Canon A640 movie to Mac/AV out question

vk2003

I have an A640. Using the Canon EOS Utility, I can send the camera LCD viewfinder output to the AV socket on the camera.
The lead that connects to this socket is a 3.5mm jack at one (camera) end, and 2 phono sockets at the other.
What sort of output is this? Composite? SVideo?
Is it analogue or digital?

The reason I am trying to figure this out, is I need to buy a capture system to connect to my Imac, but want to ensure I get one that will do the job!
Thanks in advance for any help cos I am completely confused!

Nickygoat

Let me check I understand this. You want to take the movies off your A640 and put them onto your iMac, for processing later. Correct?
Or do you want to do the slightly more challenging task of using the iMac as a viewfinder, ie using it in real time?

If it's the first then it's easy. Ignore the AV cable and plug in the USB one.
iPhoto should open automatically and import the film (this assumes you are using iPhoto 6.0.x and OSX 10.4).

If it doesn't then use Image Capture - it's in your Applications folder or Spotlight it.

The advantage of using Image Capture is that it avoids iPhoto's nightmarish file structure.

Your camera outputs AVI files by the way.

If it's the second then it becomes a lot more difficult.

Moneymaker

Are you certain that USB will work? I have to use a Firewire cable with my Camcorder.

Nickygoat

Moneymaker wrote: »

Are you certain that USB will work? I have to use a Firewire cable with my Camcorder.

Yes, for two reasons:

1) he doesn't have a camcorder - the A640 is a digicam, and

2) the A640 doesn't have a FireWire output. Most digital cameras don't because FireWire needs a separate chipset to operate which takes up space. There are very few digital cameras that will take up so much memory as to need FireWire transfer speeds, which is not the case with camcorders.

See here for the A640's specs.

Note that it's connections are USB 2.0 and AV out. The AV out is for connecting to a TV/ VCR.

HTH

vk2003

Nickygoat wrote: »

Let me check I understand this. You want to take the movies off your A640 and put them onto your iMac, for processing later. Correct?
Or do you want to do the slightly more challenging task of using the iMac as a viewfinder, ie using it in real time?

If it's the first then it's easy. Ignore the AV cable and plug in the USB one.
iPhoto should open automatically and import the film (this assumes you are using iPhoto 6.0.x and OSX 10.4).

If it doesn't then use Image Capture - it's in your Applications folder or Spotlight it.

The advantage of using Image Capture is that it avoids iPhoto's nightmarish file structure.

Your camera outputs AVI files by the way.

If it's the second then it becomes a lot more difficult.

Hiya

Thanks for the help. Basically, I want to record the live viewfinder images, rather than using the video mode of the camera. This is because the camera will be running in a tethered state (connected via USB) to the iMac, and won't be able to adjust the camera.

I can divert the live viewfinder output to the AV out socket using the Canon EOS Utility, which also allows me to take photos which are directly stored on the computer rather than the camera.
However, the live viewfinder feed that comes via the USB cable appears not to be recordable as a film. Thus I have to use the AV Out. Complicated eh? :-)

Hence, I need to know what sort of capture system to buy for my Mac - Analogue, or Digital, Composite or SVideo etc

Cheers!

Nickygoat

vk2003 wrote: »

Hiya

Thanks for the help. Basically, I want to record the live viewfinder images, rather than using the video mode of the camera. This is because the camera will be running in a tethered state (connected via USB) to the iMac, and won't be able to adjust the camera.

I can divert the live viewfinder output to the AV out socket using the Canon EOS Utility, which also allows me to take photos which are directly stored on the computer rather than the camera.
However, the live viewfinder feed that comes via the USB cable appears not to be recordable as a film. Thus I have to use the AV Out. Complicated eh? :-)

Hence, I need to know what sort of capture system to buy for my Mac - Analogue, or Digital, Composite or SVideo etc

Cheers!

Ok. Like i said it becomes a lot harder.
iMovie won't import, or let you use the monitor as a viewfinder with a USB device. It will with FireWire however.

Try these:
Probably not what you want but they do a free demo so you can play with it:
istopmotion

Dazzle

myTV - has the added bonus of a TV tuner

MyCapture

Wirecast

The DAC 200 video capture unit.

I'm not sure if any of those are any good to you - TBH I don't think so but it's worth a try.

I think Final Cut will do what you want (not 100% sure) but it's expensive and complicated.

A better bet, IMHO, would be an iSight. Your camera has a movie resolution of 640x480 at 30fps which the iSight can match. I know your iMac has a built in iSight which you could try first but I'm guessing that wouldn't be practical. The external iSight has 2 advantages over the built in one:

You can place it wherever you want and it has a variable focus (the internal one is fixed focus). It will then open up into iMovie.

You can't buy them new any more but there are some on ebay for less than £100.

You might want to try one of the Mac specific forums for a better answer.