Reasonably priced movie-making software besides iMovie?

Hello Folks!
I currently use iMovie '11 to create and edit videos, and I am finding that I actually would love more in terms of user interface, graphics, and effects. Does anyone know of any great, reasonably priced movie-making software (besides Final Cut Pro)? I'm looking for something that is either its own program (with its own templates and editing otpions), or perhaps even a supplement to my current software (from the App Store, for example).
Any suggestions are very much appreciated!
Joey

While we all have MacBooks in this forum not all of us use iMovie. There's an iMovie Support Community where everybody uses iMovie. You should also post this question there to increase your chances of getting an answer. https://discussions.apple.com/community/ilife/imovie

Similar Messages

Great, reasonably priced movie-making software?

Hello Folks!
I currently use iMovie '11 to create and edit videos, and I am finding that I actually would love more in terms of user interface, graphics, and effects. Does anyone know of any great, reasonably priced movie-making software (besides Final Cut Pro)? I'm looking for something that is either its own program (with its own templates and editing otpions), or perhaps even a supplement to my current software (from the App Store, for example).
Any suggestions are very much appreciated!
Joey

While we all have MacBooks in this forum not all of us use iMovie. There's an iMovie Support Community where everybody uses iMovie. You should also post this question there to increase your chances of getting an answer. https://discussions.apple.com/community/ilife/imovie

HT2729 I created a video on my iphone 4..sent it to my gmail and has mov format ..I am trying to convert it to wmv so I can incorporate it in my movie making software..am unable to convert..How can I do this? I have tried several free download video conv

I created a video on my IPHONE 4..emailed it to my gmail account and downloaded it..it was in mov format..I am trying to incorporate it in a movie making software, and as it does not accept mov files, I am trying to convert to wmv...How can I do this? I have downloaded some free video convertor software with no avail.

There's no way to delete all message threads at one go. You can however do one contact thread at a time.
In Messages app where you see a list of messages from different contacts, tap Edit (top left), tap the red (on the left), then tap the red Delete button on the right.

What is the current best but reasonably priced server backup software

Shadowprotect for Physical
Veeam for Virtual
Unitrends if you wan to do both
Or put some effort into moving everything to virtual and just use Veeam

I have 5 physical servers and a couple of servers running in HyperV. I have MS SCCM as one of the physical servers and it has a database that also has to be backed up. Also there is one of the Servers on the HyperV that also has a small data base on it as well? Any suggestions?
This topic first appeared in the Spiceworks Community

Reasonably priced animation software for iMac

I am retired and while not at all well off, I am appreciative of being in the position of not having to earn money any more.
I am currently absorbed in putting together several generations of family photos, movies and keepsakes in as interesting and historically as possible, using iMovie. Unfortunately, iMovie is ok for fairly mundane taskes, If you can overcome it's restrictive/protective baises and malfunctions.
Anyway, I am looking for a reasonably priced animation software to use as a general purpose interfacer for movies and stills and explanations were necessary.
I have spent hours searching and testing softwares but found most lacking in facilities of one sort or another. Enough to make them not worth taking up room on my computer. I have deliberately avoided high end stuff costing many hundreds of £/$. Especially Adobe. I find their software very difficult to even get started with.
Xara exteem pro 5 was my first choice but their animation software will not run on a Mach and in any case you cannot convert their Pro 5 animations to anything usefull format so I am stuck and pleeding for help.
Can anyone recommend a animation software for iMac with broard facilities, similar to Xara Extreme Pro 5. up to, say $200 ?

What kind of animation do you want to do?
For animated humans is Poser Pro quite nice:
Poser 3D Animation & Character Creation Software - Official ...
A professional application would be Cinema 4D CINEMA 4D Studio - Everything You Need for High ... - Maxon
or Maya: http://www.autodesk.com/products/autodesk-maya/free-trial
I nearly forgot: A very powerful animation tool is the free Blender, see: Download - blender.org - Home of the Blender project - Free ...

I am looking for a reasonably priced sports video analysis software?

I am looking for a reasonably priced sports video analysis software? I need it to tag events during a sports game, then be able to recall the tags later. There is software out there, but not a lot that are MAC compatable.

There's no way to do those things on an iPad. If you have already installed a new application on the iPad (Disk Drill) then your file has probably already been overwritten. Sorry.

Some Direction needed for Movie Making

First Year user here using imovie 11 on MacBook Pro mid 2010 13" and ready to buy a AVCHD progressive scan camcorder with flash memory for greater quality vids. Considering Sony, Panasonic, Canon cams. I intend to burn to HD and Standard DVD for tv viewing and also use on PC/Mac computers. I want as much flexibility as possible to grow.
Since I'm relatively new to Mac and movie making I may seem lost at times... I am. I've been on the support pages for FCE and FCP and used the supported camera tables and found them lacking for various reasons. I've also come to realize that there are some drawbacks to imovie/FCE/FCP... I think? Here is what I think I know and whatever insight you can provide is welcome..
imovie and FCE do not support 1080p. If you want real 1080p you need to bump up to FCP. My system will not support FCP. So, I will need to look at 3rd party software that will run on mac and match same with whatever camcorder.
Any thoughts/comments are welcome.
<Edited by Host>

I think this is a broad question, but in a nutshell, let me say that if you're concerned about whether iMovie, FCE and FCP can make 1920x1080 movies, the answer is YES for all three of them. iMovie does it a bit more automatically for consumers and so doesn't let you tweak settings much. FCE and FCP certainly let you tweak those settings a lot more (and in some cases MAKE you do that).
Now, if you're concerned about Progressive vs. Interlaced, that will depend more on where your footage comes from, but FCP and FCE can deal with either. For example, the Canon Vixia series AVCHD camcorders record in an interlaced stream, but can be set to a progressive record mode within that stream so that the progressive footage can be extrapolated from that later. It's complicated. The Sony cams in the same price range (and even well above that price range) ONLY shoot in interlaced, so progressive is not an option with Sony at the consumer level. Panasonic is similar here, but I will hold off comment because of those three brands, I know the least about the Pannys.
If you have more money and are willing to shoot with DSLRs, many of those typically shoot ONLY in progressive. The video is great, but I'm not sure if iMovie will work with this footage. FCE and FCP can.
In short, research your cameras as well as you can. Ask as many questions as you need to so you know what you're getting and what you can do with it.

Whats a good movie making app or program??

looking for a good movie making program for my mac book pro, the Imovie thats already on here is too basic....

You might consider picking up a copy of the older Final Cut Express (discontinued 2011) around $100, otherwise Final Cut Pro X is $299. The pro package used to be $1000. Amazing how the price has dropped.

Making a magic iMovie not magical. Having import problems

Everytime I start the import process of "making a magic iMovie", the import process will stop after inconsistent periods of time. Sometimes 5 minutes, sometimes 30 minutes. I've only had one 60 min tape import completely without interruption. I've changed firewire ports, opened Garageband and played a few notes, run mac sweeper. Nothing seems to work. Any help with this would be greatly appreciated.

I too am experiencing the same problem. I have never been able to import a complete 60 min tape.
Last time I tried I had roughly 20 minutes of footage with no gaps in the timecode and the import process stoppped after 4 minutes with a brief message "No Device Control". The camcorder kept on playing but the import process stopped and iMovie continued to makes titles and add transitions as if there were no more video.
Does anyone know what might corrupt or interrupt the firewire device control?
I'm using a Canon ZR40 camcorder. I have 3 firewire external hard drives daisy chained to one of the firewire ports. Footage is being captured to one of the external drives.
The other port is used to connect the camcorder.
17 in flat panel iMac G4 Mac OS X (10.4.5)
current iLife 06 software with all updates

Is there any way to retrieve photos that were put in the trash can and then it was emptied? Or is there a way to move photos from an imovie to iphoto?

Is there any way to retrieve photos that were put in the trash can and then it was emptied? Or is there a way to move photos from an imovie to iphoto?

If you've emptied the trash, ehtn no. However if you have a backup, like Time Machine, or a recent backup copy of your photo library you could recover the photos from the trash.
The answer to getting a snapshot form iMovie depends on what version you have.
I should add it technically may be possible to recover the emptied trash, but if you really want to do that you would need to download a utility software that can attempt to recover deleted files. Do it soon before you start writing more data to that disk. At the moment I don't have a recommendation for such a program. Maybe someone else out there will offer suggestion.

My standard software like imovie, iphoto and the itunes store stops when i open them!

Hi,
Recently my software of my macbook pro stoped working.
I was trying to open iphoto to configure it with my new iphone.
But suddenly it closed the program automatticly, and this is the same with the other software like imovie, the itunes store (itunes itself works fine).
Does somebody have the same problem?
And how can i fix this?

Topherinduont wrote:
I can see my purchases (movies specifically) in the ITunes Store when I filter to purchased but when I try to down load the movie it starts to down load and then says Unable to Download Error Code 5105. Can anyone help?
Hi, I had this problem when I first went to use iTunes with iCloud. using Windows 8 OS. Everytime I tried to download from iCloud error 5105 came up... not sure this will work for everyone, but pretty simple, I closed iTunes and restarted it and everything worked fine

Do i have movie editing software on my macbook air

do i have movie editing software on my macbook air?

You should have iMovie preinstalled. Check your Applications folder (Command + Shift + A when in Finder) to see. If you don't have it, you can download it here: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/imovie/id408981434?mt=12
If you don't like iMovie, you can take a look at some alternatives here: https://wiki.duke.edu/display/OITSLP/Premiere+Alternatives

Best reasonably priced macro lens for a 70d

Hi i have got a canon 70d and have just started doing alot of macro photography (Flowers bugs etc) i've been using the the 18-135mm kit lens but now i know im enjoying it im going to get a mocro lens. Cant afford nothing to major as saving for wedding and house. Was just looking for some advice on reasonably priced macro lenses. Any Advice welcome..
Thanks in advance
Darren

amfoto1 wrote:
Actually, it's hard to go wrong with macro lenses... Most give excellent image quality, so it tends to be the other features that are deciding factors. I have no idea what you consider "reasonably priced".... To one person that might be no more than $100, while to another it might be anything under $1000.
Canon EF 50/2.5 Compact Macro is currently about $270... As an EF lens, this can be used on both your crop camera and on full frame cameras. But this is a micro motor focus drive lens (slower, hunts more), and on it's own it only goes to 1:2 or one half life size magnification. To get full 1:1 magnification with it, there's a separately sold converter that costs another $270. You also could use macro exension tubes - that sell for between $70 and $200 for a set - to increase the lens' magnification. All the other macro lenses listed here are able to do 1:1 without need for any adapter. 50mm is fairly short focal length, putting you relatively close to your subject. This lens' closest focus is about 4 inches (with 1:1 adapter... compare to 12 inches with a 100mm lens). Personally I use shorter macro focal lengths mostly in-studio where they can work well.... but prefer a longer focal length in the field. Uses 52mm filters. No lens hood offered or supplied, it doesn't really need one because the front element is deeply recessed into the lens.
SIgma 50/2.8 Macro lens sells for about $350. I don't know much about this lens, it's been around for a while. I know it's 1:1 capable, both crop and full frame capable and has a micro motor focus drive. Comes with a lens hood. Uses 55mm filters.
Canon EF-S 60/2.8 USM Macro is on sale at the moment for $420. It's an EF-S lens, which will work fine on your 70D, but is not usable on a full frame camera. USM focusing drive is a bit faster, quieter and more precise (see below about focus speed). It's full 1:1 capable, a little longer focal length than 50mm, but not a lot. It's relatively compact and it is "internal focusing" or IF, which means it doesn't change length when focused. It uses 58mm filters and the matched lens hood sells separately for $24 (third party hoods are available for less).
Tamron SP 60/2.0 "Di II" Macro/Portrait lens is selling for about $525 and, like the Canon 60mm Macro, is a "crop only" lens. Fine for your 70D, but not usable on full frame cameras. It's also IF, but using a micro motor type focus drive. I've been working with one of these lately, giving it a try. I find it's focus slower than Canon USM, but generally plenty fast for most macro/portrait usage. The main attraction of this lens is its f2.0 aperture... fully a stop larger than most other macro lenses (Zeiss makes a couple f2.0 macro lenses, but they are manual focus only and quite expensive). This is nice particularly when using the lens for portraiture. It uses 55mm filters and comes with a lens hood.
Canon MP-E 65mm is not a lens I'd recommend to anyone just starting out shooting macro. This is an ultra high magnification lens... actually can do no less than 1:1 and goes as high as 5:1. That's a range well beyond what many people shoot. It's also about $1000 and stricly manual focus. It's a superb lens, usable on both crop sensor and full frame cameras, and one I use personally. But it's still not something I'd recommend to anyone just starting to shoot macro. It's rather challenging to work with, pretty much a "tripod only" lens. Comes with a tripod mounting ring, uses 58mm filters and an odd little lens hood sells separately for around $40.
Sigma 70mm f2.8 EX DG macro lens.... is another I don't know a whole lot about. Like their 50/2.8 macro, it's been around a long time and uses a micro motor type focus drive. It is the first lens in this list that has a Focus Limiter (2 ranges), which is a feature that can be helpful speeding up auto focusing. It sells for about $470, uses 62mm filters and comes with a matched lens hood.
Tamron SP 90mm f2.8 Di is another excellent design that's been around a long, long time. I've still got and use manual focus versions of this lens dating back to the 1980s. The currently available micro motor version sells for $500 and, as a Di lens is usable on both crop and full frame cameras. It's got a focus limiter (2 ranges), uses 55mm filters and includes a matching lens hood. It is not an IF lens.
Tamron SP 90mm f2.8 Di VC USD is an updated version of their venerable 90mm, now with both an improved AF system (USD is similar to Canon's USM) and image stabilization (Tamron calls it VC). It is said to be better sealed against dust and moisture, and also uses an aperture with 9 curved blades to make for smoother background blurs. This lens is Internal Focusing (IF), has a Focus Limiter (4 ranges!), was introduced within the last year or so selling for about $750, uses 58mm filters and comes with a matched lens hood.
Canon EF 100/2.8 USM is another excellent lens I use personally. This is the older version of this lens without IS (and not L-series, but you would be hard pressed to tell any difference in build quality, comparing it to some L-series such as the 180/3.5L macro). A key feature here is that it can optionally be fitted with a tripod mounting ring.... something that's not possible with most of the other lenses mentioned here. For macro work, I consider a tripod mount a very important feature, though some of the smaller lenses might be fairly usable on a tripod without one. This lens has USM focus drive, is IF, has a Focus Limiter (2 range), sells for about $550 presently, and uses 58mm filters. A matched lens hood is quite large and sells separately for about $40. Tripod Ring B to fit it sells for about $140 (there are cheaper third party hoods and tripod rings).
Canon EF 100/2.8 L IS USM is a newer model that primarily is upgraded with the addition of Image Stabilization (IS). Now designated an L, it includes a matched lens hood. Like the older model, a tripod ring can be optionally fitted. It has an improved Focus Limiter (increased to 3 ranges). It uses 62mm filters and is currently on sale for $900. Tripod Ring D sells for $172 (cheaper 3rd party ring is avail.).
Tokina 100/2.8 ATX is both crop and full frame compatible and sells for about $400. I haven't used it, but it's another venerable design that's been around for a lot of years. It has a Focus Limiter (2 range), uses 55mm filters and comes with a matched lens hood. I don't believe it's IF.
Sigma 105/2.8 OS HSM is currently on sale, heavily discounted, for about $670. I suspect Sigma is about to introduce a new version and that's why they are blowing out the current model with a large instant rebate. It is both crop sensor and full frame camera compatible. The current version has OS, which is Sigma's version of image stabilization, as well as HSM which is similar to Canon's USM focusing drive. This lens has a Focus Limiter (3 ranges), uses a 9 blade aperture, 62mm filters and comes with a matched hood. It cannot be fitted with a tripod ring.
Canon, Sigma and Tamron all offer longer macro focal lengths... 150mm and 180mm. In general I'd say those are pretty long to use on a crop sensor camera such as your 70D or my 7Ds. They all come with tripod rings, which is good because longer macro lenses can be difficult to keep steady. But they all are also considerably more expensive, so I won't go into the details about them.
Regarding auto focus speed... All macro lenses with AF are slower focusing for a couple reasons. One is that they have to move their focusing mechanisms a long, long way to go all the way from infinity to 1:1 magnification. Another is by design, they use "long throw" focus mechanisms that emphasize accuracy over speed, which is necessary because depth of field can be quite shallow at high magnifications. So, in general, don't expect a macro lens to offer the same AF speed as a non-macro lens with similar focus drive mechanism. What can help a lot are the type of focus drive and if the lens offers a Focus Limiter. Canon's USM, Sigma's HSM and Tamron's USD all will give faster focusing than micro motor drive systems on other lenses. Properly used, a Focus Limiter can really speed up focusing performance, too.
When shooting macro, auto focus speed usually isn't all that critical. In fact, I often just focus manually. Accuracy often is more important, due to the shallow depth of field. So AF perfomance might be a bigger consideration if planning to also use the lens a lot for non-macro purposes.
Image Stabilization (Canon OS, Sigma OS and Tamron VC) is offered on a few premium models. Canon's is a special hybrid version developed just for macro purposes, which most feel is a bit more effective than other forms of stabilization. Nikon actually was the first to put stabilization (they call it VR) on a macro lens, but most agree that while it's useful for non-macro shooting, it is of little practical assistance at 1:1 magnification. The Canon hybrid IS is considered to be a bit better at higher magnifications, but even it will be of limited effectiveness at 1:1. In other words, there may be times when you want to use a tripod or at least a monopod. And in those cases, particularly on some of the larger lenses, a tripod mounting ring can be a very nice thing to have (among all the above, only the Canon 100mm macro lenses can be fitted with a t'pod ring).
There are other options to "do macro", too. For example, you could simply get some Macro Extension Tubes to use with your current lens, to make it focus closer. Canon offers quality individual tubes in 25mm and 12mm lengths ($84 and $140 respectively). Kenko does too, but also offers a set of three that includes 12mm, 20mm and 36mm lengths (set sells for $200). The Kenko are very close to the Canon in design, quality and performance.
There are also less expensive sets (under $100) from Zeikos and Opteka. The Zeikos set includes 13mm, 21mm and 31mm and sell under a bunch of different brand names (Vivitar, Bower, Dot Line, ProOptic and many more). The Opteka set was just recently introduced and includes 12mm, 20mm and 36mm. All these sets are more plasticky than the Canon and Kenko tubes, but they do support autofocus and direct control of the aperture.
AFAIK, all the currently sold macro extension tubes for Canon mount are compatible with both EF and EF-S lenses. (If you were shopping used you'd have to be careful because some of the older tubes were EF only and could not be used with your EF-S 18-135mm lens).
Canon's TS-E 45mm and TS-E 90mm lenses also are usable for near-macro and, with extension tubes added, macro shooting. These are Tilt-Shift lenses that give additional control over the plane of focus which can be used to good effect with macro and shallow depth of field. I use a TS-E 45mm a lot for table top studio shots of small products. However, these are manual focus only, largely tripod-only and rather pricey lenses, so I just wanted to mention them here. They are probably not something I'd recommend for a first time macro shooter or general purpose, outdoor, walk-around macro work.
Personally, my two most-used macro lenses are a Canon EF 100/2.8 USM (the older model) and a Tamron SP 60/2.0. When I'm planning to shoot a lot of outdoor, walk-around macro shooting, the Canon lens is my first choice. However, it's rather large so when I'm not planning macro, but want to have a macro lens just in case, I'll substitute it with the much more compact Tamron lens. (Which also can replace two portrait lenses in my camera bag, so reduces my load by one lens serving in place of three.)
Another key consideration is flash. Often when shooting macro it's a challenge to get enough light to allow a stopped down lens, desirable ISO and adequately fast shutter speed. So you probably will find yourself wanting to use flash sooner or later. Canon offers two macro-specific flashes: the MR14 EX Ring Lite and the MT24EX Twin Lite. I use both for different purposes. I prefer the Twin Lite for macro shots up to about 1:1, maybe 2:1 (double life size) magnification. The Ring Lite I mostly use for very high magnification shots with the MP-E 65mm lens.
All the Canon lenses above have provision for, or can be adapted to allow for direct mounting of the two Canon macro flashes (Note: I believe there is a new "Mark II" version of the Ring Lite coming out soon). There also are adapters available to mount these flashes on non-macro Canon or onto third party lenses. It also is possible to use a single "standard" flash, along with an off-camera shoe cord and some sort of diffusion to hold back the flash, when shooting macro. I do that often with 550EX and 580EX II flashes.
There are other macro-specific accessories you may want to consider eventually. Often I'll use a diffusion panel and/or a reflector when out in full sun, to reduce too extreme contrast and help fill too-deep shadows. A focusing stage is another useful thing, when shooting macro with a tripod.
Finally, I recommend you pick up some books on macro photography. John Shaw's "Close-Ups in Nature" is perhaps the "Bible" among them and likely the most comprehensive. I also found books about macro by Tim Fitzharris and Joe & Mary MacDonald very helpful and interesting. I'm sure there are others, but those came immediately to mind.
Alan Myers
San Jose, Calif., USA
"Walk softly and carry a big lens."
GEAR: 5DII, 7D(x2), 50D(x3), some other cameras, various lenses & accessories
FLICKR & PRINTROOM
Almost 2,400 words to answer a macro lens post? Alan, nobody can believe you can write so much (except TCampbell, ha ha) but you risk nobody wanting to read. See the link that follows for the sort of difficulty readers have with this sort of post, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Too_long;_didn't_read

- it doesnt want to drag? Has anyone used this software with imovie?

I am trying to transfer vhs movies to my harddrive using videglide I have successfully recorded it and saved it onto my desktop but I cant seem to transfer the movie to iphoto for editing - it doesnt want to drag? Has anyone used this software with imovie?

I presume you mean Videoglide - which I had never heard of.
Having read the specs:
http://www.echofx.com/videoglide.html
I am wondering how it manages to digitise analogue video from a VCR. For that I use an analogue to digital converter that imports straight into iMovie via firewire.
You should contact the developers of Videoglide for instructions on how to use it.

Movie Editing Software

I use PhotoShop Elements to edit photos that I drop into iMovie. Is there any software for editing (exposure, color, etc.) that can be used on video clips similar to PhotoShop? Thanks.

Ah, ye of little faith.
Some that I found that supposedly work on the Mac:
Jahsaka (freeware)
Avid Technology Media Composer
Boris FX media editing software
Avid Free DV
Avid Technology x-press pro
Avid technology symphony Nitris
Media 100 HD Site
Media 100 Producer
Media 100 Producer Suite
Adobe has several packages
Google it and there literally is a ton of allegedly Mac compatible movie editing software out there. Don't know if they are any good.

Reasonably priced movie-making software besides iMovie?

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for