iMovie '09 & Canon's VIXIA HF S10 Camcorder

Not sure if this helps, but I have the HF100 and it works just fine with iMovie 09.

Wait... Does it acually shoot video in 3 thousand what ever by 2 thousand whatever? Or is that photos because I have the VIXIA HF10 (No s in it) and it will shoot photos at something like that resolution but it will shoot video at 1080p or i. I don't think iMovie 09 will take video of that resolution, I have never even heard of video in that resolution. But then I don't know much... Hope this helps

m021478 said:

I ask only because this particular camcorder is Canon's newest consumer model and it boasts 'Effective Pixels' specs of 3264 x 1840!!
Anyone have any idea about this? Thanks!

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WOW, maybe the saleman who gave me the hard sell about ATT's uVerse HDTV service being "better than 1080p" was on to something. All their stuff must be shot on one of these Canon cameras! 🙂

m021478 said:

Thanks for your reply, but it doesn't really help much because the HF100 shoots in 1920x1080 which is fully supported in iMovie.

I am still unsure if iMovie will have issues fully supporting 3264x1840??

Anyone know? Thanks!

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They both shoot video at 1920x1080 AVCHD (1080i60), the main difference will be the bit rate is higher for the S10 at 25mbps vs. 17mbps for the HF100.

The effective pixels at 3264x1840, and the higher bitrate will give a sharper 1080i60 picture than the HF100 in bright light, but it will be the same 1920x1080 resolution for video. I have the HF10, and think the results are pretty amazing. camcorderinfo.com has a S10/S100 review.

http://www.camcorderinfo.com/content/Canon-HF-S100-Camcorder-Review-36389.htm

One of the downsides of the higher resolution sensor, is that in lower light, it is noisier than lower resolution sensors (of the same size) this is often overlooked by consumers who are just looking for 'bigger' numbers as an indication of quality. You will get higher resolution stills than the HF10/HF100.

I would suggest buying a cheap SDHC card (class 6, 4Gb) and taking it to a friendly camcorder store, and asking them very nicely to let you record onto your card using the S10, then, at home, plug that card into your mac with a card reader and test the footage, this will allow you to answer more questions than just 'does it work?', and be able to answer the most important question: 'does it work for me?'

Good luck.

I know this is old thread but i found it on google and i would really really love some help! T-rev and Mo, i noticed you both said you had the s100's which i also have but i cant seem to upload recorded film from my camera to imovie. HOW DO YOU DO IT?

still interested to know if anyone has an answer. anybody? somebody?

Snowdjinn said:

still interested to know if anyone has an answer. anybody? somebody?

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It will work fine, however the quality will be downgraded slightly because if the conversion to AIC. You need to get Final Cut Pro or CS4 Production Pro for the best quality of your new camera

CS4 edits natively with AVCHD and FCP coverts footage to Apple's Pro Res which is virtually lossless.

The iMovie 09 results are still pretty impressive though.

Thank you Bigsky20, even though i dont know what all the little acronyms mean i will look them up. lol. More importantly i was more or less wondering HOW do i upload the video to iMovie? every time i try it just says that the sd chip cant do it. I can get the pictures off just fine but it acts as if the video doesnt even exist.

on a further note, how would you recomend i get any one of the two programs you mentioned. Or even just iMovie 09'?

ok i read up on it a bit, I am unaware however if i can even run CS4 on a mac? unless your referring to the use of Windows on bootcamp. I dont quite want to spend the cash on FCP when im just starting out like i am, so if i can just download the new iMovie 09' i would be happy, or do i need to buy it?

For just starting out, iMovie 09 will work great. When you are ready, you can also step up to Final Cut Express, which is about $150 through Amazon or $200 through Apple. However, Final Cut Express, also uses AIC to transform your AVCHD footage.

AIC = Apple Intermediate Codec. This does a great job of converting your AVCHD footage (the format used by your new camera). However, there will be a little loss of quality that you may not even notice.

The best options for editing AVCHD on a Mac are (in my opinion)

CS4 - Production Pro - this will edit your AVCHD footage natively without converting to a new format for editing. However, you will need a Mac Pro, plenty of RAM, and a great video card to do this. This software runs about $900

Final Cut Pro - Converts the AVCHD footage to Apple's Pro Res format, which is a "virtual" lossless format. This makes the footage much easier to edit with, but take a lot of hard drive space.

Final Cut Express - This is a very powerful, but lite version of Final Cut Pro. This is only $150-$200 vs $1150 - $1300 for Final Cut Pro. This will convert the AVCHD footage to AIC, which (as mentioned before) will make the quality a little less pristine than the Pro Res, but still looks great.

iMovie 09 - Is a great starting point and is now a very capable and fun editor. This is a great learning tool and also converts your AVCHD footage to AIC.

To import footage from your camera, you need to (1) open iMovie 09, (2) connect your camera with a usb cable, (3) turn your camcorder to playback mode, (4) follow any prompts on your camcorder, (5) iMovie 09 will read the camera memory or card inserted in the camera and prompt you for with clips to import and/or archive, (6) after import, you should be ready to edit.

Hopefully, that helps. I now use Final Cut Pro, but started with iMovie, then Final Cut Express, and eventually Final Cut Pro. Have fun with your new camera!

Bigsky20 you should be called bigsky30 because you just lvl'ed up in my head, you went above and beyond the call of duty to help, my man... Seriously though thank you very much for the help. I think i will take my steps with iMovie 09 to Express then up from there as i get better. Only problem is, the steps you told me to do to upload the videos i have done but it still said it wont upload them. Maybe its cause i am using iMoive 08 right now. i will try with 09' when i manage to find out how to get one of those.

BigSky20 said:

For just starting out, iMovie 09 will work great. When you are ready, you can also step up to Final Cut Express, which is about $150 through Amazon or $200 through Apple. However, Final Cut Express, also uses AIC to transform your AVCHD footage.

AIC = Apple Intermediate Codec. This does a great job of converting your AVCHD footage (the format used by your new camera). However, there will be a little loss of quality that you may not even notice.

The best options for editing AVCHD on a Mac are (in my opinion)

CS4 - Production Pro - this will edit your AVCHD footage natively without converting to a new format for editing. However, you will need a Mac Pro, plenty of RAM, and a great video card to do this. This software runs about $900

Final Cut Pro - Converts the AVCHD footage to Apple's Pro Res format, which is a "virtual" lossless format. This makes the footage much easier to edit with, but take a lot of hard drive space.

To import footage from your camera, you need to (1) open iMovie 09, (2) connect your camera with a usb cable, (3) turn your camcorder to playback mode, (4) follow any prompts on your camcorder, (5) iMovie 09 will read the camera memory or card inserted in the camera and prompt you for with clips to import and/or archive, (6) after import, you should be ready to edit.

Hopefully, that helps. I now use Final Cut Pro, but started with iMovie, then Final Cut Express, and eventually Final Cut Pro. Have fun with your new camera!

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Great info! I am in a similar position with a new Sony HD camcorder that records in AVCHD. Unfortunately, iMovie converts the AVCHD footage into AIC, which expands it to 5 or 6 times its original size, which means you need a ton of storage space! I am assuming the ProRes of Final Cut Pro is similarly expanded. Hopefully Apple will upgrade iMovie and FCP in the near future to natively edit AVCHD.

I have a question regarding projects in iMovie or FCP, what format should I save these in after editing to preserve their original HD quality?

Thanks for the input!

jbl108 said:

I have a question regarding projects in iMovie or FCP, what format should I save these in after editing to preserve their original HD quality?

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If you want to archive your project, well, keep it as is, unless you are planning to delete the raw footage that iMovie imported.

If you want to convert it to something else so that it does not take up much space, but gives you the ability to watch it on other computers or players, I suggest exporting as a quicktime movie using h.264 compression. The higher the bitrate, the better the quality, but it will take up more space.

iMovie 08/09 upgrade

Hi all,

I've just bought a Canon HSF10 - first camcorder and am wondering if there's any value in upgrading to iMovie 09? I have 08 installed now.

Also, when connected, the camera has a message on its display 'do not dosconnect etc etc. Even when I've ejected the mounted drive on the desktop, the message remains and none of the (camera) controls do anything - evne the power button. The only thing I can do is to disconnect the USB cable. Is this normal?

1) don't know much about imovie08 vs imovie09. I use Final Cut Pro

2) I have a HF11 & it displays the same message even after the camera has been ejected from the mac. The message only disappear after the USB cable is unplugged. I think its normal.