Creating video footage using Photographs

[newbe tech]

I have a JVC 30GB hard drive camcorder and I'd like to compile a series of photos into a video film.
I'm not sure how I can do this.
I have a tripod for the camcorder, but don't have a clue about how I could set up a photograph to fill the viewfinder, then switch out to the next photo and so on to make a film.
I've found that I don't like the photograph quality of this camcorder, the photos look sharp when you are taking them but when I print them out on my HP Photosmart printer they are grainy.
I have an Fujipix f50 digital camera that takes good pictures.
The photos are a mixture of Polaroid instamatic and other point and shoot cameras over the years.
It would seem I'd need some piece of equipment to hold the photographs, but don't know how I could switch the pictures without it appearing on the camcorder footage.
I'd appreciate your help.

[ZQX]

You're going about this the wrong way. You need to scan the photos onto your hard drive, do any touching up as required (Photoshop, whatever), then assemble them into a video sequence (with transitions etc, if you want) using a slideshow app such as DVDSlideshowGUI (my all-time favourite - and free!).

[2Bdecided]

Yes, scan them!

If you want something creative, then Sony Vegas (including the new-ish extremely cheap version) will let you zoom/pan/crop/slide photos, and use transitions between the photos, all with fairly little effort. The video output format can be almost anything you choose.

Most other NLEs offer similar features - even the free ones that come bundled with capture cards.

If you don't want that much control, I see other software advertised that looks like it might be good. I found DVDSlideshowGUI to be really hard work and wouldn't recommend it at all.

Cheers,
David.

[newbe tech]

Thank you both for you input, it helps a lot.
Would I find DVDslideshowGuI and Sony Vegas software on downloads.com or another site?
I have JVC Power Producer, Director and Windows Movie Maker but have not tried to scan pictures into them but have used them for importing video files. I liked Windows Movie Maker but had to put the files into an AVI movie to import them into WMM.
It can get complicated.
I appreciate your help. I was approaching it backwards!

[ZQX]

At least give DVDSlideshowGUI a try, I found it very easy to use. But of course software "ease of use" can be a subjective thing...

Just click on the links in the posts above, no need to go trawling downloads.com!

[tin2tin]

Here's a tutorial for DVD slideshow GUI:
http://download.videohelp.com/tin2tin/tutorials.html

[newbe tech]

Thanks again, I will check out DVDSlideshowGUI

[2Bdecided]

I have JVC Power Producer, Director and Windows Movie Maker but have not tried to scan pictures into them but have used them for importing video files. I liked Windows Movie Maker but had to put the files into an AVI movie to import them into WMM.

You scan pictures using a scanner. (!)

The software you use with the scanner is usually a photo editing package.

Video software has no place in this part of the process! You save the photos as jpegs (usually) from the photo editing software, and then load/import these into the video editing package or DVDslideshowGUI.

Hope this helps.

Cheers,
David.

[newbe tech]

Thanks again for your suggestions.