Best format for making stills from HDV frames in FCP at DVinfo.net

Elmer Lang · October 10th, 2007, 08:34 AM

What would be the best format in FCP to create stills from HDV frames to burn a cd so a friend can then print them at a copy shop? PNG? JPEG? Photoshop?

Eric Dyer · October 11th, 2007, 12:26 AM

I always export as Tiff, it's loss-less. Jpeg is re-compressing the frame. If you post-edit in photoshop then save it as a PSD.

*e

Martin Pauly · October 11th, 2007, 08:22 AM

PNG seems to be the format of choice for lossless (yet effective) compression of graphics. It is widely supported by other software. JPEG leaves compression artifacts, but can yield smaller file sizes than PNG. I'd go for PNG unless you have good reasons to use another format.

See this link for some information regarding PNG vs. TIFF:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PNG#Comparison_with_TIFF

- Martin

Elmer Lang · October 12th, 2007, 06:09 PM

Thanks for the info!

In the options window for PNG, are Best Depth and Best (for filter) the way to go or is Millions of colors or another a better choice.

And when I open the frames in Photoshop they're always 4:3 and I change image size to reflect 16:9, should I be doing that another way.

One problem with Photoshop is its Brightness/contrast filter doesn't do as good a job as FCP, oddly enough, but FCP's changes don't transfer to Photoshop.

Martin Pauly · October 13th, 2007, 08:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Elmer Lang

And when I open the frames in Photoshop they're always 4:3 and I change image size to reflect 16:9, should I be doing that another way.

This one I can answer: rather than changing the image size (as in "changing the number of pixels"), you can also change the pixel aspect ratio. HDV pixels are non-square. Photoshop comes with presets, available when you create a new image, for anaorphic DV and HDV.

This will change the preview to the correct aspect ratio without actually changing the internal representation of the image. The result can sometimes look a little strange (poor quality) - at least in my CS2 copy of Photoshop - but this is purely the preview of non-square pixels on a display that has square pixels.

Actually, now that I read your original post again, maybe I should take back what I just said. HDV pixel aspect ratio would be good if you intend to use the image for video in FCP, but it sounds like you are going the other way. So resizing is probably the way to go.

- Martin

October 10th, 2007, 08:34 AM	#1
Elmer Lang Regular Crew Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: NY, NY Posts: 319	Best format for making stills from HDV frames in FCP What would be the best format in FCP to create stills from HDV frames to burn a cd so a friend can then print them at a copy shop? PNG? JPEG? Photoshop?

October 11th, 2007, 08:22 AM	#3
Martin Pauly Major Player Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: Cedar Rapids, IA Posts: 563	PNG seems to be the format of choice for lossless (yet effective) compression of graphics. It is widely supported by other software. JPEG leaves compression artifacts, but can yield smaller file sizes than PNG. I'd go for PNG unless you have good reasons to use another format. See this link for some information regarding PNG vs. TIFF: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PNG#Comparison_with_TIFF - Martin __________________ Martin Pauly

October 11th, 2007, 12:26 AM	#2
Eric Dyer Regular Crew Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: CA Posts: 55	I always export as Tiff, it's loss-less. Jpeg is re-compressing the frame. If you post-edit in photoshop then save it as a PSD. *e

October 12th, 2007, 06:09 PM	#4
Elmer Lang Regular Crew Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: NY, NY Posts: 319	Thanks for the info! In the options window for PNG, are Best Depth and Best (for filter) the way to go or is Millions of colors or another a better choice. And when I open the frames in Photoshop they're always 4:3 and I change image size to reflect 16:9, should I be doing that another way. One problem with Photoshop is its Brightness/contrast filter doesn't do as good a job as FCP, oddly enough, but FCP's changes don't transfer to Photoshop.