I'm looking to purchase a new camcorder in the $500 range that imovie supports. Is there a preferred brand/model? Many of the camcorders I've researched, sony, cannon etc have various limitations. I'm hoping the community has a strong preference. (Currently on 10.9 and latest version of imovie, being updated as I type).
OS X Mavericks (10.9)
http://help.apple.com/imovie/cameras/en/index.html?lang=en_US
These are for version 9 and will be supported in version 10.
Here's the latest version of the iMovie Supported Cameras list.
http://help.apple.com/imovie/10/cameras/en/index.html?lang=en_US
I don't think it's that much different than the one the QuickTimeKirk linked to.
Also, there are specialty cameras (such as the GoPro) that aren't on the list but will work with iMovie.
Matt
Hi QuickTimeKirk
Thanks for the response. Going through the list is a little overwhelming, especially with caveats regarding the brand and model's various modes. I'm looking for a camcorder that someone, or a number of people have that they can recommend.
Thanks again
Hi Matthew
Thanks for the response. As you can see in my response to QuickTImeKirk I'm looking for a recommendation based upon use by members of the community. As I read reviews in Amazon regarding camcorders, many that claimed to be imovie compatable were not. So I'm not putting a lot a faith in the list. And I might add that my GoPro isn't supported in imovie. It used to be but not any longer. It downloads to quicktime but moving it to imovie is a nogo. I may have an older GoPro and a format that is no longer supported. I'm still researching that.
Thanks again
At one point Apple chose to make iFrame format (versus the HDV or AVCHD formats) the best choice for working with iMovie. They guaranteed iMovie wouldn't trascode the video into Apple Intermediate Codec. There were also tricks to get AVCHD video to import without being transcoded into AIC format. All of that now seems unnecessary as the AVCHD format is fully supported. I've got an old Flip mino that is also no longer supported (it uses MPEG-4 using a special codec from 3ivx which hasn't been recompiled for MacOS X 10.9). Things are improved and if you've got a camera shooting in AVCHD, things should work as expected. It wasn't always that way however.
How are you going about importing from your GoPro? I have a Hero that's a couple years old and I've always first copied the files from the SD card in the Finder and then opened iMovie to import and that method works with iMovie 10.
The camcorder I have is a seven year old Sony DCR TRV-22. It's a SD NTSC camera that records to miniDV tape. I don't use it much anymore but it does work with iMovie 10 although I have to crop the images to pillar box them in the 16:9 picture format that iMovie 10 is limited to.
The only other camera I have is my iPhone 5S which works just fine with iMovie 10.
Unfortunately, I don't have any first hand experience with any newer camcorders such as you are looking for. But if I were buying one today, I'd probably look for another Sony that records on an SD cards.
Matt
Hi Elikness
I'll begin reviewing the cameras with AVCHD and see what pops up.
Thank you.
Hi Matthew
I pop the SD card into the imac. At that point it downloads into quicktime automatically. But, in the past I could drag and drop directly into imovie. That no longer occurs. I was told by someone that my GoPRo was MP4 and imovie no longer supported that.
Now that said, I just finished updating to the latest imovie version and I'll see what happens. (Living in the country with slow internet speed took 1 1/2 days for the latest download).
I have a great Canon mini tape camcorder. Unfortunately when I purchased my new 27 inch imac with thunderbolt, the fireware interface connector to thunderbolt wasn't compatible and that smoked the camera's output. Canon service techs confirmed after the damage was done though. Estimated cost from Canon to repair was well north of $500 and what I paid for the camera. Unfortunately that camera is not longer on the market and I'm apprehensive now of trusting the firewire/thunderbolt interface. So that's why I'm looking for a new camcorder.
Thanks
I purchased a Canon VIXIA HFR400 and iMovie supports it really well. Thanks all for your input.
John
I have used a Canon VIXIA HF G30 HD Camcorder for quite a while. It has superior image quality and the AVCHD format works great with imovie.
Best camcorder that is supported by imovie
