How can I create a video file from a series of images/photos on Android? Can this be done with the current SDK? or do I need a codec library?
ffmpeg
is your rescue ranger. You can download the FFMPEG port for android. Refer to the question FFmpeg on Android for more details.
The port supports almost everything that you'll ever need, including the formats - input image formats being GIF, JPG, PNG, BMP etc and output video formats being AVI, MP4 (containers) with a lot of codecs.