Need HELP! Using Canon PowerShot A530 for movie mode

[lizluvsdisney]

I have learned to use the movie mode in my Canon PowerShot A530, but I didn't realize that it would be difficult to email the videos. I guess I made the video too long - about 4 1/2 minutes. The only thing I have found that I think will work is to upload the video to my blog and then give my friend the URL to view it. Only problem is this upload has already taken over an hour, and it's still uploading! Hardly worth a 4 1/2 minute video.

This is really important to me because my best friend is out of state with her daughter and new grandbaby to help them, and she's been gone for 3 long weeks. I thought it would be fun for her to see me "in person".

Is there any way for me to change the video resolution or ANYTHING that would make the file size smaller for the next time I attempt this less-than-simple feat? I would love any help or suggestions.

Thanks,
Liz

 

[AndrewWG]

I hope someone has some useful advice for you because I would surely like to know. For now, my answer would be a simple "no". You can probably change it to a smaller frame rate like 15fps vs 30fps and you may be able to change the sound quality (audio sampling rate) to its lowest setting, but you will still probably have a HUGE file if it is 4.5 minutes long. I just recently made some 20 second videos with the lowest quality settings on the S2 IS and they were 6 to 9 MB each. That is a large file for such a small video. 4.5 minutes of it would be huge, maybe 200MB or so? Way way way too big for e-mail, and a real pain to upload as you have said.

So, in short, I have no real answer. Like I said, I hope someone here does have a better answer, but I don't think it is possible to make them small enough (at least for e-mail purposes).

Andy

 

[ukcatfan]

You can try changing the codec. You would need software to do that as it really is recoding it. I believe that DIVX would be a decent compromise between quality and size. I have not needed to do this in a few years though, so there could be better codecs around now. E-mail would probably still not be an option though as it will not get that small.

If it is the speed of your Internet connection that is holding you back, is there anywhere with a faster one that you can use like a library?

Kevin

 

[lizluvsdisney]

Well, after wrestling with this project for half a day, I read my camera's manual. I found out there are 3 different settings to the movie mode. I chose standard and should have chose compact. This would allow a 3-minute video that would be small enough for email.

The best I can do at this point is edit the video into 4 segments, saving each segment as its own file. Still, the final 2 segments are over 20 mb each, so I guess I'm stuck with this.

Now I know better for next time. Bummer!

 

[lizluvsdisney]

Thanks to a friend, I have found a solution to reduce the video file size to be suitable for email or any other online service that requires 20mb or less.

If you have Windows Movie Maker, you can easily save the video at a reduced file size. I didn't think it changed the quality of my video that much, and I was surprised.

It's been a long day on this project, but I've learned what to do for the next time.

 

[S. C.]

Thanks to a friend, I have found a solution to reduce the video file size to be suitable for email or any other online service that requires 20mb or less.

If you have Windows Movie Maker, you can easily save the video at a reduced file size. I didn't think it changed the quality of my video that much, and I was surprised.

It's been a long day on this project, but I've learned what to do for the next time.

for this info. You are the best I just emailed a movie.

 

[AndrewWG]

Where do you get Windows Movie Maker? Is it included with Vista or something? I don't believe I have that on XP Pro.

That is great info now I have to find Windows Movie Maker. Thanks!

EDIT: I do have it. I just never knew it! Thanks again.

EDIT EDIT: That works quite well! I got a 9MB movie down to a 2.89MB movie and really lost nothing in the process. It still looks as good as when I started. Changes it to a .wmv file, but I think that is ok for most everyone to view.

Andy