Lou Hattersley explains how to transfer slow-motion movies from your iPhone to a Mac
The iPhone 5s introduced an appealing new feature to the iPhone 5s: slo-mo (slow motion) video. In this tutorial we’ll show you how to record an eye-catching slow motion video, share the video with friends, transfer it to a Mac OS X computer or upload it to YouTube.
When recording a slo-mo video the iPhone 5s captures the scene at an extremely high speed (120fps) and then slows it down in the middle. It’s perfect for recording action shots: like kids playing on swings, cats playing with toys or when you’re watching a sport event. By capturing thevideo in slow motion you can really focus in on the action. And it’s a neat party trick for iPhone 5s owners. In this feature we’re going to take a look at recording slo-mo video, and transferring the video clip to a Mac.
Step 1: Record slo-mo video
Recording a slo-mo video is pretty easy. Open the Camera app and slide your fi nger down the screen so the Photo setting turns to video, now slide down again to change the setting Slo-Mo (it will be marked in yellow). The Camera app will now record the video at 120fps, but play it at a slower rate. Tap on the red Record button and capture some action; tap the Record button again to fi nish capturing video.
Step 2: Play back
Now tap on the Camera Roll icon (bottom-right) to view the video you’ve just recorded. When you play back the video clip it’ll start normally, then slow down in the middle, before speeding up again to the end.
Step 3: Adjust the slo-mo e ffect
You can manually adjust the slo-mo settings to time the slow motion e ect to time it with the action you recorded. Tap the screen on the video in Camera Roll to bring up the onscreen controls. Underneath The Video Preview bar is a Slo-Mo control bar made up of small vertical lines. The area in the middle (where the lines are spaced apart) is the slo-mo part. You can drag the two black lines left and right to determine the part where the video will enter slomo mode, and return to normal playback.
Step 4: AirDrop the video
Bring up the onscreen controls and tap on Share in the bottom-left of the screen. Ensure the video has a blue tick in it and tap on Next and pick a sharing method. It’s usually best to use AirDrop to share video clips between di erent iOS devices.
Step 5: Sharing the video
If you want to pass the video on to somebody, you can send video as a Message, Mail or iCloud (as well as upload to YouTube or Vimeo). Your options may be limited with longer videos if the fi le size is too big for email. But if the video is small enough to send via email you can always send it to your own email address and download it from Mail on the Mac.
Step 6: Transfer the video to iPhoto
If you want to import the video to the Mac, then it’s best to use either iPhoto or Image Capture. Open the iPhoto app and select the iPhone 5s in the sidebar now fi nd the video clip in the main window and tap on Import Selected. You get the option of leaving the video on the iPhone or removing it. It’s up to you but eventually you’ll end up with a full iPhone if you leave video on it.
Step 7: Import a clip using Image Capture
If you work with photos and videos a lot you should take a look at the Image Capture app (located in Applications). This enables you to browse the images and video on an iPhone (or other device) and copy them directly to the Finder. You can simply drag the video from the main window to the desktop. Or you can choose a location using the Import to dropdown menu and click on Import or Import All.
Step 8: Play the video
The video will be a fi le on the desktop (or other location) normally named something like IMG_01234. MOV. You can double-click the video to play it in QuickTime. Notice that unlike normal videos there is an extra blue button marked slo-mo. You can click this to turn the slow motion e ffect on and off.
