Comments on: One Step Closer l AP moves HD Frame Grabs

By: richard

richard — Thu, 22 Feb 2007 22:44:30 +0000

from our experience you can pump out the stills from the video in about the same time you can with a still camera. Maybe 10 minutes more for import of tape, if you have a fast computer. It’s the video production time-creating something GOOD for the web that takes time, with LOTS of practice you can put something together in about an hour. I shot and edited the piece http://www.mercurynewsphoto.com/2007/02/07/the-coming-storm/
in two hours. Shooting time and production time and stills for the paper.

-r

By: dave card

dave card — Thu, 22 Feb 2007 18:40:47 +0000

hi, the newspaper i work for is going to be required us to shoot hd video for the web, and stills for the newspaper at the same time. how much more time is going to be required to do this?
We are hitting and running at everts and cramming in as much as we can now, i’m wonderiing how much extra time is going to be required to do the shooting and the posting to the web… thanks
Dave

By: Chuck Fadely

Chuck Fadely — Wed, 14 Feb 2007 14:58:18 +0000

We too do frame grabs from HDV — it makes about a 6 meg file and is somewhere between the old Canon D2000 and the Canon 1D in image quality. It looks great for newsprint full frame but starts to fall apart with cropping. It will easily run full broadsheet wide without cropping.

The Red camera is truly amazing but won’t be $17,000 — that’s the barebones body alone. It will probably be $50-100k with lenses, power, audio, and the monster computer systems you’ll need to capture and edit it. Imagine a Canon 1DS at 60 frames a second!

By: richard

richard — Wed, 14 Feb 2007 04:17:44 +0000

we’ve already printed 8-12 column frame grabs from the Sony Z1U.

By: Curtis Clegg

Curtis Clegg — Wed, 14 Feb 2007 02:55:59 +0000

Sion you can try this link to view Evan's video. A five column frame grab? Wow that makes video technology even more tempting. What is your best guess about how many columns you could fill with a frame grab from HDV (as in the upcoming Canon HV-20)?

By: Sion Touhig

Sion Touhig — Tue, 13 Feb 2007 09:21:13 +0000

Hiya,

The new Red HD camera is supposed to be out soon – its imaging chip is about the same size as a Canon 1Ds, so framegrabs from that will easily be good enough for any paper and most magazines.

The downside is it’s 17 thousand bucks, but how much are two SLR’s and an HDV cam gonna cost eh? Interestingly enough, the first lens they’ve made for the Red Cam is a 300mm 2.8…so watching how the next Olympics gets covered will be interesting.

Evan, I”ve tried to find your video – would you have a URL if its still up on the web? I was very interested in you editing your stuff to a wire service deadline. I’m still pretty slow when it comes to the edit stage so any tips for speeding the whole process up? Did you send out the frame grabs first, then edit the video?

By: Evan Vucci

Evan Vucci — Mon, 12 Feb 2007 20:35:24 +0000

I used the Canon Xh-A1 HD camera and edited in final cut.

By: richard

richard — Mon, 12 Feb 2007 16:28:52 +0000

i agree, believe me, i am not all about video. but as a daily photojournalist, working for an organization that is asking me to produce video content for the web and stills for the paper at the same time, hd video is a great ‘tool’ for work. we pull frame grabs everyday for the merc, its become very commonplace for us to see a five column hd frame grab on the front page. and then refer to a video we posted on the net. we go out with just one tool, not trying to juggle and dv camera and an SLR, trying to figure out which to use at which time. it’s just a tool or a new brush in the set. i just know that one day we will be shooting with some crazy hydrid video/still camera that we can’t even imagine yet. and for one, i hope it’s an SLR that does video!

By: Zach Wise

Zach Wise — Mon, 12 Feb 2007 14:27:15 +0000

I still want a SLR that does video.

By: Todd Mizener

Todd Mizener — Mon, 12 Feb 2007 06:43:14 +0000

What brand and model camera you were using on the assignment from which you pulled the still images from?

By: Patrick Yen

Patrick Yen — Sun, 11 Feb 2007 21:29:19 +0000

Just make sure you shoot in progressive mode if you plan to pull stills.

Interlaced (regular) video is usually junk for pullin’ stills.

It dials down the res on many video cameras,
but is definitely worth it if you want the sharpest image. Especially if you’re shooting sports or high motion.

However, if your subject isn’t moving
and you need the higher resolution,
interlaced can work I suppose.

p.money

By: Keith W. Jenkins

Keith W. Jenkins — Sun, 11 Feb 2007 16:09:47 +0000

This post reminds me of the great William Gibson quote, “The future is here, its just not evenly distributed yet.”
Where we are going to end up may still be a mystery, but it is clear that the path is going to take us through video-land. What will we choose to do once we get there?