I was totally shocked when I seen the condition the government let that base get to.

    The cars you saw on the base were from the programmer school, and any documents left laying around would be useless, or declassified materials. I was a cryptographic technician there and I worked in the big room inside the building with the antennae around it(elephant cage. When you walk in and turn left immediately, the double doors at the end of the hallway was where I worked the 1st time for 3 years and 18 months the 2nd time.

    That was a fun base if you had a car, and could get around. The base had a lot to offer, and the places you could go outside of the base and Vallejo were pretty good too. I frequented a place in Novato called Charlie Bolton’s Roadhouse.

    I was also a member of the Skaggs Island volunteer firemen. the base had 3 full time shifts of firefighters augmented by 8 of us who were on call volunteers. We helped the surrounding towns at both ends of 37, and outside the back gate as a mutual aid and 1st responders, because of the location, and ability for city departments to get there quick. I even fought a fire at Sears Point Raceway in 85, and went to northern California late that summer with 30 people from our base to fight a forest fire in northern California. I know alot about that base though. Awesome pictures! It steams me to see the base that way. I’m thinking the government could’ve sold in or something other than leaving it in shambles and polluted.

    Bill

    11 May 10 at 8:26 pm

  17. Mike,

    Have you considered David’s request from Dec 15, 2009?

    If you could possibley put together a quick waldthrough video, it would be very helpful.

    Thanks in advance for your prior and future help.

    –Ian

    Ian Webster

    6 Aug 10 at 7:51 am

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