Editing HD videos from a camera on the iPad
I found yet another use for the camera connection kit- editing HD videos from my compact camera. Turns out that not only can the iPad import and play files from my Canon 300 HS, but the $1.99 app ReelDirector can edit them as well.
Editing HD video is no easy task in way of hardware performance required. I tend to go the unedited route when using my PC because Windows Move Maker makes my laptop suicidal when I try to use it, and I don’t have the energy to look for better software. I’m so sick and tired of PC programs altogether, with the constant nagging about updates from 100 different apps and having to spend hours looking for a program to do what I want when I need something. Video editing software costs a lot of money, and you get 50 features you don’t need for every feature you do need. There are alternative ways of getting software, but that’s a whole different issue altogether.
The app store on the iPad might be closed down and governed by Apple, but I really don’t care when I can go and get a video editing app that can handle HD videos straight from my compact camera for $2. It’s not something you would edit a Hollywood movie on, but I really don’t need 10000 features to edit a few bits of a video before uploading to YouTube. If it can cut videos, split them into parts etc that’s enough. Add rotation, text layers, an extra audio channel and a few more features like that and that’s even better. In fact, that’s Reeldirector.
Below is a video I shot of myself editing a few video files together on the iPad. The video I’m editing makes no sense because I just shot a few small clips for the purpose of the demonstration video, but you get the idea. I cut away 3min 40 sec of rendering in the middle to not bore you all to death. With cutting, transitions and audio additions made to the final video I think that’s an acceptable speed, we are after all talking about HD video here, edited on a device with a 1Ghz CPU and only 256MB RAM. There was a time when you needed a $2000 desktop computer to edit SD video, so the fact you can get a $1.99 app that lets you edit HD video on the iPad is awesome in my book.
