iPhone video to FCPX

Why is it that when I shoot horizontal video on my iPhone, when I import it into FCPX the video is vertical? I know that I can rotate and scale the video, but then I sacrifice quality. Thanks.

Welcome, Steve, to fcp.co

… noticed that on usage with FilmicPro either … so, depends on the app, you're using for recording: iOS own cam.app does deliver landscape.

… feedback to manufacturer?

Why should Rotating do scale or harm pic-quality??
When the rec-res was 1920x1080 all fine …

This can also happen if you rotate the camera after you start the recording. N

They do need to prevent people from accidentally recording vertical video one of these days...

But like Karsten Schluter mentioned, it won't harm your quality. If you record vertical video, it's now 1080x1920 instead of 1920x1080. But I know where you're getting confused.

By default, the Spatial Conform setting for the clip is set to 'Fit'. This tells FCPX to make sure that this image or video will at least fill the screen up vertically or horizontally, whichever comes first. That way you don't have to worry about placing a 1080p clip inside a 720p timeline, and have to worry about scaling it down. It'll do it for you.

However, it can become confusing in this instance. So by default, it's set to 'Fit', so it's scaling down your vertical video so that it is all properly displayed on the screen. If you change this setting from 'Fit' to 'None', you'll notice that the vertical video actually appears bigger, and has the top and bottom of the video cut off a bit. But now, you're actually seeing it at its full resolution.

NOW go and rotate 90 degrees or -90 degrees, and you'll see that it's at full scale and you haven't lost any quality!

Did my post help at all or are you still having the issue?

I actually just downloaded the ProMovie app and it seems to have fixed the issue. I can record in landscape, transfer to FCPX and the video remains in landscape and not portrait. So nothing needs to be scaled. If I record with the iPhone's app, it still doesn't transfer correctly to FCPX.

You can make a Timeline with custom settings to be vertical.

I cannot replicate this behavior 100%. Sometimes my ipHone movies come in correctly oriented, sometimes they do not. I have tried an older iPhone, too, running an older iOS version.
would be interesting to perform a set of rigorous tests but also tedious. But, sorry, my results are different than yours.

"I can record in landscape, transfer to FCPX and the video remains in landscape and not portrait."

When you go to record video on your iPhone before you hit the red record button, is the time code (00:00:00) on the top of the phone near the front facing camera on the phone? or is it along the long side of the phone?

If you start recording your video while it's in portrait mode, it doesn't matter if you rotate your phone after you hit record or not, your final video will be portrait. you need to rotate your phone into the landscape position first and then hit record once the screen adjusts all the icons to show that it is properly oriented. If it does not properly orient all the icons on the screen when you rotate it into the landscape position, you probably have screen lock turned on on your phone, locking it into the portrait mode.

Either way, when you bring your footage into fcpx and it's portrait mode, you can simply change the Spatial Conform setting to 'None' and then rotate your video 90 or -90 degrees to make it fit perfectly.

There is no need for any third party programs or apps for this to work for you. Let me know if any of that helps. I wanna make sure i get you to be able to edit your iPhone footage in FCPX easily without having to use any third party programs.

Brady, ProMovie is an iPhone app which let's you adjust a lot of settings manually. Quite like Filmic. Nothing bad about using it if it saves you from rotating/adjusting many clips in FCPX.

ah i see. i thought he was just using a third party app to fix his orientation issue.

regardless, if he is having a fundamental problem to where he doesn't understand the basics of recording footage on his phone, i want to try and help resolve that issue. It does sound like he's just using that app purely to make his videos in landscape mode instead of portrait mode. If that's the case, i want to help him understand that he's either got 'rotation lock' turned on on his phone, or he is starting to record his videos in portrait mode, then rotating the phone after he hits record. i just want to help make sure he understands the basics and not get lost in what he's doing.

It's always better to get the right result by understanding what you're doing

That seemed to work. I must have been hitting record before the phone was fully rotated. And yes, I am also using ProMovie for the capabilities of controlling exposure, white balance, etc. Thanks for the help on this one!