To import card-based media from a tapeless camera into Premiere Pro CC, with the application closed, connect your camera to your computer. You can also remove the video card from your camera and insert it into the video card slot on your computer if you have one. Once you’ve connected your camera or have inserted your video card, the video card icon should appear on your desktop. Note that there are many different kinds of cards out there, so yours may look a little different from the one here.

First, you’ll need to copy your video card contents onto your computer’s hard drive. The easiest way to do this is to copy the entire Root Directory to your computer’s hard drive, in a place that’s easy for you to remember. The root directory is usually named Untitled, but can it might also be called Private, DCIM, BDMC, CONTENTS or BPAV. Don’t go into the root directory folder and try to copy the other folders that are located there, or the contents within those folders. Just copy the root directory folder.

Once you’ve copied it, it’s a good idea to re-name it to something more meaningful. Next, launch the application and open your Premiere Pro CC project that you created, by double-clicking on it from the Welcome screen. Once the application is open, click on the Media Browser tab located in the Project Pane. Navigate to the location of your camera card that you just copied and renamed on your computer’s hard drive, and then click on the root folder that you renamed. You’ll know that you’ve opened the right one when you see the video clip thumbnails you’re your camera appear.

You can hover your mouse cursor over each of them without clicking to hover scrub and see the contents of each clip, or you can click on a clip and then press the spacebar to play. When you’ve decided which clips to bring into your project, command + click, or Control Click on a PC, to select more than one or press command + A Or Control A on a PC to select all of them.

Finally, right + click or Alt click on a PC and choose Import. When you click back on the Project Pane tab, your imported files will appear there, ready to be screened, marked and edited into your Sequence.

© Michael Rosenblum & Lisa Lambden 2015