Cannot change time in clip adjustment

Question

I am having a problem altering the length of clips. I have a set of photos and want each still to be 0.3s.
I change the first clip to 0.3s and check "apply to all stills". Some are 0.3s, but others change to 1.3s, 1.1s or 0.1s. When I try to correct each individual still to 0.3s, it just changes back to 1.3s or 1.1s or 0.1s. It is almost as if iMovie wants the entire sequence to be a set time and is fitting the clips to that length.
Any suggestions?

Answer 1

Transitions generally work by "borrowing half the frames need from the preceeding clip and half the frames from the following clip.
For example, if you had 2 four second photos and added a fade through black transition of .5 seconds, it would take 8 frames from the preceeding clip and 8 frames from the next clip.
Now you have 112 frames (= .93 seconds) + 16 frame transition (= .53 seconds) + 112 frames = .93 seconds. Total frames = 240, same as before you started.
You may be able to override this behavior for photos only (not video).
Go into File/Project Properties. Go to the Timing Tab.
Select the photo length you like using the slider. Put a check mark on "Applies to all photos".
That should make your project get longer.