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How To Edit Video from a Flip Camera on iPad 2

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There are not a lot of third-party cameras that can be used to shoot video compatible with Apple’s new iPad 2 video editing program iMovie. The Pure Digital Flip Mino and Flip Ultra HD will work. PC World put together a short How To video and we have tried it out and it works fine with a caveat.

Flip Ultra HD connected to iPad 2

Flip Ultra HD connected to the iPad 2

The Flip Ultra HD and Flip Mino shoot the right kind of video, but the Flip Ultra HD pulls a little too much power from the iPad 2. To make it work, you will have to have the Flip Ultra HD plugged into a powered USB hub for longer clips. We were able to import a one minute clip from the Flip Ultra HD, but with clips that are much longer it will throw up the error. The error message says “Accessory Unavailable” because “The attached accessory uses too much power.”

Error Message when plugging Flip Ultra HD directly into iPad 2

If you plug the Flip Ultra HD directly into the iPad 2 you get this error message

As the video below states, plug a powered USB hub that draws its power from a wall electricity outlet into your iPad 2. Then plug the Flip Ultra HD into that hub. If you have a Flip Mino, PC Magazine says it should work without the hub. If you get the error above, even with the hub, try unplugging and then plugging the hub’s USB cable back into the iPad 2 and make sure it is plugged into a wall outlet and is getting power from the outlet.

The basic steps to follow are below:

  1. Shoot video with the Flip camera
  2. Connect the Flip camera to the iPad 2 using the USB to Dock adapter of the iPad Camera Connection Kit (include USB powered hub with Flip Ultra HD camera)
  3. Import the video once the iPad 2 Photo App launches automatically (either use blue Import All button or select individual clips and use Import Selected)
  4. Either delete the photos or keep them when the app asks you which one you want to do (the video recommends saving them and we agree)
  5. Launch iMovie and start a new project using the plus icon
  6. Edit the movie according to the video’s instructions

Let us know if you if you have found other cameras that work besides the Flip cameras or the iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad.

8 Comments

8 Comments

  1. Lorie Ghamy

    04/02/2011 at 4:55 pm

    Hello,

    I ma de some test with the last iMovie 2.0 on my iPad V1 . For external videos, i use the app PhotoSync on the iPad with any browser on a Window PC, and the WiFi adress link.

    Everything is working with MP4 video up to 720p, but no chance with MOV rushes from Canon T2i / 550D…

    IPad V1 is nice working with iMovie. Just th encoding time will be less efficient than with the new 2 version… An iPad V1 is working well with GarageBand…

    • Lorie Ghamy

      04/02/2011 at 4:56 pm

      One mistake : iMovie 1.2 on my jailbroken iPad V1…

  2. Christophe

    04/09/2011 at 1:03 pm

    See the test of the FLIP MINO HD III on my blog : https://mydatanews.blogspot.com/2010/12/test-camera-flip-minohd-nouvelle.html

  3. Zach

    04/16/2011 at 3:17 pm

    Wow! Thank you for making this video! I thought it was impossible to edit video on the iPad 2 from a seperate camcorder, but I finally found hope!

    Thank you for showing us how to import video from a non-Apple product to the iPad 2 and the iMovie app!

  4. Anonymous

    04/18/2011 at 2:04 am

    Hey guys, going to offer a simpler solution…

    Transfer your videos to an SD card from your camcorder then use the camera connection kit SD card reader. I went out and bought a usb hub for the flip and found it was not needed.

  5. Summerstaff

    10/04/2011 at 1:40 pm

    I tried this and it did import, but files or clips simply show up as AVI thumbnails on my iPad 2 and when I open iMovie and select Last Import, nothing shows up. Will iPad 2 accept the clips from my Flip Mino?

  6. Bob C

    11/02/2011 at 11:14 am

    iPad2 & Flip Ultra HD worked without USB hub until I upgraded the iOS to 5. Now the iPad2 always gives me the error.

  7. Ellie

    04/24/2012 at 7:57 am

    This is cool stuff , you also can edit flip video on imovie easily

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