How to Transfer Video From a Camera to a Computer
Making video footage has become simpler than ever. By transferring videos to your computer, you can create exciting movies and be able to share them with family and friends, or burn them to a blank DVD. In addition, when you transfer videos it can free up space on the internal memory or the memory card of the camera.
- Use a USB or firewire cable to connect your camera to a computer. Refer to your manual if you are not sure which method your camera relies on for computer connection. The connection varies with different camera models.
- Turn on the camera. The Windows autoplay prompt will open on the computer displaying different options.
- Launch your computer's camera editing application. Some applications would be iMovie or Windows Movie Maker. If you have a Mac, iMovie is the default video editing program. If you have Windows XP, Windows 7 or Vista, Microsoft Windows Movie Maker is the default editing application. Launch another video editing application if you prefer it.
- Click the "File" menu on your program and start a new project. Choose "Import video from digital camera" or "Import," depending on the program you are using.
- Click the "play" button to start the footage on your video camera. Click "rewind" or "fast-forward" to move back and forth on your video footage.
- On your software program use the "mark in" and "mark out" buttons to select the portion of video desired to download to your computer. Click "import" to begin downloading the video to your computer. Repeat the process to capture additional video clips from your camera.
- Once you finish importing you can save your video to your computer. For most programs you can save your work by clicking the "File" button and clicking "Save as." Type a name for your video and click "Save."