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Do you think video could kill the still camera industry?


Michael Ventura

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Quite a few misconceptions in that article, particularly the suggestion that you could have a studio flash synced to a video camera at 250 or 30 fps.

Even if it could recycle in 1/40 sec, which it can't, you could burn through a set of flashtubes in a couple of hours.

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I think there will still be a need for very high end still cameras. But regarding the sync with strobes, people would just use continuous light sources. I imagine that these new generation video/still cameras would be great for sports or news photography, as long as you can still get telephoto shots too.

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Well, Canon seem to be putting a lot of effort into their Cinema range and they haven't updated the 1Dx or responded with a high-megapixel DSLR.

 

At sports events many shooters effectively video the action at 10+fps drives or whatever. I would hate to have to do their post production!

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Purely still's camera's won't be around much longer, 8K video frames will be fine for most applications. Just video something for a few seconds and pick the best frame, from the resulting 2 or 3 hundred!

 

I find it difficult to select the best image from three or four stills of the same subject never mind from 200 - 300 from a video.

 

Allan

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I find sorting through half a dozen similars to be a daunting task.

 

 

Purely still's camera's won't be around much longer, 8K video frames will be fine for most applications. Just video something for a few seconds and pick the best frame, from the resulting 2 or 3 hundred!

 

I find it difficult to select the best image from three or four stills of the same subject never mind from 200 - 300 from a video.

 

Allan

 

 

I'm the same. I pretend the camera is loaded with film so I won't have to wade through dozens of similars when I get home. Whatever happened to HCB's "decisive moment" ?

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I find sorting through half a dozen similars to be a daunting task.

 

 

Purely still's camera's won't be around much longer, 8K video frames will be fine for most applications. Just video something for a few seconds and pick the best frame, from the resulting 2 or 3 hundred!

 

I find it difficult to select the best image from three or four stills of the same subject never mind from 200 - 300 from a video.

 

Allan

 

 

I'm the same. I pretend the camera is loaded with film so I won't have to wade through dozens of similars when I get home. Whatever happened to HCB's "decisive moment" ?

 

It falls between frame 203 and 204!

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I find sorting through half a dozen similars to be a daunting task.

 

 

Purely still's camera's won't be around much longer, 8K video frames will be fine for most applications. Just video something for a few seconds and pick the best frame, from the resulting 2 or 3 hundred!

 

I find it difficult to select the best image from three or four stills of the same subject never mind from 200 - 300 from a video.

 

Allan

 

 

I'm the same. I pretend the camera is loaded with film so I won't have to wade through dozens of similars when I get home. Whatever happened to HCB's "decisive moment" ?

 

It falls between frame 203 and 204!

 

 

That about sums it up. I guess it's fair to say that digital cameras have killed the decisive moment for most photographers. Too bad really since it's what still photography is/was all about IMO. I never liked motor drives for that reason.

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I find sorting through half a dozen similars to be a daunting task.

 

 

Purely still's camera's won't be around much longer, 8K video frames will be fine for most applications. Just video something for a few seconds and pick the best frame, from the resulting 2 or 3 hundred!

 

I find it difficult to select the best image from three or four stills of the same subject never mind from 200 - 300 from a video.

 

Allan

 

 

I'm the same. I pretend the camera is loaded with film so I won't have to wade through dozens of similars when I get home. Whatever happened to HCB's "decisive moment" ?

 

It falls between frame 203 and 204!

 

 

That about sums it up. I guess it's fair to say that digital cameras have killed the decisive moment for most photographers. Too bad really since it's what still photography is/was all about IMO. I never liked motor drives for that reason.

 

 

I agree. I shot sport professionallly but never machine-gunned it because I came from film background, it was not just the expensive but you only had 36 frames before you had to change the cassette. As a result I usually reckon to get the best image, the "decisisve moment" from the image I control - a single shot or the first in a sequence when I do occasionally shoot a sequence e.g. a crash.  In my film days I wanted fast motordrive not for sequences but to be ready sooner for the next shot at a moment of my choosing.

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Using the Nikon MD12 motor drive, I would have it on single frame and press the release to snap a stranger's picture . . . but I wouldn't lift my finger until I turned away, so they would not hear the sound of the motor advancing the film and know I had taken the shot. Maybe I could find employment teaching tricks with old equipment? 

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Using the Nikon MD12 motor drive, I would have it on single frame and press the release to snap a stranger's picture . . . but I wouldn't lift my finger until I turned away, so they would not hear the sound of the motor advancing the film and know I had taken the shot. Maybe I could find employment teaching tricks with old equipment?

 

I remember the MD12 drive very well. Great trick Edo!

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Back in the day..1980s!!!! A few publications I worked with paid me to photograph,get a screen grab of a tv show that would be airing live or the news. I did well with those shoots.

 

I was one of the still photographers for the Jerry Springer show for 19 years and before the show ended it's run in Chicago,they were able to grab stills from the video.

 

So,I have a travel tripod I may bring and eventually be getting another small system that would excel at that.

 

L

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The Jerry Spring Show . . . did you get combat pay for that, Linda?  B)

OMG! I was there shooting on the day the FIRST fight broke out. One of the body guards leap frogged over me just barely missing my head with his boot.That's what took that show national!

It was always really difficult for me doing the show(too many egos in a small amt of space but Jerry is a really nice guy;very smart too) but I stuck with it. When I do my next book I may go into detail about my time there.I wasn't staff,they were a client.

Yes,pay was decent for that time period however I've recently discovered a male friend that shot there when I didn't made more than I did for the same type of assignment. :-(

 

L

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I find sorting through half a dozen similars to be a daunting task.

 

 

Purely still's camera's won't be around much longer, 8K video frames will be fine for most applications. Just video something for a few seconds and pick the best frame, from the resulting 2 or 3 hundred!

 

I find it difficult to select the best image from three or four stills of the same subject never mind from 200 - 300 from a video.

 

Allan

 

 

I'm the same. I pretend the camera is loaded with film so I won't have to wade through dozens of similars when I get home. Whatever happened to HCB's "decisive moment" ?

 

John, ironically this Time.com article was sent to me, by a friend, this morning, about the return of HCB's "decisive moment"!  Well it is more about a book by that name, being released this December.

 

http://lightbox.time.com/2014/10/22/henri-cartier-bresson-decisive-moment-reprint/#1

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I find sorting through half a dozen similars to be a daunting task.

 

 

Purely still's camera's won't be around much longer, 8K video frames will be fine for most applications. Just video something for a few seconds and pick the best frame, from the resulting 2 or 3 hundred!

 

I find it difficult to select the best image from three or four stills of the same subject never mind from 200 - 300 from a video.

 

Allan

 

 

I'm the same. I pretend the camera is loaded with film so I won't have to wade through dozens of similars when I get home. Whatever happened to HCB's "decisive moment" ?

 

John, ironically this Time.com article was sent to me, by a friend, this morning, about the return of HCB's "decisive moment"!  Well it is more about a book by that name, being released this December.

 

http://lightbox.time.com/2014/10/22/henri-cartier-bresson-decisive-moment-reprint/#1

 

 

Interesting. I'll keep an eye open for it. Thanks.

 

I've yet to dabble in video-making, but it has always struck me as being very different from still photography.

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I haven't yet dabbled in the world of 4K video so my remarks are based my knowledge of 1080p.

 

The accepted norm is to shoot at 50fps if you are playing back at 25fps (or 60/30fps in the US etc.) This produces an inherent slight motion blur which makes the moving image easy on eye. If you shoot at higher frame rates and then remap the time frame to play back at normal speed, the resulting movie looks unnatural and sometimes even makes the viewer queasy.

 

I suspect the upshot of this is that you couldn't shoot video with the intention of routinely extracting individual frames for still images. Either the 50fps rate would mean the stills may not be pin sharp, or if the video is shot at a high speed which is better for stills, the footage may not be suitable for use in a video production.

 

I belieive the maximum frame rate for 4K is 120fps, and that I think would still be too slow a shutter speed for still images for stock use.

 

I think the worlds of still and video imagery will continue to require their own dedicated equipment to obtain really good results, even if each camera fas a facility of some kind to do both types.

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I think the worlds of still and video imagery will continue to require their own dedicated equipment to obtain really good results, even if each camera fas a facility of some kind to do both types.

 

Spot on Joseph.

 

Personally I have never taken video imagery nor wish to do so. Would prefer it if manufacturers of stills cameras would not keep adding video facility thus slightly reducing cost of stills equipment.

 

If I wanted to shoot video I would buy a high end video camera.

 

Allan

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