How do I import Canon S90 videos into iMovie?

Question

Level 1

6 points

How do I import Canon S90 videos into iMovie?

I have a new Canon S90 still + video camera. When I attach it via USB to my i5 iMac, it does not appear on the desktop. No disk image of the camera. But iPhoto recognizes it immediately. I can download still photos and movies into iPhoto. Seems to be no problem. Double-click on movie (.mov) in iPhoto and it runs in Quicktime. All there, looks great.

But iMovie cannot find the camera at all. Not automatically, not with "Import from Camera". The workaround I have been using is to import into iPhoto, then pull (copy) the movie onto my desktop, then import into iMovie from the desktop. Then it runs great in iMovie, as a new Event. I just trash the old copies in iPhoto and on the desktop.

Anybody know why this is? Is there something I should do to make iMovie recognize the camera and import these movies directly?

iMac 27" i5, Mac OS X (10.6.2), Latest version of everything.

Posted on Jan 1, 2010 10:35 AM

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Answer 1

Jan 1, 2010 12:12 PM in response to Gary Davis6

I don't have your camera, but I think this is worth trying.

Option A:
You should have an Event in iMovie called Events from iPhoto. Your movie should be in there.

Option B: Since you have Snow Leopard, you can open the Image Capture application (with this camera connected) and set iMovie as the default for when this camera is connected. You would probably have to switch it back to get photos into iPhoto.

Option C: If these are h.264 movies, you should be able to open iMovie and click FILE/IMPORT/Movies... and navigate to the proper folder on your camera.

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Answer 2

Gary Davis6 Author

Level 1

6 points

Jan 2, 2010 10:03 AM in response to AppleMan1958

Thanks very much for those suggestions. I have done a little experimenting with them.

First, let me mention that this Canon S90 shoots movies in .MOV format. In the specs, it says "Movies: .MOV (Image data H. 264; Audio linear PCM (mono)."

On the other hand, I also have a Canon camcorder, a Vixia HF 200, that shoots movies in "AVCHD Video compression MPEG-4 AVC/H.264; Audio compression Dolby Digital 2 channel." I have no trouble importing movies from the HF200 into iMovie.

Maybe the .MOV format of the S90 explains everything?

Back to the S90 experiments. When I connect it, I get no disk image on my desktop or in Finder, as I would expect. It opens iPhoto, though, and shows up in the left column as "Canon Powershot S90". (I can, as you suggested, change it in Image Capture to open iMovie instead and it will but iMovie will still not see or import movies from it.)

I can import both still and movies from the S90 into iPhoto. With the movies, a double click brings them up in the Quicktime Player window. They play nicely.

If I then open iMovie and let it generate thumbnails from iPhoto (which I normally skip) then the movie from the S90 shows up as one of the iPhoto videos. So, yes, that would be one way to do it.

The other way, I have found, is to drag (copy) the movie out of iPhoto onto my desktop and then I can easily import it into iMovie from the desktop. I can then delete the copies in iPhoto and on my desktop, keeping only the one in iMovie. So, iMovie can see it on the desktop and import it from there but it can't even see it in the camera.

Comments?

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Answer 3

Jan 2, 2010 10:47 AM in response to Gary Davis6

Sounds like you have a workable solution.

I think it is odd that your camera will not show up in the finder. When you have imported everything, I would recommend it that you use the camera to reformat your SDHC card. Your camera may call it format, initialize, etc. This will erase everything so be sure you have everything of the card that you need.

By the way, MOV is fine. MOV is a container, much like the AVI container. It can contain video tracks, audio tracks, chapter tracks, etc. The key is that to import to iMovie, it must be a supported codec (h.264 is fine), and it must contain no text tracks or chapter tracks.

Message was edited by: AppleMan1958

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Answer 4

Bahrami

Level 1

35 points

Jan 2, 2010 5:40 PM in response to Gary Davis6

There may be a setting in the camera to change it to "USB mass storage device for import" or something similar. Try fooling around with it.

Do you have a SD card reader that you can plug directly into a usb port?

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Answer 5

Gary Davis6 Author

Level 1

6 points

Jan 3, 2010 10:18 AM in response to Bahrami

I looked through the camera menu. There are no settings in there related to importing into a computer. Judging from the manual, they really expect you to use their software for movies. They say flatly that you can't download movies to a computer otherwise. But, obviously, that is not the case. iPhoto seems to like the movies fine. So does iMovie, it just can't see the camera.

Also reformatted the memory card but that had no effect. This camera simply does not show up in my Finder at all. No disk image on the desktop or anywhere else. But is recognized by Image Capture and iPhoto and opens iPhoto (or another program if Image Capture is set for that).

I would just as soon not have to bother with an SD card reader. Rather just use my workaround of loading movies into iPhoto and from there, via desktop, to iMovie. But it would be nice to just have a disk image on the desktop, from which I could simply drag out the movies.

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Answer 6

Mar 13, 2010 6:22 PM in response to Gary Davis6

I am having the exact same problem. I tryed plugging my camera into a PC using the provided USB cable. It appears in the finder window and importing is not a problem. My Macbook (finder), however, does not recognize the camera as a drive. Only iPhoto does.

The reason this is a problem for me is that iPhoto asks to import ALL my photos/videos. I don't want the files on my computer. I want to import them to my external hard drive. And I only want to import 100+ photos, not all 1000 on the SDHC card.

I wish I knew what to do!
-H.

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Answer 7

Limbo

Level 1

0 points

Mar 19, 2010 7:21 PM in response to hifikitty

This is definitely annoying, for sure. I also tried importing movies through iMovie and was unable.

I wonder if the connection is the issue... I'm not very tech-savvy, but my Canon miniDV video camera would only talk to iMovie through a FireWire cable, not mini USB. There is no FireWire outlet on the S90, however.

Has anyone figured out an easy way to get photos out of Canon's software and into iPhoto? Since I am shooting some RAW photos I am thinking of going with their software instead of iPhoto... I don't have iPhoto 09, so I can't read RAW.

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Answer 8

Mar 19, 2010 8:27 PM in response to Limbo

Have you read Gary6's post above?

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