Quality of a freeze frame JPEG

[Silkyjr]

I'm being asked to capture video and stills at press events. There is a small budget, so I'm a one-man band. I'm shooting on either a Sony A7iii or A7s3. Will a JPEG export form FCPX be suitable for printing 8x10s? 

 

Thanks in advance for the help.

[FunWithCameras]

Bear in mind that when you are shooting video, it's normal to use a shutter speed that is roughly half the frame rate - so shooting at 30fps you will have a shutter speed of 1/60. Now ask yourself - would you shoot an 8x10 at 1/60? I wouldn't, because people move, even if they are posing for a photo - they blink, they move their hands, they turn to see who made a noise, ... If you do get them to hold still for 1/60, they look stiff.

Stills extracted from video are often blurred on anything moving, which makes the video look natural. Although the "freeze frame" is blurred, the video looks sharp - one of the artefacts of how our vision works.

You want to shoot stills at a significantly faster shutter speed, but trying to do that with video makes the video look choppy.

I'd recommend not trying to get your stills from video. Unless you plan to shoot, say, 4k/120, but then you are going to chew through memory cards...

I think you are better off shooting stills with one camera (A7III is good) and video with another (A7SIII is good), or at least shoot stills separately - capture some stills of the speaker before or after shooting video of them speaking if you can't use a tripod, or shoot the video from a tripod, and shoot stills handheld.

[Silkyjr]

34 minutes ago, FunWithCameras said:

Bear in mind that when you are shooting video, it's normal to use a shutter speed that is roughly half the frame rate - so shooting at 30fps you will have a shutter speed of 1/60. Now ask yourself - would you shoot an 8x10 at 1/60? I wouldn't, because people move, even if they are posing for a photo - they blink, they move their hands, they turn to see who made a noise, ... If you do get them to hold still for 1/60, they look stiff.

Stills extracted from video are often blurred on anything moving, which makes the video look natural. Although the "freeze frame" is blurred, the video looks sharp - one of the artefacts of how our vision works.

You want to shoot stills at a significantly faster shutter speed, but trying to do that with video makes the video look choppy.

I'd recommend not trying to get your stills from video. Unless you plan to shoot, say, 4k/120, but then you are going to chew through memory cards...

I think you are better off shooting stills with one camera (A7III is good) and video with another (A7SIII is good), or at least shoot stills separately - capture some stills of the speaker before or after shooting video of them speaking if you can't use a tripod, or shoot the video from a tripod, and shoot stills handheld.

That is very good information. Thank you for the response. I will advise the client of the issues that can occur with one person only and advise two are needed.

[DenverSteve]

What you've been given is true. However, many people extract stills from their video and the results can be indistingushable from normal stills.  It will, of course, take you more time to glean clean, sharp stills as (as stated above) you're focus while shooting video can be panning, zooming and moving with your subject. Consequently, you and your subject will not be optimized for still extraction.  It is doable, and many do.  You can at times shoot stills while shooting video - so check with your instruction manual. 

My advice is to go out today, tomorrow.... shoot with this camera, in a situation similar to what you will be shooting, and do this yourself.  No one here knows your video capability.  Some people can't hold, or control, a camera to save their lives so stills from that will be next to impossible.  If you are an trained, experienced cinematographer with a properly sturdy tripod and pan-tilt head, you may be so still that most frames could be used for stills.  Only YOU control your capability with that camera/lens combination. It is normal to test your lens, cameras, lighting, batteries, tripods, memory cards.... prior to every shoot to make sure the equipment is ready for that shoot.  So, while you're testing your gear, your set up and evaluating your lighting needs for the specific venue, do many practice scenes and practice (means become completely proficient with) your still mining from your shot video.  What I, or others, can do will be vastly than what you are able to do. 

Edited April 3, 2023 by DenverSteve

[Silkyjr]

Well said. Thank you for the response.

[TheJungleExplorer]

Video is a lot more forgiving than photos.  People will watch the video a few times, they will hang the photos on their walls for the rest of their life.  Here is what I do at weddings.  I use my best camera to take photos.  Then I use a series of strategically placed B-roll cameras to capture the ceremony in 4K.  Here is the trick with 4K.  You can get four HD (1920 x 1080) crops out of a single 4K.  Now here comes the cool part.  You can crop down to HD, and then use a motion filter to follow the subject within the 4K frame.  The effect is that it looks like the camera was being manned and was following the subject, but the truth is, you were just moving the crop within the boundary of the 4K frame.  The result is the most wonderful buttery smooth, perfectly centered, and timed, video pan you can ever dream of with no rolling shutter effect that you would normally get if you panning the camera live.  Another great thing about shooting 4K, you can transform it into a full-quality HD Vertical video that looks like it was shot on a phone. Another benefit of doing this is that you get a zoomed-in image without losing any quality.  These are perfect for uploading to TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook Reels. No one will ever know they were not shot on a smartphone, except that they look a thousand times better. 

If I am allowed to post links to YouTube videos, I could show you what I am talking about.