With the iMovie video-editing program, which comes standard on many Macintosh computers, it is easy to import your videos recorded on a Panasonic digital video camera and then save them onto the computer. As long as your Mac computer has at least iMovie 09 Version 8.0.3, you can connect a Panasonic camera with a FireWire (IEEE 1394) cable connection and transfer the video into the program and onto your computer.
Instructions
1. Connect the Panasonic camera to your Mac computer using a FireWire cable. The connection will not work with the USB connection.
2. Open iMovie on the computer; its icon looks like a Walk of Fame star with a camera in the middle. If the icon's not in your dock, go to "Applications" in the "Finder" and look for it there or in the iLife folder.
3. Go to the "File" menu in iMovie and select the "Import Movies" command. "Import From Camera" won't work because that is for capturing live video as the camera records, not previously recorded video.
4. Locate and select the camera in the "Devices" list on the left side, then click on the video file you want in the central window. Click on "Create New Event" at the bottom, type a name in the text box and click the "Import" button.
5. Go to "New Project" in the File menu, input a name for the Project, select an aspect ratio--standard, widescreen or iPhone--and click the Create button.
6. Highlight your entire imported video from its "Event" window at the bottom of the iMovie application and drag it to the "Project" window at the top.
7. Go to "Export Using QuickTime" in the "Share" menu, select a format in the "Export" drop-down list--MPEG4 or QuickTime movie may be best--and click the save button to export the movie to the desktop.
Tags: your computer, cable connection, File menu, Panasonic camera, video camera
