Canon Vixia HF M500 - Videos no longer show up in Apple Photos?

[sheahuston]

I have been using this Canon camcorder for 7-8 years and uploading my HD videos to my Apple iMac just fine.  I went to upload videos today and they won't show up anymore.?  Only photos show up.  My iMac is on MacOS Monterey v 12.4.  I tried uploading new software to the camera but the Canon site says that's not necessary.  I called Apple and they said it's a Canon issue.  Maddening!  My 10 minute project has turned into hours of troubleshooting to no avail.

Can anyone help??  

[sheahuston]

And for whatever reason, my videos show up just fine in iMovie.  The issue appears to be something with Photos.

[Nick2020]

Hi sheahuston,

Thanks for checking in with us.

If the videos are showing up in iMovie, then that does suggest the issues is program-specific. Newer versions of the Photos app have prioritized photos over videos.

In addition to iMovie, you may wish to look into programs like Final Cut X or Adobe Premiere and Bridge to edit and organize your video clips. Your local Apple store or electronics dealer might have additional software options for you.

[sheahuston]

Thanks Nick.  I’m confused.  I was on the phone with Apple Support and they indicated Photos is the app for everything - photos and videos.  Has that changed?  Years ago I was told to stop uploading video to iMovie and start uploading them to Photos.  And I was told to port all videos in iMovie over to Photos.  So which is it?  Should I not even be using iMovie?  Confused as to why Apple would require a 3rd party app.  I’m just confused!  : )

Thanks so much for any clarification! 

[rs-eos]

Unfortunately video has become quite complicated over the years.  Originally, all of Apple's software was 32-bit only.  During that time, they shipped with an older version of QuickTime Player that could work with many different types of video files.  After the transition to 64-bit was complete, the newer QuickTime Player application didn't work with some older formats.

My guess is that the underlying software to work with such formats also affected the Photos app; it most likely will work now with only the most common formats.  Whereas dedicated video software (e.g. iMovie, Final Cut Pro) would add on additional video formats that can be worked with.

One possible workaround is to first import your video clips into iMovie, then export them.  Then see if you can import those new video files into Photos.

[sheahuston]

Very helpful thanks Ricky!  At least I know I’m not going crazy : )

I’m going to do as you suggested, upload everything into iMovie (at least it will be on my iMac and backed up then) and then try to convert to Photos.  Or, why even convert all video to Photos?  Would you ever recommend just using iMovie as the application to manage these videos moving forward?

[rs-eos]

Using iMovie to be your catalog of videos seems to be a good plan.  I use Final Cut Pro myself and iMovie should have similar cataloging functions.