via a SportsShooter.com post:
"This past weekend I shot the anti-war protests in DC with my HD video camera. It marked the first time that AP has moved frame grabs on the wire from a still photographers video camera. After moving still photos (frame grabs) to the wire-on deadline- I cut a video piece for our online video network (also on deadline).
The package that ran on websites like Yahoo, AOL, etc… featured the frame grabs from my camera, the video I cut, and the text from the AP story all on the same page.
The video and photos are far from groundbreaking, and we're still just experimenting. But, the technology in the HD cameras has finally reached the quality that is required for dual use. I spent a week in Dallas with David Leeson and the Dallas Morning News staff and they are doing some great journalism with this.
So the point of this rambling email is doomsday isn't here. The still photographer isn't dead. But this is a technology that has arrived to the point where a company like AP is checking it out. I'm not the right person to pontificate about the future of photography. There are way smarter people and better photographers to do that. But I will say that this is at the very least a tool that still photographers should consider learning. It may be coming more quickly then anticipated. And if I were a student- I would jump on this ASAP.
You can check out the frame grabs on my SS page.
Evan Vucci: Photographer: The Associated Press"
Reprinted with permission.
This post reminds me of the great William Gibson quote, “The future is here, its just not evenly distributed yet.”
Where we are going to end up may still be a mystery, but it is clear that the path is going to take us through video-land. What will we choose to do once we get there?
Just make sure you shoot in progressive mode if you plan to pull stills.
Interlaced (regular) video is usually junk for pullin’ stills.
It dials down the res on many video cameras,
but is definitely worth it if you want the sharpest image. Especially if you’re shooting sports or high motion.
However, if your subject isn’t moving
and you need the higher resolution,
interlaced can work I suppose.
p.money
What brand and model camera you were using on the assignment from which you pulled the still images from?
I still want a SLR that does video.
i agree, believe me, i am not all about video. but as a daily photojournalist, working for an organization that is asking me to produce video content for the web and stills for the paper at the same time, hd video is a great ‘tool’ for work. we pull frame grabs everyday for the merc, its become very commonplace for us to see a five column hd frame grab on the front page. and then refer to a video we posted on the net. we go out with just one tool, not trying to juggle and dv camera and an SLR, trying to figure out which to use at which time. it’s just a tool or a new brush in the set. i just know that one day we will be shooting with some crazy hydrid video/still camera that we can’t even imagine yet. and for one, i hope it’s an SLR that does video!
I used the Canon Xh-A1 HD camera and edited in final cut.
Hiya,
The new Red HD camera is supposed to be out soon – its imaging chip is about the same size as a Canon 1Ds, so framegrabs from that will easily be good enough for any paper and most magazines.
The downside is it’s 17 thousand bucks, but how much are two SLR’s and an HDV cam gonna cost eh? Interestingly enough, the first lens they’ve made for the Red Cam is a 300mm 2.8…so watching how the next Olympics gets covered will be interesting.
Evan, I”ve tried to find your video – would you have a URL if its still up on the web? I was very interested in you editing your stuff to a wire service deadline. I’m still pretty slow when it comes to the edit stage so any tips for speeding the whole process up? Did you send out the frame grabs first, then edit the video?
Sion you can try this link to view Evan’s video.
A five column frame grab? Wow that makes video technology even more tempting. What is your best guess about how many columns you could fill with a frame grab from HDV (as in the upcoming Canon HV-20)?
we’ve already printed 8-12 column frame grabs from the Sony Z1U.
We too do frame grabs from HDV — it makes about a 6 meg file and is somewhere between the old Canon D2000 and the Canon 1D in image quality. It looks great for newsprint full frame but starts to fall apart with cropping. It will easily run full broadsheet wide without cropping.
The Red camera is truly amazing but won’t be $17,000 — that’s the barebones body alone. It will probably be $50-100k with lenses, power, audio, and the monster computer systems you’ll need to capture and edit it. Imagine a Canon 1DS at 60 frames a second!
hi, the newspaper i work for is going to be required us to shoot hd video for the web, and stills for the newspaper at the same time. how much more time is going to be required to do this?
We are hitting and running at everts and cramming in as much as we can now, i’m wonderiing how much extra time is going to be required to do the shooting and the posting to the web… thanks
Dave
from our experience you can pump out the stills from the video in about the same time you can with a still camera. Maybe 10 minutes more for import of tape, if you have a fast computer. It’s the video production time-creating something GOOD for the web that takes time, with LOTS of practice you can put something together in about an hour. I shot and edited the piece http://www.mercurynewsphoto.com/2007/02/07/the-coming-storm/
in two hours. Shooting time and production time and stills for the paper.
-r