I am looking to get back into stop motion animation and wanted a nice software for it.  I have already seen dragon frame, but it seemed on the expensive side and a bit to much for what I needed.  I would just like a software that will convert a bunch of images into a movie so that I can add sound, export it, and make it go viral.

 

Thanks in advance!

Sounds like a pretty generic movie encoder. Try any of mencoder, ffmpeg, imagemagic.

Hey i just got back in stop motion 1 year ago after 10 year of being out of shape and found great software for low cost (49.99 and can try out the demo before buy it) and act like pro to start with. I recommend to use the Apple device if possible. here link of software. http://boinx.com/istopmotion/mac/ I made about 25 1-3 min length stop motion with it in 1 year and only post 10 of it on my yourtube.com, worth a software to try out. :-)

I'm a full time editor and I own both iStop Motion and Dragon Frame.  The features of Dragon Frame are absolutely killer and worth the price to help make high quality stop-motion videos.  Dragon Frame offers a wealth of camera support options and has some incredibly useful animation features that can save you from headache while animating.  

 

However, iStop Motion seems like more appropriate software for your basic animation needs.  iStop Motion is simpler and more straightforward, but in turn has less options and has a more limited collection of supported cameras.  Start with iStop Motion and see if animating is your bread and butter, if it is, you'll want to upgrade to Dragon Frame at some point...Just my two cents