Screenshots of 4k footage

[kcoleman805]

A friend of mine told me that in order to get better still pictures with the drone, you take a 5-10 second video of the object you are trying to photograph and then take a screenshot from that video to get a better picture than just taking the picture from the drone.

Has anyone tried this? Is it true? If yes, how do you do it? What video settings are best to get the best available screenshots?

 

[HiVac]

My opinion...this would be incorrect:

The Mavic has a 12.35 million "effective" pixel camera...actually 12.7 physical pixels.

The best you'll get out of a 4K "screen shot" will be 3840 x 2160 = 8.3 million pixels.....

 

[ed1nh0]

There are two sides of this issue.
Taking a screenshot is limited to the viewport size.
Let's suppose we are watching a 4k video in a full hd laptop screen. The image size will be 1920x1080. If we are watching in fullscreen mode.

Now, if you take out a frame from the video you'll get the 3840x2160 pixels image, like @HiVac well said.

 

[Annevanzwol]

Hardly take any pictures anymore (unless long exposure night shooting). Just grab the frames I like from my movie clips. Use VLC player (freeware) for that. You can go through the frames one by one with 'e'. Use Microsoft ICE (freeware) to covert panning shots to panorama's. See examples.

 

[ed1nh0]

Awesome photos! Like a boss!

 

[kcoleman805]

View attachment 11523 View attachment 11524 View attachment 11525 View attachment 11526 Hardly take any pictures anymore (unless long exposure night shooting). Just grab the frames I like from my movie clips. Use VLC player (freeware) for that. You can go through the frames one by one with 'e'. Use Microsoft ICE (freeware) to covert panning shots to panorama's. See examples.

Thanks so much for your input. Once you have found the frame you want using VLC then how do you capture it into a picture?

 

[YngveN]

Shift + s

 

[kcoleman805]

Okay I am trying to do as you said using VLC on the Mac and the pics still don't come out that good. What could I be doing wrong? Does it have to do with settings that you use when taking the video? What color are you using? D-Cinelike or something else?

 

[Annevanzwol]

What do you mean with 'not that good'? The resolution? The colours?

BTW did not know about the shift s shortcut. I do right mouse click -> video -> take screen. Not sure about the last one as I am currently not behind my computer.

 

[Annevanzwol]

After trying some photo editing programs I found that the auto color correction of Irfanview (freeware) often yields good results. Also saving the file (highest quality) lowers the file size from around 16mb to around 5mb

 

[Peel]

It depends on how you're set up to take video. I tend to shoot 4k 25p with a 180° shutter in order to get a cinematic effect. This is achieved by introducing motion blur into every frame. When playing back video this way it gives it a buttery smooth look, like a movie. But this doesn't lend well for grabbing frames for stills. the motion blur that is desired in the video becomes just blur in the still image. In order to film video for stills, you have to shoot at a high frame rate so that every frame is as crisp as possible. But when playing back the video itself it will look choppy, especially if the Mavic is low or moving fast.
So two different set-ups for filming vs photographing, both with video. Unfortunately this doesn't lend to a single video that can be used for both. (note there are some methods around this, such as doing motion analysis in post and adding synthesized motion blur. However the software that can do this convincingly isn't cheap, and the required processing power/time is high).

 

[kcoleman805]

It depends on how you're set up to take video. I tend to shoot 4k 25p with a 180° shutter in order to get a cinematic effect. This is achieved by introducing motion blur into every frame. When playing back video this way it gives it a buttery smooth look, like a movie. But this doesn't lend well for grabbing frames for stills. the motion blur that is desired in the video becomes just blur in the still image. In order to film video for stills, you have to shoot at a high frame rate so that every frame is as crisp as possible. But when playing back the video itself it will look choppy, especially if the Mavic is low or moving fast.
So two different set-ups for filming vs photographing, both with video. Unfortunately this doesn't lend to a single video that can be used for both. (note there are some methods around this, such as doing motion analysis in post and adding synthesized motion blur. However the software that can do this convincingly isn't cheap, and the required processing power/time is high).

So what video settings would you recommend for these use of taking decent screen grabs?

 

[Peel]

So what video settings would you recommend for these use of taking decent screen grabs?

First, take off the ND filter if all you want are still images from your footage. In general go for 100 ISO and the highest shutter speed you can get. If there's any movement (either Mavic or subject) I wouldn't shoot any slower than 1/250th sec. The more movement the faster you want your shutter speed, but since we can't adjust the aperture on the Mavic, that leaves us with only the ISO to compensate. Under no circumstances would I suggest an ISO higher than 400, as the noise becomes obvious.

 

[kcoleman805]

First, take off the ND filter if all you want are still images from your footage. In general go for 100 ISO and the highest shutter speed you can get. If there's any movement (either Mavic or subject) I wouldn't shoot any slower than 1/250th sec. The more movement the faster you want your shutter speed, but since we can't adjust the aperture on the Mavic, that leaves us with only the ISO to compensate. Under no circumstances would I suggest an ISO higher than 400, as the noise becomes obvious.

Much appreciated.

 

[Fedya]

Video is best but pictures are excellent.

 

[Lelantos]

I tend to shoot 4k 25p with a 180° shutter...

What is 180 degree shutter? Do you mean 1/180 s?

 

[ed1nh0]

What is 180 degree shutter? Do you mean 1/180 s?

I also asked myself that, so I googled it. Take a look this article how interesting it is!

Shutter Angles & Creative Control

Living and learning.

 

[Lelantos]

I also asked myself that, so I googled it. Take a look this article how interesting it is!

Shutter Angles & Creative Control

Thanks! It makes sense. I wonder how many people use the degree symbol without knowing exactly what it means.

 

[GlenT]

What is 180 degree shutter? Do you mean 1/180 s?

It's another (albeit older) way of stating a shutter speed which is twice the frame rate.
One frame is 360° therefore a 180° shutter is twice the frame rate.

 

[Fedya]

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