Seeking recommendations for video editing software

[Walt34]

While I've been somewhat active with still photography in the past, I have done nothing with video. I don't want to do anything real fancy, just the basics, I have no delusions of being another Cecil B. DeMille. For example, yesterday I recorded a few two or three minute videos taken from a radio control airplane and I'd like to be able to subtract parts that are boring and add some music.

There are lots of these on youtube (search for "R/C FPV").

Oh yeah, it's always nice if the software is free/minimal cost. Some members here have posted neat videos that they made and now I'm wondering how they did it and with what software. While I do have MS Movie Maker (came with Win 10 I think) I suspect that it isn't terrific, or maybe it is for what I want to do.

Recommendations?

 

[Cessna152]

I was using MS Movie Maker (MM) on Windows 7 and would have continued to use it except that I had some video I wanted to edit that was in a newer video format that MM couldn't handle. So I went looking for a way to convert that video to a format that MM could handle and ended up buying a new video editor called VideoPad by NCH Software. (That vendor also sells a video format converter which I also bought but haven't had to use.) There is a limited functionality version for free for non-commercial use, but I opted to pay for the Master version.

VideoPad has more features than MM and therefore potentially more effort to learn, but so far I've been able to do what I want with minimal stumbles.

All that said, take a stab at learning and using MM because the concepts are probably similar in other video editors - and you should be able to do what you want with it so long as it accepts the video formats you feed it.

Below is a video I created using MM - it is really just a slide show with music. I created it by dropping still image files into a timeline. I could have just as easily laid down a track of videos with portions edited - or displayed a mixed sequence of stills and videos.

 

[Walt34]

Thanks for the reply, I'll continue on the learning curve with Movie Maker until it won't do what I want then look at videopad.

 

[Sojourner]

I've heard really good things about DaVinci Resolve, a free video editor that's pretty powerful. If you've ever used Adobe Premiere, it's supposed to be a fairly good substitute for that. This is the one I'd use if I wanted to go beyond the very basics of video editing.

https://www.blackmagicdesign.com/products/davinciresolve

 

[mountainsoft]

It's not free but I am happy with Power Director 16. Probably overkill for simple cuts, but it works well if you start getting more involved in video work.

 

[Freedom56]

While I've been somewhat active with still photography in the past, I have done nothing with video. I don't want to do anything real fancy, just the basics, I have no delusions of being another Cecil B. DeMille. For example, yesterday I recorded a few two or three minute videos taken from a radio control airplane and I'd like to be able to subtract parts that are boring and add some music.

There are lots of these on youtube (search for "R/C FPV").

Oh yeah, it's always nice if the software is free/minimal cost. Some members here have posted neat videos that they made and now I'm wondering how they did it and with what software. While I do have MS Movie Maker (came with Win 10 I think) I suspect that it isn't terrific, or maybe it is for what I want to do.

Recommendations?

I use Vegas Pro 14 for video editing. I have been using Vegas Pro since version 5. It does a great job with very professional results. I previously used Adobe Premiere pro but the early version were too unstable and too slow for me. After I switched, I never looked back. They have a low cost version called Vegas Movie Studio Platinum 14 for about $50.

https://www.vegascreativesoftware.c...-movie-studio/product-comparison/#productMenu

You can probably find it for less on Ebay.

Whatever you choose just keep in mind that you need a high performance PC and graphics card if you want to shoot and edit 4K video. If you are shooting just HD video or lower resolution, Vegas movie studio will do the job.