InfiniteISO Loc: The Carolinas, USA

Since this is indeed a photo forum, I'm wondering how this topic will be received. I wonder if anyone else is experimenting with capturing frames from 4k video. On my Lumix, these frames are 3840 x 2160.

There is an urban spot that my model and I think is a fun place to shoot, but it is an area that is sketchy at night and occasionally busy during the day; not someplace to drag in battery lighting and take an hour or two to shoot. At best you would have about a 45-second warning to get your act together if someone (police) were intent on seeing what you're doing. We have shot there once with available lighting and camera mount flash with mixed results. I used the flash as little as possible to avoid detection. That was with my D7000 using a lens with no stabilization.

Recently we were out right before sunset and looked over the spot again and I had my camera along. As an experiment, my wife agreed to strip out of what she was wearing while I shot video using the smart auto settings. Start to finish we were there less than 10 minutes. With the available light, many of the frames are blurry. I imagine with more light, more of them would have been clear.

In reality, these images are just a bunch of snapshots. That said, shooting video in manual with studio lights might be interesting. Looking at the captured frames was like looking at a box of chocolates. In some, there was hair motion that I wouldn't normally capture shooting traditional stills. Many, even though they were completely blurry, were very interesting visually.

I'm interested in what you think

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Architect1776 Loc: In my mind

Very good photos.
Love the colours and composition.
The model is very beautiful and looks like a woman.
So many models are so skinny that they look like refugees from Ethiopia or boys that have had sex reassignment surgery.
Very good lighting as well.
Thank you for sharing.

JohnFrim Loc: Somewhere in the Great White North.

ISO, I wonder why you would choose video over burst shooting with a still camera? Do you think there might be less blur with the still shots?

InfiniteISO Loc: The Carolinas, USA

John,

The main reason for using video is at the end of the day you have both a video and any good frames you can harvest from the video. If you ever saw my wife work you can appreciate the fun of having her interaction saved to video. She has a deep southern accent and she never stops talking and cutting up.

Burst mode is great for capturing a high-speed event; a staged hair flip, throwing items into the air, etc. The default on the Lumix (I believe) is that burst mode uses the mechanical shutter. Do too much of it, and you're going to prematurely wear something out. There is also a dedicated 4k video still mode, but from the little I've messed with it, it assumes you'll be choosing frames out of the exposure using the camera. There is also a duration limit. On this occasion, I just unfolded the display and hit record.

Stardust Loc: Central Illinois

I think many on this site take sides for or against a photo based on whether someone is using a DSLR, a Bridge camera, a Point & Shoot, or in this case a "Video Camera" when the emphasize should be on the quality of the photograph regardless. If you had not told us, I would never had known the first two photos were off video. They are colorful and sharp.

However, unless done to show motion, a blurry photo is a blurry photo, whether from a box camera, a camcorder, or the most expensive DSLR.

Rich2236 Loc: E. Hampstead, New Hampshire

What I think is; That your wife is a wonderful woman for being your model and letting you post!!! A real woman, and you do her justice with your images of her.
Rich...

Rab-Eye Loc: Indiana

👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻

chikid68 Loc: Tennesse USA

For what it's worth I think it looked like a fun spontaneous and secret shoot.
Given the need to be quick and stealthy I think it is a viable option for the shoot.

vertigo

Great background. Unfortunately the nearest city is miles (and miles) away so the nearest graffiti is 15 miles to watch the freight trains go by! Negotiating with local HS art teacher to have students paint 4X8 sheet of panel for me.

Nice job.

sb Loc: Florida's East Coast

Definitely an interesting setting. Good to see your darlin' wife again. I have mixed feelings about the busy colorful background - it is a little distracting, but I would also like to see some photos from further back and/or wide angle that incorporate a little more of it to see what it is all about - and maybe a juxtaposition of your wife and all the graffiti above and around her.... Keep up the good work!

Toby

Good ideas. Model's skin and graffiti fit well together. Excited to see what others suggest.

riderxlx Loc: DFW area Texas

ISO;
First of all, welcome back.
I am glad you posted this because I am looking at cameras that do good videos.
I think videoing airshows and then picking out single shots from the stream would be a great option for me.
By the way, I use a 3840 x 2160 27" DELL monitor as my main of two, and your images are are just damn sharp. And I mean sharp in detail and everything.
So HOGGERS out there, if you aint got a 3840 x 2160 monitor, you should get one.

I want to video the airshows so I can show it to my 93 year old father. This way he can see the real displays and performances.

So, the Lumix is on my list too plus the Fuji.
I think videos are a great option and enhancement to the cameras we have available to us today. Yea yea yea I know there are those who do not care nor use video but in my case with airshows, which I love. It can be a great tool option for me. Plus in other settings too.
I think YOU have just demonstrated this feature with your beautiful wife very well indeed.
Thank you for the post.
HAPPY THANKSGIVING and God bless your family.
Bruce.

Jwshelton Loc: Denver,CO

Good to see both of you again.
You ask some interesting questions, but answered most of them with your photos.
Thanks for sharing!

worldcycle Loc: Stateline, Nevada

A compliment to you and your model. Always fun to see how you two interact. I love that she is a mature voluptuous real individual that is not ashamed of herself and obviously has fun showing it. I love how your photos show the joy and delight you both take creating the images you present. Well done!

InfiniteISO Loc: The Carolinas, USA

Bruce,

I'm glad you find the images are clear on your 4k monitor. I think most of them were cropped in some fashion but probably all of them have a width greater than 1920. An HD monitor only allows a modern digital photographer to appreciate a portion of his work at full resolution.

With the amount of light normally available for an airshow, I think video would be a great way of capturing the action. The video is sent to the processor as a series of electronic shuttered images at the frame rate you choose and is compressed on the fly into a movie file format in normal mode. I imagine that in this mode, some form of compression that references the previous frame is used. It is the recent horsepower of modern processors, the sensitivity of the sensors, and the speed of the media that have made video so much better on modern cameras. On my particular camera, 4k movie mode does not allow for a 60fps rate, only 30. Capabilities like this are part of the research you'll want to make when as you narrow down your camera choices.

The quality and speed of the SD card are very important for video. My camera will not shoot continuous 4k video to some Sandisk 80 MB/s I already owned. They will shoot 60 FPS normal HD video to those. The Sandisk 90 MB/s that was sold with the camera will shoot 4K. And of course, the speeds on the label are typically the max read speed, not the write speed which is really the important factor. You have to read the fine print and see what those write values are if you deviate from what the manufacturer recommends.

If I can put in a plug for Lumix cameras, the way the recent bodies couple the in-body and lens stabilization is brilliant. I'm sure other cameras have this feature as well.

As an example, here is a photo, hand-held at 1/8 of a second taken in almost total darkness, it's not a finished edit, because there are a lot of things I'd like to tweak and remove, like the cooler sign, but it gives you an idea of how well the stabilization works. I took a series of images in this setting and virtually all of them were this clear.

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