Q: Images/stills turn black in iMovie since El Capitan upgrade

Well, only black images (MacBook iMac 2008 - 10.11.2) with iMovie 9.0.9 but all is OK with iMovie 10.1 (which does not recognize the project that I began in iMovie 9.0.9).

"MacBook iMac 2008 - 10.11.2" 

I'm a bit confused - is this a MacBook or an iMac?  In your longer post in my email which for some reason does not appear here you mention an iMac 24" mid 2007 - that is an old machine but has a good video card - ATI Radeon HD 2600 PRO which might explain why it has no problems with any of the photos in iMovie 10.1

"which does not recognize the project that I began in iMovie 9.0.9"

Was the "update projects and events" under the 'File' menu of iMovie 10.1 not able to find your iMovie 9.0.9 project and events?

Geoff.

Whilst I can get around the problem by using iMovie in Mavericks I was interested in a different solution.

As a result, I did a few more tests by adding photos (1920 X 1080) directly by drag and drop from the Desktop into an existing project in iMovie 09 in El Capitan. (The original project had been created by exporting a slide show from Aperture in Mavericks.) The added photos in the project showed black in El Capitan. However, when I opened iMovie in Mavericks the added photos showed as normal - even though the extra photos had been added using iMovie 09 in El Capitan.

I then went back to El Capitan.

I then tried to add a photo by drag and drop from within iMovie in El Capitan by clicking the Camera symbol. This should show the photo library. No photos were listed - instead a message appeared saying 'No media was found'. In Mavericks, this procedure gives direct access to the full iPhoto library in the window in lower right of the iMovie screen.

I don't know why a photo dragged from the desktop shows as a black image in the Preview window in El Capitan (and normally in Mavericks). However, the non-identification of a photo library within iMovie 09 in El Capitan indicates a software problem. I have checked probable Preferences settings to see if they needed adjusting but could find nothing relevant.

PS The reason I partitioned my hard drive with Mavericks on one partition was specifically to access a number of Apple programs (e.g. Aperture, iPhoto) which they said would not operate on El Capitan

Hi Geoff (and others),

Here is the Apple 'Help' reply to my last post & my reply to him. Disappointing to say the least after all this time and combined effort.

Hi Scott,

I have received a reply from engineering and they have advised that they are aware of the issue. It seems that the issue may be isolated to certain graphics cards which would explain why I was unable to replicate the issue myself. At the moment the workaround is the one that you suggested: Reducing the size of the images to a lower resolution. I’ve been told that a resolution lower than 3000x2250 seems to work in most cases.

As there’s no more further troubleshoot to be done on our end you should be okay to go ahead and use migration assistant to restore your data.

I’d also recommend checking/installing future updates incase a fix is released.

Matt

I have to say I appreciated your patient help on this but on the other hand have found the process incredibly frustrating. To think that after all this time the engineering team were already aware of the problem shows how poor Apples communication is.

What galls me even more is that the Apple Support Forum had numerous examples of the same problem and yet at your own admission Apple don't use this resource to listen to what users are experiencing. 

To realize now that all that time, effort (& downloads) could have been saved if you or the engineering team had been in closer contact about the symptoms is frustrating to say the least.
The fact that it's not resolved and there is no positive indication it will be is extremely disappointing.

I have been warned by others that the likely outcome is that nothing will get fixed, with Apple assuming people will upgrade their machines to avoid the issue. I genuinely hope that's not the case.

All the best to you personally.

"I then tried to add a photo by drag and drop from within iMovie in El Capitan by clicking the Camera symbol. This should show the photo library. No photos were listed - instead a message appeared saying 'No media was found'."

A recent poster reports that they were told by Apple support that iMovie under El Capitan can not access iPhoto library.

"PS The reason I partitioned my hard drive with Mavericks on one partition was specifically to access a number of Apple programs (e.g. Aperture, iPhoto) which they said would not operate on El Capitan"

A very wise move.  I always clone my current OS startup drive into a separate partition before OS updates.

Geoff.

Just seen your post.  Thanks for passing on the feedback you got.   It is very helpful.  So it basically confirms my suspicions that older graphics cards are the problem.  Apple has probably updated the graphics card driver software in El Capitan and concentrated testing on recent hardware.  At least there is a workaround until (hopefully) an update is issued - this would probably have to be to El Capitan rather than iMovie.

Geoff.

"MacBook iMac 2008 - 10.11.2"

"I'm a bit confused - is this a MacBook or an iMac?  In your longer post in my email which for some reason does not appear here you mention an iMac 24" mid 2007 - that is an old machine but has a good video card - ATI Radeon HD 2600 PRO which might explain why it has no problems with any of the photos in iMovie 10.1"

Well, it was 5 o'clock when I wrote this, and it's an iMac (my MacBook Pro under 10.6.8, can't even open iMovie 9.0.7).
The reason of the dispaition of my first (and longer) post is that, not enough awakened, I saw the stills in the timeline, but forgot to verify in the preview!

"which does not recognize the project that I began in iMovie 9.0.9"

"Was the "update projects and events" under the 'File' menu of iMovie 10.1 not able to find your iMovie 9.0.9 project and events?"
Yes, not able to do it. The project icon is not as others, and there is no way to import the iM 9.0.9 project in iM 10.1. I can see the data in iM 10.1 and that's all.

I am using El Capitan and iMovie 10.1 and have run into the same problem with some of my photos showing up as black in the preview of iMovie.  Some of the photos which I brought in from Photos are OK, others aren't.  They are all from the same camera and about the same size.  This is really aggravating.  I have used Apple products since the II-E and have always been a fan.  Recently, though, it seems that in their rush to change (not improve) programs, they release them with all kinds of bugs.

I am not about to try to resize photos.  Guess I will try to find/learn another program to make a movie composed of stills and videos. 

this whole resizing thing also might explain why three older pictures seem to work, but newer ones don't. If you find another good program, let us know what you end up using. I have had nothing but problems with both iPhoto and iMovie on my 4 year old iMac- and I am not buying a new one to fix a problem that should never be there in the first place...

I have the same problem, sooo anoying. Anybody found something???

FWIW my experience also confirms it is a problem with older graphics card.   I have three machines,  all running iMovie 10.1 on El Capitan 10.11.2.  My mid 2009 13" MacBook Pro and early 2009 24" iMac are both fitted with the NVIDIA GeForce 9400 256 MB graphics cards.   Both machines display the black photo problem.  My early 2015 12" MacBook Retina fitted with an Intel HD 5300 1536 MB graphics card works fine.

I do agree with Scott that Apple's admitted knowledge of this issue but complete silence on the subject has been very frustrating.  Come on Apple - a fix for this would be appreciated.

Yes, of my 3 machines it is the two with NVIDIA Geoforce cards that are affected.

Could anyone reading this thread with the problem report what graphics they have.   Look in 'About this mac' > System report > Graphics/Displays.

Thanks,

Geoff.

Yes, I also have a 2009 iMac with NVIDIA GeForce 9400 256 MB graphics card.  Guess it is Apple's way of making people buy new equipment.  I've been putting it off because I love the 24"screen.  I find the 21.5 too small and the 27"too big for my eyes.

I called Apple.  They checked and said they are aware of the problem with the graphics card and the engineers are working on a "fix".  Because the computer is "vintage", I can't go to Apple store to have graphics card replaced; they don't have replacements for "vintage" equipment.

There is nothing wrong with the graphics card its the drivers in El Capitan that are the problem.   Looking at Mactracker I notice that NVIDIA GeForce cards were used right up to 2014.  Not the same ones of course but i think there is a fair chance that some Macs with the problem may still be supported models.

Geoff.