Hi everyone,

I have tried editing my first video based on video recordings from my Spark.

I use iMac and iMovie, but after watching the final result I am disappointed that the video is not smooth anymore. its like it stutters every second or so.

What is the optimal way of editing video ? Windows/MacOS and what software ?

I Know this has been brought up many times, but I often see iMovie recommended - and I kinda dont understand that, as my results are NOT good.

Any idea what could be wrong ?

As a matter of fact, video editing depends on the computer capabilities such as the graphic card size, cash memory size and so on. The more your computer is powerful the more you have choices for higher resolution output. So you have to edit your drone footage according to your computer capabilities not according to the footage resolution. this means a high resolution aerial footage could not be possible rendering the same resolution as output because of many farme drops which is in your case, therefor look for the computer power and try a lower resolution if needed.

Okay, I edited it on an "old" iMac but I have a brand new sparkling Macbook Pro with tons of memory and power.

I will try that, thanks.

But the source resolution will always be 1080 - but you are talking about the final result resolution, correct ?

I actually tried lowering it, and I think (believe) I could see a little improvement ...

I will try and let you know how it went :-)

Yes I mean the final result resolution. What you get after rendering the edited video.

I am not using Mac and am therefore not familiar with the software you are using. But as a general rule I could confirm that the rendering process is the most important part. Check out all the available settings and find out their effects on the final output. The raw videos from Spark are very good quality and I would not recommend lowering their resolution unless it is required for a particular purpose.

Are you not having an issue with framerates?
iMovie has a hard time editing Spark footage because it is slightly off 30fps. (29.97)
There is a couple of threads about this here, but I don't have a Mac, so can't test them.
https://forum.dji.com/thread-101788-1-1.html
https://forum.dji.com/thread-102160-1-1.html

And many more....

Yea I noticed the same thing - iMovie using straight imported Spark video jitters - you can either trim the clip in iMovie (start point) to work around this or trim it using a 3rd party like "imTOO Video Cutter 2" - then its as smooth as the video straight off the Spark.

Thanks for the tips, I realised now what was the issue ;-)

TonyFonagerDK Posted at 2017-9-20 04:37
Thanks for the tips, I realised now what was the issue ;-)

Nice. Hope you get the results you are after!

I had the same issue with iMovie. I never found a solution and just bit the bullet and got FCPX.

Hey Tony, there are some YouTube videos on this issue. It has to do with frame rate. For example, once I import all my clips into Adobe Premiere, I have to select them and have the suite interpret footage as 30fps. I also have to set my sequence timeline to 30 fps non drop frame. On import, to render out the video, it is set to 29.97 with the vbr dual pass. On the videos I had seen for Mac users on iMovie and Final Cut, the premise is similar, you need to mod your timeline and frame rate settings. Hardware wise, Iʻd think youʻd only have to wait longer for previews and renders of your final output.

Today I downloaded the free version of DaVinci Resolve 14 - what an amazing program.

And the result is VERY satisfying - at least when it comes to "smooth'nes" of my video.

You can see it here :

wow, love the colors!

Yeah the colors was amazing - I have done NO edit besides trimming the clips #nofilter

TonyFonagerDK Posted at 2017-9-20 14:03
Today I downloaded the free version of DaVinci Resolve 14 - what an amazing program.

And the result is VERY satisfying - at least when it comes to "smooth'nes" of my video.

Good to know you like Davinci.
I still have to find time to dive into it.

Thanks for your video, it does look smooth indeed. No framerate issues.
What a lovely site to film
One little thing was the shot starting at 0:58 - 1:05, that I would consider leaving out because the rotating of the frame does not look very nice (my opinion of course).

Hey Tony, I have no editing experience whatsoever. I recently shot some footage with my Spark in Kenya and looked for the most simple video editing mobile app available in the Google Play store. I ended up using Quik (by GoPro). The interface was really simple and the final product was smooth too. Take a look here > I did that on my mobile so I think the software you choose could be the determining factor

fans5f334c6d Posted at 2017-9-21 09:39
Hey Tony, I have no editing experience whatsoever. I recently shot some footage with my Spark in Kenya and looked for the most simple video editing mobile app available in the Google Play store. I ended up using Quik (by GoPro). The interface was really simple and the final product was smooth too. Take a look here > https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PMe5O5dveFM&t=1s. I did that on my mobile so I think the software you choose could be the determining factor

Look amazing - what a nice place to fly with a drone - but where are the elephants ? *gg*

TonyFonagerDK Posted at 2017-9-20 14:03
Today I downloaded the free version of DaVinci Resolve 14 - what an amazing program.

And the result is VERY satisfying - at least when it comes to "smooth'nes" of my video.

The video looks great! How fast you learn it! Thanks for sharing!