Grabbing Stills While in Video Mode at DVinfo.net

Edward Mendoza · October 6th, 2011, 09:49 PM

So I may be extremely late on this one. If I am, I'm sorry but I thought it was sooo neat to find this out this evening.

So I wanted to take a still picture of the front of our house where my daughter and I decorated this evening for Halloween. I was using my 60D in still mode with a 50mm 1.8 and was hoping I'd be able to stay still enough to get a nice clean picture of the lit-up decorations. As expected, shutter was open too long and my slight movements produced a blurry pic (Pic 1). So I put it in video mode to shoot a little video of it when I decided to grab a still while in video mode. EUREKA! (Pic 2) I got my shot and it was nice and clean; it literally IS a still off the video. All this time I thought it would revert back to still mode to grab the shot.

So my mind went running through the possibilities: wide shots of a low-lit wedding dance or reception, extremely dark areas with specific lit-up areas--wedding cake, water fountain. Obviously there's no doing without a Speedlight in a lot of situations, but this is a nice solution for certain instances.

Murray Christian · October 7th, 2011, 02:57 AM

If you set the shutter speed etc to the same as that of the video you would have got the same result, in the larger format to boot. You might even find that a slightly slower shutter speed than video mode can manage (but faster than the one whatever automatic mode you were using has chosen here) is ok to deal with hand held.

Kin Lau · October 7th, 2011, 12:47 PM

Just remember that there will be a 1 sec gap in your video if you do this.

The same can also be done in LiveView, which is what you wanted to begin with.

Pat Flores · October 10th, 2011, 07:53 PM

I think he meant he grabbed the still shot AFTER....

there are programs that can break down a shot into frames...

its like shooting 24fps but the downfall is shooting only at 2mp instead of the full 18...

Murray Christian · October 11th, 2011, 11:11 AM

Well, the same applies surely? I might have sounded a bit curt and dismissive and that wasn't the idea, but there's no exposure or stability magic to video mode. If video mode can do it for a still, stills mode can certainly do it too.
The former of those shots is notably brighter than the latter. I would suggest shutter speed is where the difference is.

October 6th, 2011, 09:49 PM	#1
Edward Mendoza Regular Crew Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: San Antonio TX Posts: 157	Grabbing Stills While in Video Mode So I may be extremely late on this one. If I am, I'm sorry but I thought it was sooo neat to find this out this evening. So I wanted to take a still picture of the front of our house where my daughter and I decorated this evening for Halloween. I was using my 60D in still mode with a 50mm 1.8 and was hoping I'd be able to stay still enough to get a nice clean picture of the lit-up decorations. As expected, shutter was open too long and my slight movements produced a blurry pic (Pic 1). So I put it in video mode to shoot a little video of it when I decided to grab a still while in video mode. EUREKA! (Pic 2) I got my shot and it was nice and clean; it literally IS a still off the video. All this time I thought it would revert back to still mode to grab the shot. So my mind went running through the possibilities: wide shots of a low-lit wedding dance or reception, extremely dark areas with specific lit-up areas--wedding cake, water fountain. Obviously there's no doing without a Speedlight in a lot of situations, but this is a nice solution for certain instances. Attached Thumbnails __________________ Edward Mendoza, Videographer/Editor, TEXAS VIDEO PRODUCTION www.texasvideoproduction.us

October 7th, 2011, 02:57 AM	#2
Murray Christian Major Player Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Perth, Australia Posts: 240	Re: Grabbing Stills While in Video Mode If you set the shutter speed etc to the same as that of the video you would have got the same result, in the larger format to boot. You might even find that a slightly slower shutter speed than video mode can manage (but faster than the one whatever automatic mode you were using has chosen here) is ok to deal with hand held.

October 7th, 2011, 12:47 PM	#3
Kin Lau Major Player Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Ottawa, ON Posts: 385	Re: Grabbing Stills While in Video Mode Just remember that there will be a 1 sec gap in your video if you do this. The same can also be done in LiveView, which is what you wanted to begin with.

October 10th, 2011, 07:53 PM	#4
Pat Flores Regular Crew Join Date: Jun 2011 Location: North Hollywood, CA Posts: 27	Re: Grabbing Stills While in Video Mode I think he meant he grabbed the still shot AFTER.... there are programs that can break down a shot into frames... its like shooting 24fps but the downfall is shooting only at 2mp instead of the full 18...

October 11th, 2011, 11:11 AM	#5
Murray Christian Major Player Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Perth, Australia Posts: 240	Re: Grabbing Stills While in Video Mode Well, the same applies surely? I might have sounded a bit curt and dismissive and that wasn't the idea, but there's no exposure or stability magic to video mode. If video mode can do it for a still, stills mode can certainly do it too. The former of those shots is notably brighter than the latter. I would suggest shutter speed is where the difference is.