I have purchased a Canon XA11 video camcorder and am looking at iMove list of
compatible Canon cameras and out of hundreds, there are two I know of that
aren't listed: XA11 and XA15. XA10 (two versions), and XA20 are listed.
Perhaps only a Canon engineer and an Apple developer can know for sure
but can anyone enlighten me about this?
Thank you for attention
Hi, anotherJEff273,
You are correct that the Canon XA11 is not listed in Apple's list of iMovie supported cameras. However, that does not necessarily mean that it doesn't work with current iMovie 10.1.11. I see that the Canon XA 10 A and 10 E are supported. If the specs of those cameras are essentially the same as the XA11, that might indicate that the XA 11 will work with iMovie.
The XA 10 uses AVCHD but not the H.264 format that the supported cameras on the list use. That might be the reason for listing it as unsupported. iMovie does support AVCHD, however, so your camera should work with iMovie, unless Canon's brand of AVCHD is somehow not compatible. Make a short test video, plug in your camera to your Mac, and try importing into iMovie. If it won't import directly into iMovie, try importing into the Photos app (actually, the recommended way) and then you can access the videos from the Photos item in the iMovie sidebar of an open project. Or, you can import to your desktop using the Image Capture app on your Mac, and from your desktop drag them into iMovie. If the AVCHD clips don't work, you might have to open the AVCHD package and convert the mts files into Mp4/AAC files with the free download, Handbrake. You can get Handbrake here:
-- Rich
Hi, anotherJEff273,
You are correct that the Canon XA11 is not listed in Apple's list of iMovie supported cameras. However, that does not necessarily mean that it doesn't work with current iMovie 10.1.11. I see that the Canon XA 10 A and 10 E are supported. If the specs of those cameras are essentially the same as the XA11, that might indicate that the XA 11 will work with iMovie.
The XA 10 uses AVCHD but not the H.264 format that the supported cameras on the list use. That might be the reason for listing it as unsupported. iMovie does support AVCHD, however, so your camera should work with iMovie, unless Canon's brand of AVCHD is somehow not compatible. Make a short test video, plug in your camera to your Mac, and try importing into iMovie. If it won't import directly into iMovie, try importing into the Photos app (actually, the recommended way) and then you can access the videos from the Photos item in the iMovie sidebar of an open project. Or, you can import to your desktop using the Image Capture app on your Mac, and from your desktop drag them into iMovie. If the AVCHD clips don't work, you might have to open the AVCHD package and convert the mts files into Mp4/AAC files with the free download, Handbrake. You can get Handbrake here:
-- Rich
Thank you for the response:
The XA11 does do AVCHD. But I noticed in the listing of compatible cameras, there is
and additional value: PAL/NTSC. According to the manual for my camera there is no
mention of these specs. Could this be an issue?
I want to connect the camera to the computer and iMove and possibly record directly
on to the computer. Is that possible? I have queried Canon about connections to the
computer and capabilities regarding this concern. I am waiting for a response.
In the mean time I also have a Canon T6i that will do video recording. But I am a
bit skeptical about using what to me is primarily a still camera. It will do live view.
But that is via Canon utility. I suppose it could work with iMovie. I am new and learning
so I will have to experiment.
I also am planning to use Skype and am assuming I can use this camera for that as well.
Thank you for attention
JK
NTSC is used in North America, and PAL mostly Europe and the Middle East. However, almost all devices play both, so not really an issue. PAL uses 25fps frame rate and NTSC uses 30 fps. PAL, on the other hand, has slightly higher resolution, 720 x 576 for PAL and 720 x 480 for NTSC. I have read that NTSC is more suitable for You Tube. It would be your call as to which you prefer. I would go with NTSC since it is more universal and has a higher frame rate.
As for which is best for video, still cameras versus video cameras, at the consumer level it probably doesn't make much difference. Still cameras tend to have better lenses, more lens options, better zooms, and more editing options than video cameras. Some still cameras shoot in 4k video, that is very high resolution. All of them shoot in full high def 1080. So I wouldn't worry about shooting video with your still camera.
You can't record video directly into iMovie except with the built-in face time camera on your Mac. With the QuicktimePlayer on your Mac you can record New Movies, but I don't think that it is possible to record directly from camera to your Mac. This is not something I have looked into much, so possibly there are apps out there that allow direct recording onto a Mac.
As for Skype, I have never used it, so can't comment on that.
-- Rich
I am a bit confused. If it is not possible to record directly to the computer in iMovie from an external camera,
how does the compatibility issue apply? There is an option in iMove for selecting the source camera. But perhaps
that is for monitoring only for other than builtin camera.
I can transfer video files via card reader to the computer from the camera.
There is also an HDMI port in the camera that is described as for external monitor. But I believe the
HDMI port on my Macs are out only. I have a Mac Mini connect to Samsung tv/monitor. The signal
would be coming from the Mac's HDMI port out to the tv/monitor.
Perhaps this is getting out of the scope of the original subject of iMovie. But making sure all the
cable connections and configurations will not cause equipment damage is of concern to me.
Thank you for attention
JK
Thank you for the info.
JK
You are welcome.
— Rich
Not sure what you mean. You can import video into iMovie that has been recorded on an external camera. If you want to record directly into iMovie, you are relegated to the built in Face Time camera. Compatibility relates more to the format of a pre-recorded video. The built in camera records in a format compatible with iMovie. Some external cameras do not. Also, for whatever reason, iMovie's download mechanism may not read some cameras.
-- Rich
iMovie does not list Canon video camcorder as compatible?
