I am trying to transfer a .mov file to my new iPad Air

I can think of Three quick ways

1) Buy this $30 dongle.

http://store.apple.com/us/product/MC531ZM/A/apple-ipad-camera-connection-kit

Take a 3 photos with a camera using a clean SD Card. Take the SD card out of your camera and into an adapter on your computer. Put the MOV file in the DCIM folder of the SD card. Now put the SD card into your iPad using the $30 dongle. Go to the photos app, then import. You should see 3 photos and the MOV on your ipad.

2) If you have a mac get the MOV imported into iPhoto. Then put the MOV into an album in iPhoto. Connect your ipad and mac with a usb cord. Now in iTunes go deep into the settings to sync that album. Press SYNC. Disconnect the ipad from the mac, and you should see the MOV on the ipad in your photos or video APP. (iPhoto is only made for the mac)

3) If the MOV file is small, under 25mb, most email programs will let you email the MOV. Send on your desktop, then go to the ipad, check email, and then download.

footnotes on DCIM folder

http://www.techhive.com/article/217111/dcim_folder.html

You can use a USB flash drive & the camera connection kit.

Plug the USB flash drive (works the same with an SD card) into your computer & create a new folder titled DCIM. Then put your movie/photo files into the folder. The files must have a filename with exactly 8 characters long (no spaces) plus the file extension (i.e., my-movie.mov; DSCN0164.jpg).

Now plug the flash drive into the iPad using the camera connection kit. Open the Photos app, the movie/photo files should appear & you can import. (You can not export using the camera connection kit.)

Using The iPad Camera Connection Kit

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4101

 Cheers, Tom 😉

Or you can just use iTunes without all the other rigamarole.

http://support.apple.com/kb/PH12493

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2729

http://support.apple.com/kb/PH12311

Regards.

Mr Paw's answer is correct. On Windows 7 stick to the itunes only solution. Use the video tab in itunes, see your video, add the checkbox to prepare, then press sync.

I suggested iphoto. The long term benefit to using iPhoto is that it helps you manage videos and photos more easily. iTunes is horrible for long term storage and organization of videos.

I suggested the dongle as an alternative, because it lets you move a big movie direct from camera to ipad. No computer needed.

Different strokes for different folks, none beter than the other, not really rigamarole.

I was making it more difficult that it needed to be. With iTunes open, I highlighted the mov files on my OS and copied them into my Movies/Home Video section. From there, I highlighted the files in itunes and did a right mouse click and 'add to play list.' one of the options was my ipad. This copied them over!