Lawrence Ingraham’s Blog

It’s awfully hard to say at this size, but I have to say I think I find the original somewhat less headache-inducing than the strange ripples in the stabilized version.

@MikeK
I hear what you’re saying. If you try to stare directly at her running, it’s a big improvement. But if you’re looking at the whole picture, like those 90’s 3d posters I could never figure out, it’ll probably look worse. Really depends on the footage you’re using, every case is different.

Also keep in mind, iMovie tells you when the shaking is so bad that it can’t do much to help it. That’s what the red squiggles show, and as you can see, there’s a lot there. Again, your mileage may vary, but I see a nice improvement for my uses.

I just upgarded from iMovie08 to 09 because of the features you talk about. For some reasons clips (at HD 30pfs) from the Zi6 when dropped into the project window seem to stutter and not play back smoothly… any ideas why? I have same spec macbook pro as you. I know youre not apple tach I”m just wondering if any other users have had this problem?

@tony I get this problem sometimes too. I have a feeling it has to do with the format, decoding h.264 takes a lot of horsepower. I’ve never had a problem when exporting, it’s just when previewing a project in iMovie.

Don’t really have an answer for you, but you’re not alone. Rest assured it’s just a preview issue though, exporting works fine.

Lawrence…. phew! you are quite right. I just exported my iMovie09 project to a quicktime movie (using the standard settings) for a trial and it plays back perfectly! I guess even at 30fps Zi6 clip with a macbookpro the project window causes a stutter in the visual as its reaching the limit of processor power and display. I guess I’ll just have to put up with this and take it into account. I still love the imovie09! I’ll send you the link when I post the finished video on youtube – its a band video.

My heart feels calm again – isn’t it amazing how computer problems make you feel uneasy? – I always expect apple to work perfectly….thanks for your advice

Hello Lawrence. I see that the video shot with the Zi6 needs no conversion to be edited with iMovie 09, they can be used right away.

But after editing them with iMovie 09, can you export the final video BACK to the zi6 ? So then you can use it to carry the video around to show people (and use the HDMI cable to show it on HD tv).

What do you think ?

Cheers, Felipe.

Hrm, that’s a new one. I have no idea, let me give it a try tomorrow and report back. I’d imagine, yes?

Thanks, I’m waiting.

One of the things you mentioned in the review of the Zi6 which was really about iMovie was that it couldn’t export in a high res HD. Is that still a limitation of iMovie ‘09?

Actually, iMovie 09, and maybe 08, has the option to export full res. It’s just not obvious, least wasn’t obvious to me.

Share >> Export Using Quicktime…

You need to mess with the settings a bit, but you can export in full res there.

Thanks for reviewing this against actual use in iMovie ‘09. Hope to buy the Kodak at some point today.

really bummed that you can’t import directly into Final Cut without having to render each clip indiviudally before editing in order to hear and see audio/video in timeline playback. If i had known this I’d have never bought the camera. between that and the awfully shaky nature of such a small camera coupled with the lack of native image stability and I fear i’ll never make another video again. I’d have to run it through 3 or 4 different editing programs to get something I’m happy with!! It’s ridiculous.