IMovie 11 loosing image quality in still pictures

I shoot RAW photos with a Nikon D300 and import everything to Aperture 3 where I organize, correct and adjust.
I use iMovie to make slide show sequences - i.e. my daughter's third year - and have found that though the image quality is perfect in Aperture and in any file that I export, there is a loss of quality when the images are brought into iMovie. It is especially apparent in areas that have shadows or are dark - like the skin on an arm that is in a shadow while the rest of the person is in the sun. The shadowed skin looks like it's been pixilated -rather than a uniform transition of colors, it's blotchy.
I have tried importing the photos from the media browser in iMovie, I have tried dragging them from Aperture, and I have tried exporting them from Aperture to a folder and then importing them from that folder into iMovie. The results are the same - loss of image quality especially in dark areas of the photos. It doesn't matter if I leave it as Fit, Crop or Ken Burns - it's as if the base image information has been degraded for some reason.
The image quality degradation is clearly evident in the viewer - so it's not a matter of what the intended output / export / share option is or will be.
I have also found that this happens if I take a video file like a *.m4v file and import it into iMovie - wicked loss of image quality.
I also find that if I shoot video with my iPhone 4, and then download that into Aperture, I get a nice and crisp movie in Aperture. But when I try and pull up that same video in iMovie 11, again there is a loss of quality. This is especially apparent if I let it do image stabilization as it enlarges the frame a bit. Given that I have a really big monitor I can pull up the same video in Aperture that was not stabilized and moved to the same scene and resize side by side for a direct comparison - clear image degradation in iMovie 11.
As with the photos for slide shows, the bright areas don't seem to be affected, or if they are it's not as apparent - it's as if some setting is trying to automatically adjust the black point. But I don't know what would do this or how to stop it. Can't find such a setting anywhere.
Given that the system is a Mac Pro 2 x 2.8 GHz Quad-Core Intel Xenon with 14GB and two 1TB drives it's not, or should not be an issue of the system being overtaxed.
Hope someone knows how to fix this.

Hi!
I'm loosing a lot of video quality when I transfer movie clips from my Iphone 4S to Imovie11.
Did you find an answer to your problem?
If so, maybe you could help me out?
Thanks!!

Similar Messages

IMovie 11 Slideshow image quality issue

Hi,
when I am creating a slideshow with iMovie from still images, I have a severe loss of image quality. I have tried to search forums up and down, but did not find any help or solution for that. The loss of quality is kind of dramatic. Any ideas, suggestions or solutions?
Regards
HEnnisch

Hi!
I'm loosing a lot of video quality when I transfer movie clips from my Iphone 4S to Imovie11.
Did you find an answer to your problem?
If so, maybe you could help me out?
Thanks!!

Loose image quality?

Hi, whenever I download pictures from my digital camera, they open in Preview. However, when I drag them to open in iPhoto, there seems to be a loss of image quality when the photo is registered in the iPhoto library...
Anyways to fix this?

Can you gie us some more information: Where are you seeing this "loss"
On import, all iPhoto does is copy the image - no more.
Are you accessing files in the Data folder of the iPhoto Library Folder?
If so, these are the thumbnails that iPhoto creates for display.
Regards
TD

Loosing image quality...

when i move my photos to burn on a cd im looking te quality it goes from like 4928 × 3264 to the 18oo's..... HELP how can a make a CD and not loose the image quality..?

Don't drag -- that only moves the smaller Preview. Use the Export command in File/Export and choose appropriate size, and target the disc.
Ernie

How do I compress a pdf file without loosing image quality, unlike in preview?

whenever I compress a file in preview, the image gets compressed but it gets blurred. pls help... how can i retain image quality?

There are also utilities like PDFCompress and PDFShrink but I cannot speak about the quality of compression.

How to maintain high image quality of still images

Hello,
I have been creating flipbooks out of still images shot on a canon MK II. They are 8 mp files and look great blown up large in photoshop, however, once imported into iMovie through iPhoto and played as a sequence in rapid succession they seem to lose quality. They appear slightly compressed or otherwise a little pixelated. A get info on an individual frame says it is is less than 200 KB when the original file is 3 mb. Is there a setting I am missing or other technique for maintaining the images' high quality after being brought into this rapid slideshow? Should I be using final cut to achieve this type of high quality?
thanks!

The following works well. Save your images in photoshop as TIFF files, with a resolution of 1920 x 1080, 72 pixels per. Save to the desktop. Drag into imovie. Make sure your imovie is hd 1080i. Use the Ken Burns to expand the picture to fill the black spaces, if you so desire.
At that point, you'll have a super high def show.
Hope this helps.

Bad image quality on stills

I apologize if this has already been addressed somewhere, but I have searched the forums quite a bit and found nothing about this.
I am creating a DVD for an advertising agency. One of the things they want on the disc is a section displaying print ads.
I have created a menu with thumbnails and when you select an ad it takes you to a menu with that ad blown up to full screen.
The problem I'm having is that the ads, even blown up to full screen, look really bad. There are jagged lines on all the edges of text and pictures and the copy just looks garbled and impossible to read.
The ads are very large, very high resolution pdf or psd files. They look great when I view them outside of DVDSP, so the problem is not with the source files.
On top of this, I am having the same problem with the agency's logo on the main menu. The psd file looks great in photoshop and is a very high resolution file, but in DVDSP it has jagged edges and loses color quality.
So my question is, what do I need to do to prepare my pdf or psd images so that I can bring them into DVDSP and retain the quality of the image? Also, I have been adding them to a menu as a drop zone...is that the best way to do it?
By the way, the problem is not with the encoding of the disc...all the menus and videos look great. It's just the still images that look bad.
Any help would be a lifesaver.
Thanks!
PowerMac G5 Mac OS X (10.4.9)

Welcome to the Boards
You may want to try to start here
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1000098&tstart=0 for some tips

How should I best import HD Videos from the new iPad to my mac without loosing video quality?

The new HD video on the new iPad is awesome, but it can eat up a lot of memory in no time. I would like to know what is the most recommended way to export my ipad movies to iLife on my mac without loosing image quality, so i can free up space on my iPad.
If I use iPhoto I notice that the file size of the video from the new iPad is a lot smaller then if I use iMovie to import the same video.
Example: I import a 53 second video from the new iPad to iPhoto and the imported file has a file size of 143 MB in iPhoto. (iphoto save the video as IMG_0048.mov)
I import the same video to iMovie manually and the imported file size is 843 MB in iMovie. BIG DIFFERENCE. (iMovie saves that same video as clip-2012-03-20 16;13;08.mov)
Now to really be confusing: I go to Image Capture program and locate the file manually on my iPad and is has the same name and file size is what is in iPhoto.
So either iMovie is making the File a lot larger when it imports to an event, or the file I'm looking at is actually the iPhoto version that I get because I sync with iPhoto.
The second issue that I have is that now I have 2 videos on my hard drive: one in iPhoto, and one in iMovie for a combined data storage of close to 1 GB.
I would like to be able to import ALL my iPad recording into iPhoto and then delete the video from the device when done.
But if I loose video quality, I'm not happy about that. Secondly, by importing video from my iPad into multiple iLife programs, I'm creating duplicates with sometimes different quality. Any suggestions? is there a setting in iPhoto that can do all this for me?
Robert

Don't use iphoto to deal with movies. it's not really meant for that. use Quicktime or iMovie to work with your videos

Image quality takes a hit in Word PDF conversion despite Compression being Off (Acrobat 9)

When converting a Word doc to PDF, the image quality for embedded pictures seems to be taking a hit. In the resultant PDF, the large pictures have jagged edges, even though when I increase the size in the Word doc the picture looks smooth and high quality.
Under preferences I've changed the Conversion Settings>Images to have Downsampling off for Color/Grayscale/Monochrome images, and also set Compression to Off. I've also tried setting Compression to Automatic (JPEG) with Maximum quality for Color/Grayscale. Both Compression Off and Maximum quality seem to have almost the same image quality, even though Compression Off doubles the size of the file. Neither has quality quite at the level it is in the Word doc.
Is there some way to have the image quality for pictures in the PDF equal what it looks like in Word? Are there any more settings I should be aware of?
I have Acrobat 9 Pro Extended and Office 2007 on Vista 64.

What's the original file format of the images you're inserting into Word, and are they at 100% scale?
We've seen issues with scaled high-res images (like header logos) which printed to PDF perfectly with a GIF or JPEG image, but failed dismally with a PNG even though the image resolution was identical and on-screen view was the same. Word has a quirky way of handling image data sent to the print spool compared to what's shown on-screen.

Poor webcam image quality (HP Touchsmart Notebook

I recieved a HP touchsmart Notebook as a Christmas gift and the image quality is horrible! Even in a well lit environment, the image is still not clear. I have adjusted the settings to try to improve the image quality, but there is still not much of a difference in the way the images appear. I have also tried to reinstall the Cyberlink YouCam application but the image quality is still the same (poor). I like some features on my laptop, yet I'm still getting aquainted with it. However, the image quality along with a few other technical issues such as (freezes), has negatively impacted how I view this product. I hope that there is something that could be done! Please help!

Hi @mzdymond01
Thank You for the inquiry, I will do my best to assist you!
I understand you received this notebook at Christmas and image quality of the WebCam is poor.
Have you done all your Windows updates?
Have you tried Using automated troubleshooting (Windows 8)?
Have you ran the HP Support Assistant to assist with HP updates?
Here is a link to Webcam Troubleshooting (Windows 8) that will guide you through some steps.
If the issue should remain I suggest contacting HP support for further assistance. As this is a new product you want to ensure everything is performing as it should.
Please call our technical support at 800 474 6836. If you live outside the US/Canada Region, please click the link below to get a support number for your region.
World Wide Phone Support
Best of Luck!
Sparkles1
I work on behalf of HP
Please click “Accept as Solution ” if you feel my post solved your issue, it will help others find the solution.
Click the “Kudos, Thumbs Up" on the bottom right to say “Thanks” for helping!

Flash in Premiere Elements Image Quality issue

Hello,
I've decided now that I am going to create animated films in Flash and then edit them in Premiere Elements. the problem is, is that when I export it from Flash to Premiere Elements the Image quality is detiereoreted (i.e fuzzy, blurry, out of focus, general ugly to look at). I first realised that I couldnt use an swf file in Premiere and isntead I should use an AVI. So I did. Problem is I'm still having the same problem. the Image quality is still terrible and doesn't equal up to the origonal image quality. And then tried Uncompressing it and all that did is make the video clip jump over about 80 frames and still the image quality is terrible. Is their one little thing that I'm doing wrong or Am I altogether not getting this right.
Programs I'm using:
Macromedia Flash MX 2004
Adobe Premiere Elements 3.0
Adobe Premiere Elements 7.0 (currently not working)

The MS DV CODEC should be installed on your system already. Whether Flash can Export to it could still be an issue. I'll have to check my version of Flash (think that it's Studio 8, but I've had it around from version 2) to see what all of the options are.
I've been handed many Flash animations that were Exported as .MOV with the Animation CODEC, and these have edited fine.
Other than the huge file sizes, AVI [Uncompressed] should work fine too. You might have resource issues, but that would depend on your system, more than on your NLE. I've used these with no issues many times.
Another likely candidate would be the free Lagarith Lossless CODEC. I use it for intermediate transfer and it edits fine in PrPro. I would assume that it would be the same in PrE, but cannot verify this.
On Monday, I'll be on my workstation with Flash and will tell you the exact version, plus the Export options available.
Good luck,
Hunt

Por quality still pictures in Imovie

I am having this problem I hope someone out there can help!!!!!
I am making a movie only using still pictures (in imovie) and the result is that the pictures are not as clear as they are in iphoto.
Is there a way to improve the quality of the still pictures in imovie to at least match the qualiity of the originals?

Hi m
The quality of photos are a multi layered question:
a. The quality is severly lower on a TV-set than any computer monitor.
To be able to judge the final quality I have connected my Camera FireWire
end to the Mac and the analog end to a SCART adapter and a TV-set.
Now I can see what the result really will be on the TV.
(625 horisontal lines in PAL is maximum, 480 or 520 I think in NTSC)
(on a screen You can have say 854 x 1280 or even more)
b. The Mac showes different qualities on the screen depending on Your
choise and the Mac's capasity. (see iMovie prefs)
c. When rendering Your movie from iMovie to iDVD - severe damage will
occure if You use the Share/Export to iDVD from within iMovie and accepts
the question RENDER?. I don't do it like that. I close iMovie and drop the
project icon (with a star on it) into an open iDVD theme window.
The result is better.
Yours Bengt W

Photo image quality in iMovie

Hi ... I am attempting to create an iMovie that will include photos and video footage.
I read that the best presentation quality for the photos would be achieved creating a slideshow in iPhoto and exporting the slideshow, and importing the resulting Quicktime movie into iMovie. This would bypass issues created during the iMovie image rendoring process.
I just did a brief test run using the above steps. The image quality in the Qtime video was not very good.
Am I missing a step in here someplace?
The final show will be played on a large screen, so I am very concerned about image sharpness.
Thank you in advance.
Message was edited by: David Ris

I'm not sure what you mean by media folder, a folder of JPEG files is a media folder as is a folder of audio files.
More Info:
When dragging any folder of high quality photos to iMove it has to change it from stills to video. Apples and oranges; a conversion takes place. I just experimented by exporting iPhoto file of high resolution photos to QuickTime changed the QuickTime resolution from 640 x 480 to 1280 x 800 then imported it into iMovie. Then I exported iPhoto full resolution pictures to my desktop and then dragged them to the time line. These photos have text in the pictures. The original photos are 2581 x 1836 when I played the slide show from iMovie I could not tell the difference from the QuickTime movie that I placed in the time line and the full quality photos exported to a folder on my desktop then dragged to the same timeline as I did the QuickTime movie. However the QuickTime movie played independently in QuickTime was far superior to the QuickTime Movie played in iMovie on my computer. My monitor is set at 1680 x 1050.
Text in iMove will show Jaggies when viewed at close working range as I mentioned in an earlier post you must view iMovie at the proper viewing distance because your slides have been converted to video. Drag one of your slides to the desktop you will see that it becomes; example > Still 10.dv > in QuickTime format, no longer a JPEG file. Once you export your slide show to QuickTime you don't have the editing ease of moving your pictures position, changing slide duration, music etc.
For others to view your movies you will eventually have to burn your slide show in iDVD unless you are using your computer and a projector. An hour long iMovie can become a very large file about 10 GB but will play very nicely from a computer. Burn that movie to iDVD it will become about 1GB.
Dick

Poor Image quality in iDVD from iMovie

After creating a video in iMovie using photos, video clips, transitions, music, and Ken Burns, things look great. Everything looks fine in iMovie ('09). I then export it to iDVD to create the menus, etc. So far so good. After burning the disc, the picture quality is really horrible, especially the photos using Ken Burns. I do not know how to describe it....wavy, pixilated, something. The video used, taken using a digital camcorder is tolerable if I remember to deinterlace. What do I have to do to get these pics to look right? IF I export in iMovie using Quicktime, the resulting .MOV is fine....looks great. After exporting to iDVD, it looks awful.....Any help would be appreciated....thank you.
jrsorte

Chris,
not using any de-interlacing
Both iMovie 08 and iMovie 09 only use one field of a DV video frame. iMovie 5 and earlier used both frames. I'm not sure that using just one field makes a lot of difference when the content goes through mpg-2's heavy compression to make a DVD in iDVD.
As far a still images are concerned, the best sizes for NTSC DVDs are 720x540 pixels for standard video and 854x480 pixels for widescreen. Going to larger image sizes can actually reduce the image quality on a DVD.

Still image quality poor, Help

I posted a similar question last night. This one is more of the same.
Issue: Poor image quality (flickering, Jumping) when viewing stills on my TV only...
I have made 2 test videos. One was made in FCE and one in iMovie8. Both are identical and consist of only 5 still pictures. I added motion to a couple of pics in each test. The video from iMovie looks great on my TV. The video fro FCE looks very poor. The image is jumpy and flickering.
Why does the same movie movie look different depending on the source? What is different? Do I have something set up incorrectly in FCE?
I tried applying the De-interlacing filter and the Flicker filter. I tried all variants of the De-interlace filter, ie odd/even. I have made several exports from FCE trying to get rid of the flicker/jumpy-ness to no avail.....Even the still pics that have no movement flicker a bit from FCE, for example, one of the pictures are of my son holding a dark green fishing rod while standing in a tent. The picture has no movement but the fishing rod and tent poles are flickering, almost like there are lights in them blinking on and off. A similar picture that has movement shows the fishing rod as alternating dark and light lines instead of just a dark green rod. The same pics from the iMovie clip look great. The color is correct and no flickering at all.
To export from FCE I am using Quick Time Movie. From iMovie 8, I am using 'Export Movie' high quality. On each video I then just dropped them into iDVD and viewed on my TV.
I am a new user to FCE and so far I like it much better than iMovie 6 or 8. I have a hard time believing that the still picture quality output form FCE is worse than iMovie. So I must be doing something wrong.
Thank you in advanced for help,
Toshiro

Well I can only assume that there is a difference in the way the data is handled between the 2 apps. I have resolved my issue by not compressing the data while exporting. Unfortunately, my 3 minute video is 7G !!...oh well
...now if I could just get rid of the thin green line at the bottom of the screen during my opening segment it would be great....
Thanks for taking the time to assist
Toshiro

IMovie 11 loosing image quality in still pictures

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for