Advice on brief video's - new to Mac

iMovie will do what you want. I don't know if you can record from your webcam direct into iMovie though. If not, you'll need someway of recording the footage as a video file for import into iMovie.

hmm

ideally, you would use any camera that records sound as well as video, but it sounds like you need to use GarageBand to record audio from your mic if your webcam doesn't have a mic, you would then save the audio file created in GarageBand, in iTunes, then when you are editing your video in iMovie, drag the audio file and drop it on the video timeline, a little jigging back and forth will let you synchronize well enough by ear. It can help, if, in the beginning of the recording you have your subject clap their hands once, this makes an easy place to synchronise video and audio in iMovie later.

Try QuickTime Player. Yes, it records as well as plays! It doesn't detect all webcams but if it detects yours then it will record it as well as audio.

halo1234 said:

Quicktime works fine. Where is the option to save the video & where are these files stored?

Click to expand...

When you close the window (Command-W) you will be asked where you want to save the file and what to name it. Because of autosave/resume you *won't* be asked if you quit (Command-Q) the application, but the video will be there to haunt you when you restart the app.

I also have a Logitech C920 and use Mac minis (a 2009 & a new 2012). After a lot of web research I found a couple apps and a tip about USB power that can be helpful. “Webcam Settings” in the App Store is inexpensive & lets you adjust things like manual focus, zoom, color & brightness, ... The author Mactaris also offers a free utility “Webcam Settings iMovie Enabler” at his website (although I haven’t tried this).

Another app that is interesting is “CamTwist” (free - Google for it) that offers a lot of functionality including switching between different webcams. There’s an older version 2.4 plus the developer is working on a 64-bit version for Lion/Mountain Lion.

As for the USB power tip, a webcam can draw more current than, say, a keyboard or a mouse. USB 2 is rated at 500 ma. & USB 3 at 900 ma. Adding a powered hub can give a safety margin by making more current available. (I personally use both a Belkin F4U016 and a Pluggable USB2-HUB-AG7.) I was having problems on my 2009 mini at one point and suspected USB Bus bandwidth might be at fault (had read about this on another forum). But when I added a powered hub the trouble cleared up. Logitech webcams can produce excellent images!

Do you have an iphone? or decent smartphone?

If so, why not also try to use the phone to record the video rather than the webcam. The phone could be much more versatile in that you could film in locations out and about whilst making the videos for your family.

I've been consistently impressed with the quality of phone video in recent times if its just basic videos you want.

Maybe I'm missing something here. Your procedure is simpler than other responses appear to suggest.

You can go into System Preferences and be sure your Blue Snowball mic is the default mic. It should work for all your Mac apps.

I don't have any direct experience with the Logitech C920 web camera, but it appears to be highly regarded.