Poor video / photo quality in iMovie

[AndyR]

I'm trying to put together a short video/photo slideshow for our wedding party this weekend. I've done similar things in the past and used iMovie and never had a problem except for this time.

The video is captured from Mini DV and the all the photos are professional 8+ megapixal photos (5-6mb each). Viewing the photos normally they are crystal. When I import them into iMovie they look grainy. If I select the photo and do "show photo settings" in iMovie they go crystal clear again but once you come out of this they go well poor.

Any ideas?

I have tried exporting full quality to quicktime (very poor) and straight to iDVD but no joy. Need to get this sorted asap.

 

[super_kev]

You need to remember that pictures (as well as video) are constrained to 720x576 pixels on a standard definition PAL TV set (720x480 on NTSC). Your 8MP camera doesn't matter, as the final display pictures are constrained to fit within the 720x576 pixel demension. I would expect a loss of clarity.

 

[Applespider]

Try reducing them in PS to the pixel size that you need - using Ken Burns seems to work better too for some reason even if you set the start/end points the same so it doesn't move.

 

[ziwi]

I just did one for a 50th for this weekend

iMove does seem to make things look blurry in the edit mode - it usually comes out better in the completed product. I second the KB effect as a helper for this - it may be an optical illusion, but it is what I have noticed as well...

 

[oceanblue]

Blurry Images

reply to andy-

i know exactly what you mean...i am trying to make another imovie (i have made a bunch without a problem already). My current movie will take perfectly clear photos from my iphotos batch and they will appear very blurry in imovie. When I click on the show photo setting bar the "preview" is again crystal clear. I have tried "enhancing" pic on iphoto before importing...still blurry, saving it to a desktop file...no change, and burned a video with these photo...still blurry in the finished burned DVD. There must be a setting or something that I am missing....I have not changed cameras or camera settings and the pics look great in iphoto and well as in printed out form from CVS/Target...Anyone have advice?

 

[AndyR]

reply to andy-

i know exactly what you mean...i am trying to make another imovie (i have made a bunch without a problem already). My current movie will take perfectly clear photos from my iphotos batch and they will appear very blurry in imovie. When I click on the show photo setting bar the "preview" is again crystal clear. I have tried "enhancing" pic on iphoto before importing...still blurry, saving it to a desktop file...no change, and burned a video with these photo...still blurry in the finished burned DVD. There must be a setting or something that I am missing....I have not changed cameras or camera settings and the pics look great in iphoto and well as in printed out form from CVS/Target...Anyone have advice?

I ended up in the end giving each photo in iMovie the Ken Burns effect with the same start/stop point so it doesn't actually move. Came out fine then.