Photo to Movie for Mac

User Reviews

• Still Not Ready for Prime Time

  mistermish1/23/2013

  Pros

  Much more complete control over motion than is offered by iPhoto or iMovie. Excellent finished quality movie Wide range of transitions available Better control of text, titles and sound tracks than iPhoto or iMovie

  Cons

  Where to start... Very clunky interface leads to high level of frustration Totally useless User Manual Slow and unresponsive tech support See other specific examples below

  Summary

  I want to like Photo to Movie, I really do. In fact this is my second try liking it. I gave up on v. 4.2 a few years ago due to its buggy interface and incomprehensible user manual. I decided to pay for an upgrade to v. 5.0 when I needed to create a special slideshow and wanted to have more control over panning and zooming, titles, and the sound track than you can get in Apple's native programs like Aperture, iPhoto, and iMovie. I'd hoped that the bugs had been worked out since I last tried the program. They haven't. When P to M works it's great. But there are so many incomprehensible, unpredictable, behaviors that it remains an exercise in frustration. Just a few examples: You can reorganize photos by dragging them in the timeline -- then suddenly you can't. You can delete a photo from the timeline by selecting it and hitting the delete button -- then suddenly you can't. You try to insert a blank slide at a certain point in the timeline. It appears somewhere else instead. And if you don't have just the right part of the interface selected, what you want to have happen won't happen and there won't be any cue to tell you that you can't do what you're trying to do (example, reversing the key frames). The user's manual remains as opaque, circular, and unhelpful as I remember it being. (Speaking of opacity -- how many people know that you can adjust it by adjusting the "alpha channel" on the color window. Is that explained anywhere in the manual? No.) And of the half dozen times I tried to chat live with someone via their support page, someone was actually available once. Alas, P to M is still not ready for prime-time. The 20% of extra functionality it'll give you over its Apple native competitors isn't worth the time you'll lose and the exasperation you'll suffer along the way.

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• Best program I have found for presentations

  stanhall1/27/2011

  Pros

  Very easy to use. Makes your photos pop out and when combined with sound makes a spectacular movie

  Cons

  there is a learning curve to use all its functions

  Summary

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• Best way to show your digital pics

  dkemme10/16/2010

  Pros

  I use this program to create a show of my still photography. It will quickly turn your pics into a quality show with the music of your choice. I also use it to add stills to my camcorder movies.

  Cons

  Occasionally new versions will be a bit buggy, but the programmer responds to email and a new version generally appears within 36 hours.

  Summary

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• Useful for short clips but not for anything longer

  clandise8/3/2010

  Pros

  Very good control over motion, much better than Final Cut or iMovie for photo manipulation

  Cons

  The timeline photos are just too small to be usable. Non scrolling timeline, can't drag and drop photos into a new location off screen. The photo organizer lets you locate duplicate photos, but not delete them. Deletion is difficult in many views.

  Summary

  The rendered quality of the final product is quite good. This app is useful to produce short clips to import into Final Cut or iMovie but not good for anything longer than a few photos. The inability to zoom the photo size in timeline and inability to drag and drop photos off screen makes it impractical for any longer projects.<br /><br /><span class='notifyMsg'> Updated </span>on Aug 3, 2010<p/>Thsisreview is actually of 4.6.0.12, but applies to older versions as well.

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• Full Screen Toggle is Buggy

  rowanwood5/27/2010

  Pros

  Cons

  Summary

  This review was originally posted on VersionTracker.com.<br />I tried Photo to Movie 4.5.4 and found that although it seems to be generally a useful product, the full screen toggle is a buggy mess. It is SLOOOOW, poorly designed and BUGGY! The full screen toggle is Command-G, ignoring the Mac OS X standard of Command-F. Neither Command-G nor Command-F work once the application is already in full screen mode. instead, you must use the stop (play) option from the controller dialog box. It does not respond to the Command-G as listed if you wish to exit it. Instead, you must use the stop/pause button from the little grey controller dialog. This is not good because it bungs up your attempts to stop/pause the action. This is DUMB! Borborygmus &gt;:-(

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• No warning on upgrade cost

  aprillovesmacs--20084/12/2010

  Pros

  Cons

  Summary

  This review was originally posted on VersionTracker.com.<br />I paid for an upgrade to 4.1. One generally doesn't expect a charge half way though a version but there's another one for 4.5. What really p..... me off is no warning on the auto download that this is a paid upgrade. Had the choice been there I wouldn't have upgraded until I felt I needed to and I guess I would still be in the LQ Graphics loop. But the feeling I have is one of being gouged, so I'm trashing Photo to Movie.

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• Unbelievable crashbox

  Weaselboy3/31/2010

  Pros

  Cons

  Summary

  This review was originally posted on VersionTracker.com.<br />Besides not pointing out any feature additions, this is a $30 upgrade from the last version. Would have been nice if they mentioned that BEFORE I downloaded it. And what difference between the two. This is without a doubt, the buggiest POS ever released by LQ. I can't believe how many ways it will hang the Mac. My favorite is trying to run a PtM project made in v4.2.7. *BAM* Then there's the crashing Play button at the top. *BAM* Then there there's the cursor permanently attached to the GUI. *BAM* Then there's the inability to Quit...or the 5 minute wait til Force Quit takes effect. Holy Toledo, is this a bad build! Save your money and steer clear of this "upgrade" til LQ makes some SERIOUS coding changes. This is nowhere near ready for prime time.

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• Good product.

  jkcf7/28/2009

  Pros

  Complex effects

  Cons

  Complex operation.

  Summary

  A sofisticate produto to sofisticate job.

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• Stable useful program for creating captivating...

  levinedr10/29/2008

  Pros

  Cons

  Summary

  ...shows from photos<br />This review was originally posted on VersionTracker.com.<br />I've used this program to create slide shows (although they run more like movies) for special occasions. For my wife's 50th, I collected her old photos and our family photos and put together a great set of programs for her party. Late into the night, I put on a simple review of the best photos set to music and, honestly attendees, young and old, simply sat down and watched the program for quite a long time, laughing at times and clapping at others. It was really magical. The program is very simple to use and get great, professional results.

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• Stable useful program for creating captivating...

  levinedr10/29/2008

  Pros

  Cons

  Summary

  ...shows from photos<br />This review was originally posted on VersionTracker.com.<br />I've used this program to create slide shows (although they run more like movies) for special occasions. For my wife's 50th, I collected her old photos and our family photos and put together a great set of programs for her party. Late into the night, I put on a simple review of the best photos set to music and, honestly attendees, young and old, simply sat down and watched the program for quite a long time, laughing at times and clapping at others. It was really magical. The program is very simple to use and get great, professional results.

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